NEEDLE BURN AND SALT DAMAGE ON CONIFERS

WHITE SPRUCE WITH SEVERE NEEDLE BURN

...CLOSEUP OF DAMAGE

ROADSIDE SALT DAMAGE ON COMMON JUNIPER

Tuesday, 9:00 AM.  8 degrees F, wind WNW, light.  The sky is partly cloudy with some overcast.  There were slippery ice crystals on the roads again this morning and I put on my Yak Tracks.  The humidity is 69% and the barometer 30.23", both trending down.  We are driving to Madison this morning on business but the roads and weather should be O.K.  The trip, exactly two weeks from our last journey on the same route, will show whether there has been any obvious advancement of spring thru ought the state.

   Even though the calendar says it is spring, functionally it still is winter.  And it is taking its toll on conifers.  The medium sized white spruce in the photo has rather suddenly turned mostly brown.  I have looked pretty closely (the snow is deep) but the damage appears to simply be needle burn.  The sun's strengthening rays are now at an angle at which they are hitting the upper surface of the needles at the same time they are reflecting off the white surface of the snow and hitting the lower surface (note how much more damaged the needles are over the snow on the garage roof).  The result is desiccation of the needles, which the tree is shedding profusely.  Needle burn from late winter sun and wind ia becoming more and more obvious.  If the dormant buds of new needles aren't too baldly damaged the tree will grow new needles but it may take some time to recover.

   And of course salt damage along heavily travelled roads is showing up now as well.  It isn't just salt runoff that causes damage to vegetation, but also salt spray from heavy traffic, which can be carried some distance from the road by the prevailing winds.