AbstractCulturing needles at early stages of discolouration and a number of experiments failed to show that R. kalkhoffii or any other fungus has a primary involvement in foliar symptoms in “top‐dying” of Norway spruce by attacking the needles or shoots of the last two years'growth.Fungicides failed to arrest the disease. Needle browning was temporarily prevented by bagging shoots of diseased trees at the start of the flushing period. R. kalkhoffii could colonize pulvini as well as