Spruce Bud Worm

[jerry sundberg]

In our area ( North Shore Lake Superior ) the spruce bud worm has and is killing all the Spruce and Balsam trees by eating the new growth. Trees that are dead and dying are a real fire hazard ! The woods looks real nasty with all the needle less trees. I thought the Army worms were bad but at least leaf trees will releaf but not so with ever greens.

[randy d]

Yep we have them here to there is a lot of dead and dying Spruce but not to many Balsam yet it is a real shame we have been sawing Spruce all summer . We have a lot of lumber stacked  up  with all the wind storms we had this year there just isn't a lot of demand for home sawn lumber . Randy

[Corruption Logs]

Are they killing the trees completely? We have a combo of spruce beetles, bud worms, and four-eyed beetles here in Central Colorado, and it is complete destruction. Anything that isn't a sapling is dead or dying.

[randy d]

The trees that I have been sawing are not dead but losing lots of needles and would be dead next year the trees that are dead get a brown center very quickly we have a lot of big spruce.

[Corruption Logs]

Are you seeing the blue fungus patterns in the grain, like from the spruce beetles, or are they just turning brown?

We've got standing dead that is a few years old that still has some water in it that we see while we are milling & splitting.

[realzed]

I have a couple of ornamental Spruce trees in my yard around our camp and think they may be having problems due to SBW since they seem to do well in the Spring and then the needles especially on the inner most branches start falling off after turning brown in the mid Summer and the tree seems to recover some at this time of year - yet the needleless inner parts never regain any growth or color.
Is there a specific type of brand of spray that can be used to combat SBW and if so would anyone care to pass along the name or brand so I can try and give these trees a shot of it.
Thanks - Randy
 

[Corruption Logs]

Hey @realzed 
Forestry suppliers sells some pheromone packets that you can staple to your trees. They have maple tree pheromones in them, which the spruce beetles and four-eyed beetles dislike.

I am not sure about the bud worm response to the packets. However, it you are only seeing the problem on the inner branches, and not the newer branches and needles, I'm not sure that bud worms are your problem.

Many of the sprays can end up leeching into your water (problematic is you use a well), so the packets are a nice alternative. Plus they are pretty cheep for how long they last.

[jerry sundberg]

Spruce Bud Worms are not beetles, they are about 3/4" inch long and eat the new growth needles. The moth (little brown-grey) buggers lay eggs in the summer that hatch out the next spring. Our woods are filled with them.