Actually some ants do bring the aphids to the plants, others are opportunistic farmers. It's misleading to talk about ants, or aphids, as if they are all the same. There are thousands of different, unique types of ants in the world and they don't even all eat the same things. There are populations of aphids that are winged and fly to new plants, others are carried by ants. The OP probably has both types occurring. There are some cases where I ignore aphids happening, like trees and sunflowers, since large plants often don't seem to care. Also some populations of aphid are not large enough for me to bother with. Anyway, for the OP's particular case, I would say if the ants ignored the bait, then it isn't the right type of food for them. Baits can be protien based or sugar based. Sugar based baits are probably appropriate for the ants in question, but even that may not be enough to get them to sample it. Since they are feeding on honeydew, it is likely that these ants will go for a bait that is in a liquid or at least gel, form. I think you can find baits and traps online that will work. I made a homemade bait of sugar water and borax that worked pretty well last year, but you have to be careful with the borax. It's pretty much harmless to us and most wildlife, but the plants really don't like excess boron. Don't know if any of that will prove useful to you in the long run, since a lot of what you are seeing sounds environmentally based. But sometimes a little intervention can give a plant enough energy to survive until the weather or soil get to be more copeacetic.

Yeah, I hate to spray because of birds, etc. I keep it to a minimum. As for treating the grass for grubs, etc.--we are mowing five acres, and are surrounded by acres and acres of hayfields. I assume that the grubs grow in the hayfields as well as our lawn--right? I put the traps about 100 feet up wind from the most sensitive trees. Last year one of my three baldcypress trees was also completly defoliated (I watered it all late summer and fall and it grew back a lot of foliage and seems OK now), and another was half defoliated. The third, much the strongest, was not attacked significantly. These beetles sense which trees are the weakest and go after them like lions hunting prey in Africa? Anyway, as for the baldcypress this year--I have given them a light spray and placed beetle traps upwind, and so far they have lost no foliage that I can see. One strange thing is the beetles love to attack two DED resistant elm trees I got from the Elm Research Institute (I think that is the right name), but they don't attack volunteer elm seedlings and saplings that will die soon anyway. These beetles are real bastards and will do anything to frustrate our best intentions. --Spruce

OK, Kids...yes, we have Pine Beetle. A nice guy from Bartlett Trees was just here and gave me the official word. We are going to treat with a topical spray. He looked around and found only the two trees we had already identified. He will treat those two as well as 13 others as a preventative. We may or may not be able to save the two trees with the damage. The Pine Beetles go after trees in stress...lack of water, wind damage, recent construction...our new patio(?). He said that we need to make sure we pick up and carry out any fallen pine trees or limbs...the Beetles are attracted to the pine pitch that oooozes out. He also recomended that we feed the trees and water them when the weather is dry. He said they are all nice trees, full and mature and worth trying to save...of course he would say that. The price is not as bad as I thought...$100. per application and we will need three applications...$300....well worth it. He will also spray some pesky poison ivy that I have not been able to keep up with. So, that's it...yes we are infected but it can be controlled. We will watch for any other issues with any other trees on the lot. Oh, jan...he did not think that the white milky pine pitch was an idication that the tree was trying to expell the larvae...just a different pitch. But...I think I'll give the tree the benifit of the doubt. sooey who feels a little better.

OK, so those holes could have happened prior to branch death...or after. But what I'm mostly seeing is lower branch die-off due to shading, which is completely normal for these sun-lovers. Another thing that I "think" was being shown in some of the photos is the normal tendency for conifers to have lots of "dead" stuff on the inside of the plant. That is, say you were to look at an apparently perfect spruce tree. Now walk underneath the plant and look up. Not a pretty sight is it? All of that dead twiggage and so on is again just the normal dying off of inner, shaded structures. Not at all a sign of trouble. But here's the thing: IF it's a windbreak you want-and they are good things out in the prairie-you need plants that can handle the conditions. Increasingly, Colorado spruce is not making the grade here. Likewise for Austrian pine. You can't beat this either, excepting by heroic measures which would still ultimately fail as soon as you stopped. I would make one suggestion: If you have space, and by space, I mean an area of sufficient size and one getting close to full sun, plant some Norway spruce. These will grow fast, live long, hold their branches right down to the ground (if not too crowded) and are proving to be the best spruce species for a vast swath of eastern N. America, including Iowa. We could get fancier-and maybe someone here will chime in with some relatively rare pine species. I believe that Bosnian pine, although fairly rare in the marketplace, may be proving to be a better choice for this region as well. What I'm saying is, if this planting consists largely of two hugely problematic species, it may be time to cut your losses and get something good going for the future.