Christmas tree needle drop - large scale

In the UK we had a hot patch early in the Spring. It brought with it a pest I've never seen - a red aphid which attacked the Christmas tree. The aphids had no predators at that time and they have decimated the tree.

Unfortunately this suffers from the pixillation problems which I've seen on other peoples' outdoor vids. once they go through YouTube upload.

Cheers, Lesley

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• flydarling
• Christmas
• tree
• needle
• drop
• garden
• UK

[woodenshoesjeroen]

Hi Lesley, It's sad that your tree is having such a hard time, but it seems to recover! It will survive you'll see, but it will loose a lot of it's beauty (not it's character ofcourse).

Love to see you talk about your tree so caring.

cheers, Jeroen.

[flydarling]

We are having lots of rain here and it's washing even more of the old dead needles off but also giving life to that fresh new growth. As always we remain optimistic. These big trees support such a lot of life. Thanks Jeroen, Lesley

[Armagoden]

Clean all the needles under the tree, lets the roots get more air, use the pines as mulch around some other plant if ya like. Watch out for spiders. Trim off some lower branches so more air get under the tree. Don't be afraid to trim up 5 feet high. She'll be recovering in no time. The new growth shows strength. Back to me mutinish varments.

[flydarling]

We don't have to worry about spiders here in the UK thankfully. Thanks for the tip I will make sure that we have a clear area up to the 5 foot mark to open it out. Sometimes pruning gives things a kick start. Cheers, Lesley (get that cat out of the bag 'n' scare some obedience in LOL)

[debstef]

We had a terrible frost in spring this year that killed every Ficus tree in town. I thought a Ficus was tough too! We have giantic pines that kill everything underneath them, too.

[flydarling]

Yeah pines don't have much that will grow happily underneath because of the shade and the chemicals released when the needles drop. How awful that the Ficus' got frosted. Wierd weather always causes problems. Cheers, Lesley

[SimplyMelissa101]

ooohhhhhhh my gosh.. the first people that owned my house (25 years ago) planted their first christmas tree in the front yard.. it got HUGE and its been an eye sore to EVERYONE on this street.. it grew up about 25 feet and started going sideways towards the street.. all of my neighbors kept talking and talking about it.. I cut it down last week lol wish I was at work right now i'd post a picture of how big it was!!

[flydarling]

Would love to hear a song about a tree named Bob. Talking to plants is meant to help but maybe singing a song will really motivate it to pull through. Cheers, Lesley

[freakofmoo]

Good video Leslie although it is sad. I think I will name the tree Bob and write a song about him, then again maybe I'll just marvel from afar.

[flydarling]

I agree with you that nature's way of biological control usually works the best. I have kids and lots of wildlife like hedgehogs so I don't use chemicals. My gardens' the best restaurant around but I'd rather see holes in leaves. Lesley