Simultaneous death of new elongating shoots points to lack of water due to root damage. In November the buds were already fully developed, but to elongate they need plenty of soil moisture. No matter how moist the soil is, water can't be absorbed through dead roots.

Check for white pine weevil. This usually bores out the lead shoot of white pines, but it will also attack spruces.

Resin

Resin is almost certainly right. You can Google "white pine weevil" and learn a lot. I have been growing literally thousands of Norway spruce trees for as long as 35 years, and some years as many as 25 or 30% of my NS have had this weevil. There are things you can do to reduce the problem, but they are not easy. I have never done anything and overall my NS trees have done just fine.

One effect in a very small percentage of cases is that a NS tree will develop a double leader after being veeviled. If this happens, wait three years before cutting one out--give the tree a chance to choose its own leader. If you cut one out before that, the one you leave may itself be weeviled and the end result will be that you have stunted your tree. Wait!

--Spruce

It seems to me that if I cut the infected bit off that will reduce the possibility of more infections?

BTW there is a 60 ft white pine on an adjascent property which is insanely kinked all the way up the trunk - the worls ugliest tree actually -like a drunken sailor......I would guess its the borer you guys mention?

Follow up - as this is a new tree was the tree infected when planted? As it was planted in November I would guess that given the life cycle of the White Pine Borer it was already a resident in the tree. Should I ask for a replacement as I have thousands of dollars invested in other trees. And would this bug also infect blue spruce or hemlocks?

How much of the leader should I remove? I would imagine its should be 6 inches BELOW the infected portion as the borers appear to bore downwards under the bark....

Chester:

Yes, if you can conveniently get up to the top of the tree and cut out the portion of the leader that has the grubs in it, that can help. It can help in two ways--first, it will reduce the population of these weevils, and second, the sooner you can cut the portion of the leader off that has the grubs in it, the less the damage and the sooner the tree can begin growing past the damage. The grubs, as I am sure you have read by now, eat their way downward, so the sooner you get rid of them, the less damage.

But, as for reducing the population of weevils by cutting off the affected portion of the leader--this makes sense--kill the grubs, fewer weevils next year. I have done this a number of times with my smaller NS trees, but always the next year I seem to have as many trees affected as I always, soÂ. It just seems they are everywhere and there is little I can do. But if it is relatively easy to do, cut off the affected part of the leader and kill the grubs.

Now when you cut off the affected part, what you need to do is first cut off the top of the leader that has the wilted shoots on it. Then look and see if at the bottom of what you have cut off, the grubs have eaten down further. Then cut off portions of the leader, each one just above the next unwilted shoot, and again, if you see the evidence that the grubs have gone below that point, cut off the next section just above the next shoot, and so on. The grubs should have eaten below the last wilted shoot into the portion of the leader where the side shoots are still unwilted--it takes some time for the grubs to eat enough to cause the side shoots to wilt. Maybe I am making this explanation too long, but if it is not clear, let me know. Anyway, as you cut off each portion of the leader you can slice it lengthwise to see if you have all the grubs. You will come to a point where it is obvious they have not gone down further.

As for the white pine: no, I doubt the crooked trunk is the result of weevil damage. Weevils in white pine cause the tree to develop multiple trunks, a kind of "cabbaging" effect. Heavy birds perching on and breaking the immature leaders of white pines can lead to small "wiggles" in a white pine trunk. Larger offsets from a straight trunk, with larger side branches associated with them can be the result of ice and snow breakage.

Technically, white pine weevils are not borers.

--Spruce

Thanks for the help on pruning - I do understand and it makes sense that the grubs might have eaten down further than the last wilted section.....I have now discovered some other of my latest NS where the nice new shoots at the top of the tree are curling up,,,,,,,terrific....

Do you think the infection was in the trees rootballs in November when planted - or it possible that the trees were infected this spring from my neighbors White Pine?

The crooked White Pine next door is multitrunked at every kink and looks identical to the distroted trees I have googled! So this thing will continue to distribute its largesse to my expensive NS plantings? And I'll bet there is no law that will force a neighnor to remove an infected tree? I have offered to pay for the removal - but the wife says her husband "loves that tree:",,,,,,,,,its the ugliest tree I have EVER seen........

Sorry -- I misread your post to say that the candles "all over" were shriveling up. Yes, weevil.

Chester:

"Do you think the infection was in the trees rootballs in November when planted - or it possible that the trees were infected this spring from my neighbors White Pine?

Answer: No, and no.

These bugs are simply in your environment there, they don't have any one source. Removing the white pine tree will have no effect on the amount of these things you get in your trees. Sorry. In fact, I have almost as many white pines as Norway spruce trees, and it is the Norway spruce trees that are the primary targets and hosts of these weevils where I am. I have seen them on my white pines, maybe two or three times, compared to thousands on my NS trees. If you were in my neighborhood I could show you my NS plantations--absolutely gorgeous, in spite of these bugs. Everytime one of my special favorite trees is infected, I say, "oh damn!", but in the long run, only a small problem.

