My husband and I have a house in Urbana IL which has a backyard lined with Northern White Cedars. We have only lived here for about 3 years and never paid too much attention to the trees. This summer/fall we have been putting up a fence behind the cedars and have recently noticed that a majority of them have bronze colored leaves. I remember them turning a slight brown color in the winter, but never anything like this. Upon doing research online it states that the spider mite will cause cedars to turn bronze. However, upon examining the leaves I do not see any webs (other than normal spider webs) around the leaves. So I'm wondering if this is something that we should be concerned about or if this is a normal occurrence for the Northern White Cedar?

Hi Heather, It certainly could be spruce spider mites. They are a cool season spider mite so appear in April and again in September-October. They are pretty little to see with naked eye but can be seen if leaves are shaken above white piece of paper. Check out this website it may help to determine the cause. http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/focus/psinsects12.html They can be sprayed but when mites are present. Could be other problems as well such as shading or too much water. may want to bring in a sample to our office. Sandy