Gardening and Horticulture - Pine Tree Problem

Existing new house has an ornamental pine tree (about 7ft. high)planted on one corner. It has a noticeable browning of some of the needles. Am not sure if this is some kind of infestation or sickness. Can anybody give a clue on what is causing this problem?

Hi Tats, Welcome to DIYs Garden Forum :)

A white pine will turn brown all under & fill every crack in your car or Truck every Fall. Some types of evergreens turn brown & lose thier needles, they just go bare like an Apple tree.


If you can find some way of getting the Trees name it would help. Some pine wood is harder than some so called Hardwoods. It's not easy to understand how an EverGreen can lose it's leaves, after all it's an evergreen. Also some sheading of leaves goes on with all, evergreens.

Unlike the post where the pine tree is showing the clasic death of an evergreen. When did you first notice this? Also does the Tree look healthy?

A friend called to ask, if I would look at a tree that was growing slow & poorly. I did ask how the tree looked in general, fine, fine, was the answer.

When I started looking at the 17 foot tree I noticed thousands of small 1/8 inche holes, all over the trunk & limbs. They were where a small bird, with sharp beak had been picking out small grubs. It (the tree ) was hollow up to 8 feet off the ground, when we cut it.

We decided to cut it down, & replant another tree. So when you are looking for trouble with a plant or a tree, allways look at the whole tree. A lot can be seen about the health of a tree, by it's bark & general aperance.

Do a search on Google.com on ornitimentel evergreens & see if you can match a leaf to your tree. Perhaps this is normal maybe not. We must rule out the obivious first.

Marturo

Hi Marturo,

First and foremost, "Happy Holidays".

So sorry to reply this late. Took some vacation days so as not to lose them and just got back today. Really appreciate your taking the time to respond to my problem.

Going back to the posed question, I don't know yet the variety of the pine tree and that is what I would be trying to find out. I am not sure when the problem started. We took possession of the property last June and really did not make any detailed notations on everything. To make a simpler description of the problem pine, imagine somebody passing by with a full blown streak hairstyle.

Will post again when I find out the name.

Hi Tats,
Happy Holidays to you :)

I'm still reluctant to say that the tree is diying until we know what it is.

Pines like any other plant can can die of course, but this seems like there was no trams or reason for it to die.

Sometimes it's easier to find the type of Pine it is, then do a hunt for it's habits first before jumping to conclusions.

Can you post a link to a picture in your post? We can see what we find.

Marturo

Hi,
I don't know if this helps - but...

Here in New Mexico we're having a plague of bark beetles killing thousands of acres of our pine trees. They are not picky about species - just pine (ponderosa, pinon, etc.).

The reason is severe drought which has lasted four years now. The lack of water causes a decrease in the normal flow of sap in the tree. The sap would typically keep the beetles from boring into the cambium layer beneath the bark by ejecting and/or smothering them.

So - are you watering your trees? See any other pine trees dying nearby?

Evidence of bark beetles are:
1. Very fine sawdust collecting in the crotch between the trunk and limbs (typically lower down towards the base of the tree).
2. Nodules of sap on the bark of the tree where the beetles have entered.

OR MAYBE IT'S JUST NORMAL, AS MARTURO POSTED. A digital picture is woth a thousand reposts.

Hi eab3,

I was wondering if a product called( VaporGuard )would help, you to protect your trees? At least the ones you can reach with spray.

VaporGuard is a natural Antitranspirent like an anti prespirent it prevents water from being lost by the plant. Water that is lost in the wilting leaves is also lost in the fruit. An up & down water cycle in a plant acts the same way on us. If we dehydrate we loose vigor & strenth.

I would use it for a fine spray in the evening over my Plants & trees. We have been in a drought for 5 years & I have seen first hand how plants are stunted & have late small fruit & produce.

All due to wilting in the hot Afternoon Sun, VaporGuard prevents that, so I do not have to run over head water to keep the plants cool. It's a Pinol base, that has been refined to wash off of food with warm soapy water.

The Christmas Farmers I know, use it for steady growth through a Summer drought & to spray on cut trees, to tripple the life of the needles in the warm house.

Just maybe it could help, make the beatle less happy to be on your trees. I just thought of it, as we are finding more uses for it all the time. Sometimes it's better to make your enemy run away, than to do battle & hurt both sides.

We had over 6" of rain in Dec this Winter. That's more than we had the whole Summer before last. Hard to believe we live less than 100 miles from the Smoky Mountain National Park with as much or more rain than Hawaii.

Here's hoping everyone who needs it a wet Winter. We ended Summer with a 47" ground water defecit.
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Tats Said:

To make a simpler description of the problem pine, imagine somebody passing by with a full blown streak hairstyle.

Doesen't that almost sound more like a sheading than dying? I don't know, but Pines have very unusual ways sometimes.

Can you without hurting your back, give a good pull on the tree up not sideways. Just maybe it will feel loose & be dying or tight as tight can be, & just loosing some needles. That is the (Are my roots dead test) best way to find out if a plant is dead or dying.

Marturo

We have several white pines, which are the ones with the long needles. Each fall some of the 'leaves' turn yellow-ish brown and eventually fall, which is a normal part of their dormancy process.

Maybe that's all you're facing. A pic would help. I'd post one of ours so that you could compare, but am having computer problems now, so am not sure I should even try.

~mlminin

Hi to all,

I would request my daughter to take a picture that I can be able to attach to this post. I agree that it would be best for everybody to see it the way it is. Until then, take care everybody.

Hello Tats and Everyone else ;)

You may not be able to post a pic here - the size of attachments is very limited and unless you are a techno-wizard, it may prove frustrating trying (I'm lost there... :( )

It would help if you could describe the form of the pine tree(s), the bark texture and colour, are the needles long (more than 3" ) or short, how many needles per bundle, are they hard and stiff or soft and pliable, are the needles ridged, folded or round, and where do you live?

As Marcia indicates, most 'evergreens' do actually lose their foliage, but the leaves or needles last more than one season and they all do not drop at once, so new ones and old ones are all on the trees at the same time giving the appearance that the needles or leaves are there all the time.

If all of the needles in a section of the tree are turning and dropping, you probably have a problem, but if it is only some, it may be the normal course of nature. An antidescicant as Marturo suggests will help in winter to prevent unnecesary dehydration if the trees are in an exposed area.

Write back with a detailed description if you can't post a pic...

Sometimes the ID game can be challenging, but it that's the key to proper diagnosis :D

Howie

Howdeeeee

Wheeeeeewww All I can say is whewww I thought you ment pinetree seeds. Superseeds.com.

Greenacres64;)