--Spruce

Chester:

Let me clarify that the effect of these weevils on Norway spruce is quite different from the effect on white pine. They will not make the trunks of your NS trees crooked. Norway spruce trees, like all spruces, unlike white pine trees, have what are called "internodal" buds and shoots. That means that while white pines produce buds and shoots only at the end of each yearÂs growth (with a few exceptions), the Norway spruce trees produce buds and shoots all along the length of each yearÂs growth. So what happens with white pine is that if the leader of the tree is killed, the growth to compensate must come from the prior years whorl of shoots, each of which is relatively large and goes out from the leader at an angle. With the Norway spruce trees, the growth to compensate will come from the strong shoot nearest to the point where the leader was killed. This shoot will grow very erect with almost no deflection from vertical. And if there is just a bit of deflection from vertical that you can see for the first two or three years, that deflection will be undetectable later as the tree grows. All of my NS trees have had these weevils, and their trunks are as straight and perfectly round as if they had been made by God on some great turning lathe in heaven.

So donÂt look at that white pine and fear that your Norway spruce will grow crooked as a result of these bugs. Also, I need to see this white pine tree, but you know what they say, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Maybe you will begin to see some beauty in this tree in spite of its "defects."

May whatever power or great spirit there may be ruling above us all, shower blessings on you, your wife, and all your trees. Enjoy!

--Spruce

I have made several cuts in the first tree I noticed and got down to a level where there are no little vertical black holes in the outside bark part. The inside of the bark when peeled off is dark and powdery if that means anything - but not the menagerie of grubs that I expected. In one of the vertical holes there was what looked like some sort of insect - white - maybe a grub which I think I had cut in half. Accordingly I trimmed another section underneath - I went below the next junction down so now I have trimmed off 3 or 4 years.

I did the same thing with two other trees - but I might have to go further down with those.

An observation from an amateur. I have noticed that some trees sold by my nursery are very wide compared to the height. So it occurs to me that this may happen when a grower who sold the trees to the nursery was forced to cut out an infected leader and the trees
thus grows wider even thought the NS I believe has an upright habit. Am I right?

Chester:

Part of what you say is confusing. You have certainly not, I hope, cut back three or four "years" of growth--you mean you cut back to 3 or 4 side shoots. Right? These weevils seldom eat down past the prior yearÂs growth. Where Norway spruce are reasonably fast growing I would say they destroy about 2/3rds of the prior yearÂs growth, and after they stop eating, the best side shoot usually grows beyond the top limit of that prior yearÂs growth.

You may not find any grubs because they may have exited. After they reach a certain growth stage they leave the shoot and drop to the ground where they live until they mature and fly or crawl up another (or the same ) tree the next spring to continue their devilish work. If you don't find grubs at the lowest level where the shoot looks like its inner bark has been eaten out, they have all left, and there is no point in doing any more trimming--you can just leave the damaged top with its dead shoots, and after the next year's growth, that will not really be noticeable.

Also, these weevils like really strong fat leaders, so after one top is weeviled, they usually donÂt come back to infect the same tree two years in a row. Sometimes they do, but not usually.

As for the relatively wide trees: that could have several causes, including intentional pruning back, possibly for Christmas tree production, possibly for height control, possibly to cut out disfigured tops from weevil damage. I donÂt know. Also, there is considerable genetic variation in NS, and what you see could also be partly the result of that. In any case, how wide a tree is now will not ultimately affect its shape as it grows and matures. It will revert to its basic genetic "programming" in combination with the effects of its current and future growing conditions.

--Spruce

Great discussion. With my many white pines already present on my land, and my planting of many Norway spruce, I can expect to be visited by this insect.

Spruceman, extra points for the new term, "weeviled".

+oM

Tom:

Yes, my spell check in "Word" rejects "weeviled," but it is an efficient way to express something. But I think I saw it somewhere before. One of the wonderful things about the English language is its flexibility and its ability to adopt new terms, especially verbs made from nouns. The downside is many really wonderful words have their meanings destroyed by ignorant misuses, and unfortunately some of these misuses dominate and replace the original, and I think, more valuable meanings. Well, flexibility has not only an upside, but also a downside.

Let me know what kind of weevil problem you eventually have there. I doubt you will see any until your spruces are about 5 feet tall or maybe a bit more. I don't have any white pine weevils affecting my spruces yet here in Winchester, VA. I am not sure I won't see them, but I have none here and haven't seen any around here.

--Spruce

Spellcheck: Weevilled. Terminal '-l' in English is doubled in this situation ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Adding a suffix to words ending in l

Yes, thanks resin. When trying to use a new? word, it is good to get it right.

--Spruce

I have determined that the White Pine Weevil is .....vile