Douglas fir tip drop disease - what is it?
Submitted by Jeff Buster on Fri, 03/18/2011 - 16:01.
These two green 6 inch long douglas fir branch tips were two of hundreds carpeting the ground under a 50 foot high Douglas fir last week.
I believe there is some type of a boring insect which invades the cambium right at the point of break-off. But I couldn't distinquish what exactly invaded.
Could it be Cooley spruce gall adelgid or P. ramorium? Problem with both gall and ramorium is that the foliage drops off brown.
The ones I viewed on the ground were all green. Is this just a winter snow and ice condition? I don't think so because other nearby firs did not show same carpet of green tips on the ground.
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Douglas Fir struck by lightening
I went back to this tree - approaching from a different direction than I had approached before, and on a nearby oak I noticed that their was severe debarking caused by lightening. I then went and re-inspected the Douglas fir, and sure enough, on the side of the trunk was stripped bark - a companion lightening strike to the oak strike.
The fir is also looking healthier...