Miller adds that once the fungus accumulates, it spreads quickly. “We also run into problems if people have some sort of irrigation system that ends up spraying water onto the needles of the trees and keeps them wet for an extended period,” he explained. Hudelson says water can accumulate in branches when the spruces aren’t spaced far enough apart or if their canopy is too thick. "So anything that traps moisture, that’s going to slow down drying, and that’s going to allow for these leaf wetness periods to be longer." “(You) have to have a thin layer of water on the surface of the needle for the fungal spores to be able to germinate and successfully infect," he said. He says Rhizosphaera Needle Cast, like many fungus-based diseases, thrives in wet environments. Brian Hudelson is Director of the Plant Disease Diagnostics Clinic at The University of Wisconsin. “You may have a bare trunk up five or six feet, depending on how big the tree is and then the rest of the tree kind of looks like a lollipop tree, as we call it," he said.Īnd that’s just what happens when a tree is infected. Miller says over time, these health problems, along with needle loss, may necessitate cutting off entire branches. “Rhizosphaera doesn’t necessarily kill trees outright, but it can kill individual branches, needles, along with some other pathogens that we see with spruce, and of course, then that leads to a weakened tree, and you have bark beetles coming in, just a whole myriad of things," he said. ![]() But the needle loss is inside-out, bottom to top, and slow enough that residents won't see any significant change over the holidays. ![]() Credit Chase Cavanaugh Rockford's Christmas tree is infected with Rhizosphaera Needle Cast.
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