Can you diagnose this problem?

[Sirpouralot]

I have a row of 10 Norway Spruce that were planted as 8 footers 10 years ago, and have been growing great. They are now about 25 feet tall and have about a 12 ft spread. They are planted well away from activity and I don't see any sign of vegetation die back under the tree or near the tree that would suggest poison. Just last week I noticed that on the back side of one of them, the needles were browning out and even falling off. This browning is on the east side of the tree from about 4 feet from the top extending almost all the way to the bottom branches. There is also some stippling damage on the west side of the tree too. The only tree that has any problem is the one in the middle of the row and the other trees have shown no signs at all. The damage to the plant looks like Spruce spider mites, but I am in Michigan and the damage was clearly visible at the end of March. I didn't notice any problem with the tree before March. I know the Spruce spider mite is a cold weather mite, but Isn't this a little soon. Any thoughts?
P.S. I haven't done the white paper check for the mites.

 

[jmack]

I have a row of 10 Norway Spruce that were planted as 8 footers 10 years ago, and have been growing great. They are now about 25 feet tall and have about a 12 ft spread. They are planted well away from activity and I don't see any sign of vegetation die back under the tree or near the tree that would suggest poison. Just last week I noticed that on the back side of one of them, the needles were browning out and even falling off. This browning is on the east side of the tree from about 4 feet from the top extending almost all the way to the bottom branches. There is also some stippling damage on the west side of the tree too. The only tree that has any problem is the one in the middle of the row and the other trees have shown no signs at all. The damage to the plant looks like Spruce spider mites, but I am in Michigan and the damage was clearly visible at the end of March. I didn't notice any problem with the tree before March. I know the Spruce spider mite is a cold weather mite, but Isn't this a little soon. Any thoughts?
P.S. I haven't done the white paper check for the mites.

needle blight or needle cast can u post pics ? j

 

[Husky288XP]

May be Cytospora canker?

 

[Sirpouralot]

problem spruce

After careful examination of both the tree and the site, here is what I came up with. First the paper test as well as a good magnifying glass revealed that there were no spruce mites on the tree. There was no visible damage to the tree other than what looked like a severe case of winter burn. Now this was a mystery since as I have already stated, that this was mostly on the East side of the tree rather than the West. In Michigan where I live, our strong winds come out of the west. Also remember this was the only tree in a row of 10 that showed any signs at all, and this tree was in the middle of the row.

Looking around the site and beneath the tree and around the tree revealed a bad infestation of moles tunneling around. There was quite abit more activity around this tree that has the problem. While I don't believe moles are eating the roots, or my other trees would also be showing signs, I do believe what happened is that there tunneling had exposed much of the roots of this tree to air which allowed them to freeze this winter and die. This would explain why the winter burn only occurred mostly on the East side of the tree, since only the roots that were exposed to air would have been effected. I will have to wait and see how the tree responds and recovers. There is also the problem of how to get rid of these moles before more damage is done.