Hey all, hoping to get some opinions on some white pines. Location: Midwest
We have a grouping of 5 (originally 6) pine trees on our property. One of them went completely brown and died within about 4-5 weeks after being fairly healthy for years. The bare areas of branches on the pines in the images are where that pine originally was. My understanding is this is common with “white pine decline”.
The dead pine happened about a month ago. We had multiple professionals come out to look at the other 5 to determine health. I’ve gotten remarks from beetles, to root and trunk diseases, to they are healthy, to some shrugs that it could be anything since they aren’t normally native to this area.
I’ve noticed lately that some of the needles are beginning to turn brown on the existing trees, mostly on the underside of the branches or near the bottom of the trees. There is extensive sap everywhere, but a couple arborists said it wasn’t anything too excessive and indicated healthy healing even though it’s in a lot of places. The roots above ground can look a bit rough, but could this just be healing from something like a lawnmower?
I’m trying to understand what is actually wrong (if anything) with them or if these local arborists are more interested in referrals or likely unneeded treatments. Getting multiple answers from multiple arborists isn’t helping.
Is this browning normal as temps cool, especially now that one pine died completely? If it’s something transmitted by roots, isn’t treatment a waste at this point? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
by SamSmitty
2 Comments
White pines do loose about a third of their needles each fall on average. Some years more, some years less but usually right around that mark. Root damage is most likely caused by a mower.
I’m not a white pine expert. But the few that I own always drop needles in the fall. Not all their needles, but definitely enough to notice them accumulating on the ground around the tree.