Yellow-headed sawfly are attacking spruce trees right now. 

If something is eating the needles on your Spruce, you have Sawfly.

 These voracious eaters strip needles from spruce, and those needles will NEVER grow back. In three years, they can kill a tree. If your spruce is under attack DO NOT PRUNE the stripped branches. The bud at the tip is still alive, and will produce new needles next Spring which will disguise the damage. 

The adult sawfly - a tiny, non-stinging wasp

The adult stage of sawfly, Pikonema alaskensis, is a small, non-stinging wasp. It’s young, the larva, are what is eating your spruce.

Sawfly larva starting to devour a new needle

 They’re hard to detect at first, because they take on the colour of the needles they eat as camouflage. Look for them carefully though, as waiting until you see damage can result in this: 

A healthy tree can end up like this very quickly

If your spruce is infested, WE CAN KILL THEM, starting as low as $79.95 + tax. Give us a call right away! 

Your best defence is to be proactive. Watch for damage or larva throughout June. If you find only a few larva, and you only have a few trees, you may be able to take care of them yourself. 

You can just pull this pest off with your fingers

Look for the larva at the tips of the needles. They can be picked off with your fingers if there are only a couple. 

If you have many trees, a pressure-sprayer loaded with a mix of 5 ml (1 teaspoon) of plain liquid dish soap in 4 l (1 gallon) of water can be used to blast them off. 

The sawfly only has one breeding cycle a year, so get them quickly and have peace of mind!

2) Make a plan for the lawn and garden you want to have. Irrigation is a big investment so if you are planning to do landscaping make sure you and your installer are planning your sprinklers for what will be growing, not just what is growing right now.

3) Find out what warranties are available. Your installer should warrant their work for at least 2 years if they are maintaining the system also, but the manufacturers of the piping, heads, valves and control boxes all offer generous warranties for their products – quality lasts.  An average budget for a typical suburban lawn and for a good quality system will cost about $3300.00-$3900.00 including all parts and labour.

4) Work with your installer to come up with a plan that meets your budget and needs. A lot of things influence what an irrigation installation will cost:

• The number of Zones – that is the number of regions which can be independently adjusted and turned on and off.
• The number of heads and rotors – the more you have the finer control over the shape of the irrigated area, but they can drive cost and complexity up quickly.
• The depth of the buried pipe – deeper pipe is safer from damage but costs more to install. A minimum depth of 8 inches or more is sensible.
• The installation of valve boxes – properly installed valve boxes will make the long-term future of your system less stressful by both protecting key valves and components, and making them easier to service. Spending a little more here for durability and security will save you and your installer a lot of headaches over the life of your system.
• The controller – irrigation technology is progessing rapidly and so are the laws that govern water use and efficiency.  Make sure your controller allows you to conserve water, is expandable and can be upgraded with newer enhancements as the need arises.
• Planning ahead – being aware of sources of long-term wear and tear on a system and planning to minimize them in the initial design. Choosing a more durable stainless steel component over a plastic one in a hard-to-service area or placing a valve box slightly farther away to ensure run off is not going to collect in it and freeze over the winter. Moving things up a notch here and there at the beginning can save you a lot later.

The saying “pay now or pay later really” applies, our business thrives on systems installed for $1500.00- $2500.00 that need expensive upgrades and repairs to the system, let alone the costly problems created to the plants  while inadequate and improper watering promotes turf insects and diseases, all caused by an inferior system…

I got another interesting question recently. We handle tree care as well as lawn care, and you’d be surprised how much overlap there is.

“Spruce needles (lots of reddish brown needles) have fallen from very old trees onto my lawn, the trees cannot be saved, but what do I do with the lawn?  Can I leave the needles or do I have to remove them?”

Evergreens drop some needles annually as part of their growing process, especially when they are old or sick. This is a problem for turfgrass because when the needles break down, they make the soil very acidic.

Once the pH of the soil starts going down, it is very difficult for the grass to absorb nutrients. That’s the main reason why you never see really healthy grass underneath pines and spruces.

You can improve the situation with regular limings – that will help bring the pH back up. Still, you will never get the grass under your evergreens to look as nice as the rest of your lawn.

Another fix would be to find a more suitable landscape idea for underneath trees, and just mulch under the base and the outer perimeter of your trees. That way you could have thick, lush grass up to the dripline of the trees with a clean transition to attractive wood mulch. Much nicer than your lawn just petering out in sickly-looking tufts.