There are primarily 2 types of pests that target your blue spruce. You can find out what these are and how to identify the pests here. There are also useful tips for effective control.

The printer is the blue spruce's worst enemy

If infested with book printers, there is a risk of total failure

They are 4-5 mm long, have a brown body and nest under the bark in droves. The bark beetle species of the bark beetle (Ips typographus) has specialized in infesting spruce trees in order to multiply explosively there. Up to 25,000 beetles nest in your blue spruce under high infestation pressure, so that the tree is irretrievably lost.

Since there are currently no effective means of combating it, the only way to keep the small invaders away from your spruce is to take good care of it. In a healthy tree, the sap flows so copiously that the pests drown in it. Therefore, water regularly without causing waterlogging. Avoid high-nitrogen fertilization and damage to roots and bark. Pheromone sticky traps catch approaching bookworms in the early stages of infestation.

How to recognize an infestation with the spruce gall aphid

If your blue spruce is covered with small, pineapple-like galls in spring, the spruce gall aphid (Sacchiphantes viridis) is doing its disastrous work. The next generation of lice grows in the galls and sucks the sap from the leaves. Under high infestation pressure, the needles turn brown or the entire shoot dies. How to deal with the pests:

  • Cut out and destroy affected branches
  • Treat the blue spruce with an insecticide based on paraffin oil
  • Check the soil pH and adjust to between 6.5 and 7.5 if necessary

Mulch regularly with withered lawn clippings, keep the spruce gall aphid at a distance. One of the most effective methods of prevention is a rich stock of beneficial insects in the garden. Lacewings, parasitic wasps, (22.99€) ladybugs and birds of all kinds enthusiastically hunt for the parasites.

tips

If you plant a blue spruce in your garden, please avoid the immediate proximity to rhododendrons when choosing a location. In summer, the pathogens of the fungal disease spruce needle rust (Chrysomyxa) cavort on the flowering shrubs, which prefer to change hosts on your spruce and can cause considerable needle fall there.

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Trees