dieing Black spruce

[All_knowing]

Our family has a woods in northeastern WI, part of this woods is made up of mostly a mix of white ceder, black spruce, poplar, and balsam fir. Recently my father and i noticed that the lower brances on the black spruce were dieing from the bottom up and slowly continuing up. At first we thought this was just from the woods closing in but i noticed small(about 1mm diamiter) drilling holes on the bark.
This past winter we logged out the largest spruce which was about 60ft tall with a 18-20 in diamiter. The first 2, 8ft lenghts of log was not as sound as it sould be, the wood was also filled with a white residue(for lack of a better way to explain it) bethween the grain. Also many of the other spruce in the area have dieing lower brances and boring holes. We did log some of these others with the dieback and boring holes and the wood was fine.

what is causeing this?
-a insect attack primary or secondary after an disease in what case what is the disease
-if a disease or insect attact is there any remedy other than cutting affected trees


All information and advice would be apreciated
-thank you-

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

COntact the DNR or forrestry extention near you, they will be able to tell you better. I have not heard of any borers in spruce, but I am a ways south of you. If the hole form lines, ten it is sapsucker, which is common in spruce around here.

The populations you describe indicate a wet environment. Have you had a reduction in the water table over the past few years? I know the Lake has been at record low levels. Drought stress can cause wetland plants to decline. If there are leasions in the branches an pitch stains on trunk and branches then Cytospora canker is another possibility.

 

[No nothing]

You should know.