Some evergreens here developed dead leaders due to drought.

4 in the neighbor's yard did this so I watered the trees well a few times during the summer and lo and beyond, other top branches took up the leader position and the trees are OK. Water was the answer here.

the second picture.. already has a new leader ... and the first will develop one next spring...

they healed themselves.. i would still be proud of them ...

if more than one leads.. you might choose one.. and nip part of the fresh growth on the others NEXT SPRING .. to make one dominant .... then the others will set new buds that are below the leader.... if you cut off all the buds at the wrong time.. the branch usually dies ...

be proud.. ken

This looks just like white pine weevil damage. I cant imagine that it is the result of drought. You should contact your local ag extension or forest service for more information. A web search will uncover a lot of information also.

I have never tried any control methods except to kill the larvae when I discover them on trees I can reach. NS usually creates a new leade easily because of its internodal buds. Sometimes a fork can develop after an attackÂI usually wait three years for it to resolve itself before cutting one leader out. I understand there is an insecticide that can be used, but also that the timing has to be just right. Sometimes a physical barrier to keep the weevils from crawling up the trunk can helpÂthese bugs are sometimes weak fliers.

I have many hundreds of NS trees and as they were growing up, each year sometimes as many as 1/3 were weeviled. The main effect is some slowed growth and an occasional double or multiple leader. Almost all of these resolved themselves in two or three years. I think you can expect to see there weevils on your other NS trees from time to time unless you find a good control measure.

--Spruce

Aaaaarrrggh! That's what I was afraid of! I don't think it's drought because they are well established and no other trees show any signs, and they are only dead at the top, no branches are browning.

But you give me hope. You say you have had this problem and it's resolved itself. My fear is that it would spread through all my trees and kill them all. I've planted a variety of trees to avoid monoculture problems, but there are just so many bugs and critters out there!

Thanks for the confirmation. Wish me luck.

Well, let me add just a little to try to help. Last night I wrote a longer response, but my MS system with all its bugs ate my browser window. Sometimes it is Gardenweb that eats my posts. I have to remember to open a word processor window. Oh well.

Anyway, I have had these weevils for years and years. They really "bug" me, so to speak. But, on the one hand, my NS trees have averaged about 28" growth per year in spite of these attacks. In the past, some years I would guess that up to 30% of my NS trees were weeviled. As an impact on my NS stands as a whole, the effect is minimal.
They have caused some deformations, mostly forks, of individual trees, but in total, even with each tree being weeviled multiple times, this is less than 5%. I have climbed these trees and cut out a lot of these forks, but I couldnt get (or even see) them all.

But on the other hand, if you have a few trees in your yard, having these weevils is more of a problem. In my forest stands, if one tree is really damaged by growing a fork, I have other trees growing next to it and can thin it out to favor other trees. In a yard planting, you dont have that option..

In addition to my forest stands, I Have some NS planted in my yard here at my timberland place (in Winchester, we dont have these weevils). Let me describe what has happened to three trees. One is a pendula major. This tree was weeviled three years in a rowaaarggh! But the last two years it was not attacked. In these last two years it has grown a little more than 7 feet. So looking at the tree now, I would say "no problem." I have another tree that this year was attacked for the third year in a row. The top is a messy cluster of leaders/would-be-leaders. I am just watching it. It may "resolve itself and put out a nice leader that will not be attacked the next yearI will wait and see. But in the meantime I dont enjoy this tree. The third case is an Oriental spruce. It has been attacked every other year for about 6 years. It has two leaders. One year one is attacked, the next time it is the other. When one is attacked I think, "OK, that will slow one and the other will take over as the leader. But then the next year that one is attacked. I dont like this and am considering a physical sticky barrier to see if that helps. (Not put directly on the bark of the tree, but on a wrap I put around the tree.)

In your place, I would not let these weevils dissuade you from using NS in your screen/windbreak in whatever way you want. Most of the time the damage is slight in the long run, and much of the time if a real problem develops with an individual tree, it can be corrected. In some areas white pine weevil virtually destroys white pine trees, but spruce, with their internodal buds, are not so severely affected. Funny thing, though, my white pines are almost never attackedjust the spruces.

Another factor you can consideras the trees get taller and taller, they are attacked less and less. In my area, apparently, they go higher than in some other areas. My trees in my forest stands are now about 80 feet tall, and I would say the attacks are down to less than 10% most years, and some years almost none. They also are more likely to attack individual trees or trees near the edges of a forest stand. In dense stands they are less of a problem. But I guess this would not help you with your kind of planting.

--Spruce

Spruce, thanks so much for taking the time to give me all that information. A neighbor had lost a white pine to weevils a few years ago, and my fear was it would spread to all my white pine and spruce. But my white pines are unaffected (for now) and I don't mind if the trees get a bit misshapen, as long as they still grow. I guess I will just watch and wait and hope for the best. Your note is very reassuring.

Thanks!