# White Pine Sudden Death



## Biff_CT2 (Aug 7, 2011)

Funny thing.

Here in the 'hood I've had four neighbors who have had pines on thier lots go orange, and die suddenly.  There's never been any rythme or reason to it - I've personally used my saw to drop two of the things.  I'm not a fan of pines, and it seems everyone has the stuff in their chimnea backyard woodpile.

Turns out that DuPont and the local lawn services may be responsible.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...n_jKBw&usg=AFQjCNHKgQ200TDbsjYepPq28QEvmuPzpQ

Makes me feel better about passing on the lawn service advertisements that constantly show up in the mail.


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## rdust (Aug 7, 2011)

I have a bunch of white pines down my west property line and a half dozen of them have gone orange and dropped all the needles.  The ones that dropped last year are regrowing the tips this year.  Not sure what the ones that just turned are going to do but if I scrap the branches a little with my finger nail they're still green.  I'll let them go a while before I cut them since the ones from last year seem to be making a come back.  I know mine have never been sprayed with anything so I'll let it play out.  

I was digging around and it seems either real wet conditions or dry conditions can cause these symptoms in white pines.  I've actually been meaning to make a post about this to see what other thought of it all.  Those pines are 20+ years old and provide a nice break between me and the neighbors, I'd hate to lose them.


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## Biff_CT2 (Aug 8, 2011)

rdust said:
			
		

> I have a bunch of white pines down my west property line and a half dozen of them have gone orange and dropped all the needles.  The ones that dropped last year are regrowing the tips this year.  Not sure what the ones that just turned are going to do but if I scrap the branches a little with my finger nail they're still green.  I'll let them go a while before I cut them since the ones from last year seem to be making a come back.  I know mine have never been sprayed with anything so I'll let it play out.
> 
> I was digging around and it seems either real wet conditions or dry conditions can cause these symptoms in white pines.  I've actually been meaning to make a post about this to see what other thought of it all.  Those pines are 20+ years old and provide a nice break between me and the neighbors, I'd hate to lose them.



Yep, it may be one of those combination of factors type issues.

Too wet/too dry, and application of a bit of poorly tested poison - bam, dead trees.  What I'm seeing here is that the needles go completely orange in a matter of weeks.  I've not seen one come back once it goes orange.  What you've described soulds different.

I've always been averse to fertiziler, crab grass killer, grub killer and the like - if only because the crap is hazardous to the kids and dog, and costs money that I'd rather spend on other things.  My neighbors don't share my concerns unfortunately - though they have nices lawns.  Apparently there may be other benefits.


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## maplewood (Aug 8, 2011)

My neighbour planted some Scots Pine all over his property, and now they are 12"-18" through.  About 2 years ago they all started to die off.  Not sure if it's a bug, pollution or what.  
We've been cutting them down - free softwood!  I burned about 1.5 cord last winter (mixed with my hardwood), and I'll do it again for the next 2 or 3 years.
I'm not calling this scrounging.  It's helping a friend.
Happy burning.


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## Backwoods Savage (Aug 8, 2011)

rdust, the white pines dropping the needles is very common. I think we may have talked about some of our whites when you were here. We thought they were dead several times but then suddenly they really shot up. We might be having another problem with them though and maybe tomorrow I'll take some pictures and post them.


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## rdust (Aug 9, 2011)

Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

> rdust, the white pines dropping the needles is very common. I think we may have talked about some of our whites when you were here. We thought they were dead several times but then suddenly they really shot up. We might be having another problem with them though and maybe tomorrow I'll take some pictures and post them.




I know the white pines drop needles seasonally but it's usually just the inside needles.  Mine are turning full orange in a matter of weeks and dropping everything.  The tips then regrow with fresh needles the next year.  I'm not sure how the current ones losing their needles are going to respond, I hope it's positive.  

I'll try to run out and snap some pictures before the light is gone, if not I'll get some up tomorrow.

Edit:  Here is one of the ones that just went orange a week or so back.


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## Biff_CT2 (Aug 9, 2011)

rdust said:
			
		

> Backwoods Savage said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




That looks like what I'm seeing here.  I'll grab a shot of the tree I have in mind on a neighbor's lot.

Do your expect that to come back?  That pine looks toasted to me.


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## rdust (Aug 9, 2011)

Biff_CT2 said:
			
		

> That looks like what I'm seeing here.  I'll grab a shot of the tree I have in mind on a neighbor's lot.
> 
> Do your expect that to come back?  That pine looks toasted to me.




No idea if it'll come back, last year I had some do the same thing and this year they have green tips.  If you scrap a little of the branch it's still green so it's not "dead" yet.


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## billb3 (Aug 9, 2011)

Only white pines I've seen lose all their needles like that and eventually come back (although the needles were a bit yellower than normal after) was when we threw some root killer chemicals in the grey water cistern to leach out into the  leach tubes.

When the trees came back to life we cut them down.

I needed the roots out of the tubes.


Nice that the pines were taking  up the water, but the roots would gum up the works being too close.


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## Backwoods Savage (Aug 9, 2011)

rdust, that does not look good at all.


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## Jags (Aug 9, 2011)

Do a search on "Needle Cast" and see if that might be the culprit.  I don't know if larger trees are as susceptible as smaller ones, but I spray twice a year on some 3 and 4 footers for that reason.


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