is it spider mites?

12 years ago

Last week I noticed a lot of yellowing needles on the inside of my Fat Albert and Colorado Blue spruce trees. Also on my Hinoki cypress... I did the paper test and shook an affected branch over a piece of white paper and some tiny insects did fall on it. Not sure if the pictures are clear enough but i am having doubts that those are spider mites. I read that they should be moving slowly and be somewhat greenish but the insects i found were more grey/brownish and moved so fast that i had hard time taking a picture of them. Could the insects i found be unrelated to the yellowing of the needles? We did have a cool and dry summer here this year but i am not sure if this could have caused needle yellowing. I am not sure if i should spray the trees with miticide and if yes than what kind?

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Comments (6)

MissMoss
Original Author
12 years ago
another pic
MissMoss
Original Author
12 years ago
another one
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MissMoss
Original Author
12 years ago
mite
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
12 years ago
Those aren't spider mites - spider mites are so tiny as to be almost invisible to the naked eye. Often the only way to detect their presence is by the webbing they produce, none of which appears to be visible. And they do come in various colors, reddish brown being one :-) Not sure exactly what the insects shown are - it's possible they could be causing the damage but doesn't look as they are present in large enough populations to do much.

Some interior browning of foliage is to be expected. Even conifers shed old foliage and it often occurs in fall. But there may be more going on than just that. If your summer was dry, did these guys get enough water? How long have they been planted?
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
i would go as far as saying.. that ALL INTERIOR YELLOWING.. and eventually browning .. IS NORMAL ...

no conifer.. nor any evergreen... holds its leaves forever ... varying mostly 1 to 3 year.. with a few to 5 years ...

and when they shed the old.. its always the oldest ...

and the oldest are always interior to the newer outer growth ...

most of you common bugs.. like the fresh new softer growth.. so its rarely bring insect to thought ...

with the qualification.. that some get so congested from such.. there can be some bug issues.. but that has nothing to do with the browning itself ...

interior browning is complicated by:

transplant
lack of full establishment
drought
extreme winter

might change my mind... on a pic of the whole.. but i bet such would confirm my suggestions ...

ken
MissMoss
Original Author
12 years ago
thank you for answering. I can see no webbing and there weren't that many insects when i shook a branch over the paper - maybe 4 or 5 at most. I am inclined to think this was caused by dry summer. The trees were planted about 4 -5 years ago and thrived till now. It was a dry summer but we didn't have drought conditions per se so I didn't really provide any extra water. And we did have a really cold and long winter this year as well. I am hoping that all those factors combined are the reason for yellowing needles. I just got a bit worried because i have not seen this before.