Columar Spruce Loosing Bark

by Jon
(Colorado)

My Columar Spruce is loosing bark at the base of the tree. This started happening two years ago. Is my spruce doomed? We live Colorado in Zone 5a.

Comments for Columar Spruce Loosing Bark

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Oct 18, 2019

So sorry!
by: Jacki Cammidge, Certified Horticulturist

This definitely doesn't look good. Unfortunately, directly below the bark is the cambium layer, which takes the sugars and other critical materials which keep the tree alive from the roots to the top of the tree. With this kind of damage, the route the sap takes is destroyed. However, if there is some part of the tree that has unbroken cambium, the sap can still reach the top of the tree.

When I see this type of damage, I immediately think that either the tree is not hardy enough to survive in your area, or it received some kind of mechanical injury (rabbits, voles, or even a string trimmer used too close to the stem when the tree was young).

If there is still top growth that looks healthy, there is still hope but if it's all dead, the tree is done.

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