suffering pine trees - Ask Extension
I have a new home to me, previous owners planted in 2008 several pine trees, various species. I do not know what they all are, except the Ponderosa pi...
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suffering pine trees #427751
Asked September 20, 2017, 9:05 AM EDT
I have a new home to me, previous owners planted in 2008 several pine trees, various species. I do not know what they all are, except the Ponderosa pines. I believe there are 11 pine tress spread out in this yard, various species.
Several of the pine, more the larger trees, have a lot of dead needles. A woman who had once lived in Loveland told me she had a similar issue and used railroad spikes for rust / iron, she drove them in the ground around the trees. I love this answer because I will not use chemicals to fertilize etc due to pets in the yard. Spikes are innocuous to pets. I know this may not be a scientific treatment, rather an old fashioned treatment. Would you please tell me what you know? How many / tree, I put four around the larger trees that are suffering most. One at small trees. Is there more to do? I have been watering the spikes to get the rust going.
As well as watering the tress when it doesn't rain for more than a 1-2 weeks.
I wonder how often should I water pine trees? A neighbor waters in winter?
Finally can the spike treatment be used for doug fir, blue spruce, even junipers?
I am open to other treatments for pines / fir, spruce juniper etc, just no chemicals of any sort please.
I will try to get a good image, so far it difficult for the severity of needle loss and dead branches to sow in a photo.
Thank you, sincerely, I do not want to loose any tress, I feel awful about their condition now.
Several of the pine, more the larger trees, have a lot of dead needles. A woman who had once lived in Loveland told me she had a similar issue and used railroad spikes for rust / iron, she drove them in the ground around the trees. I love this answer because I will not use chemicals to fertilize etc due to pets in the yard. Spikes are innocuous to pets. I know this may not be a scientific treatment, rather an old fashioned treatment. Would you please tell me what you know? How many / tree, I put four around the larger trees that are suffering most. One at small trees. Is there more to do? I have been watering the spikes to get the rust going.
As well as watering the tress when it doesn't rain for more than a 1-2 weeks.
I wonder how often should I water pine trees? A neighbor waters in winter?
Finally can the spike treatment be used for doug fir, blue spruce, even junipers?
I am open to other treatments for pines / fir, spruce juniper etc, just no chemicals of any sort please.
I will try to get a good image, so far it difficult for the severity of needle loss and dead branches to sow in a photo.
Thank you, sincerely, I do not want to loose any tress, I feel awful about their condition now.
Jefferson County Colorado
Expert Response
To find the most appropriate person to answer your question, what county in Colorado do you reside? Thanks! Ruth
Jefferson... have you thought of making county a mandatory question for your service...not optional.
Hello,
It would be wonderful to have photos of the trees. I would not recommend iron until sure what is causing the needles to drop. Even if iron is the eventual treatment, it would have to be a formulation of iron called chelated iron in order to be effective in our soils; rusty spikes would have no effect.
To get a better understanding of what is going on with your evergreens:
It would be wonderful to have photos of the trees. I would not recommend iron until sure what is causing the needles to drop. Even if iron is the eventual treatment, it would have to be a formulation of iron called chelated iron in order to be effective in our soils; rusty spikes would have no effect.
To get a better understanding of what is going on with your evergreens:
- What is the damage pattern on the trees, and is it the same for all trees. For example, top-down, bottom-up, spiral.
- What color do the needles turn before they drop?
- When did you first notice the damage?
- Are the evergreens located in a lawn?
- Are you watering by hand or with an irrigation system?
- Established pines can be watered weekly or less. http://extension.colostate.edu/docs/pubs/garden/07421.pdf
- All evergreens benefit from winter water when there has been no precipitation for a month and morning temperatures are above 40F. http://extension.colostate.edu/docs/pubs/garden/07211.pdf
here are some pics...this is the worst tree first. I will send three more in another email...capacity is only 3.
Did I mention I do not want to use chemical fertilizers due to pets??
Thank you
Three more, I also have fir or spruce trees suffering? Would they be rescued the same way? Shall I send pics of them as well? TX
to answer your questions next:
1) damage appears to be bottom up
2) brown
3) when I moved into this new property in 2016.
4) yes in grass but not a "lawn" and not fertilized by me any way.
5) water by hand / hose with city water.
Hello,
Thank you for the photos and for your responses. Several of the photos show trees with symptoms of root disease (small, yellow, chlorotic foliage; reduced growth; scorch; tufted leaves at the end of branches; and branch dieback), as described in this CSU Fact Sheet on Healthy Roots/Trees: http://extension.colostate.edu/docs/pubs/garden/02926.pdf . Here are my observations on the individual photographs:
Photo 1: Some of the needle browning could be normal aging: needles normally live 3-5 years, then brown before dropping off in late summer. The general thin-ness of the foliage could be either under- or over-watering. Check the soil beneath the dripline of the tree by probing with an 8" screwdriver, or digging down gently to check soil moisture at about 8". While you're digging/probing, check the depth of the first structural roots (growing laterally below the crown): trees planted too deep can fail to thrive.
Photo 2: Looks pretty good. Would you send a photo of the entire tree?
Photo 3: Overall, this tree looks fairly healthy. The slight scorching from the bottom up, can be an indication of root dysfunction: either from planting depth or over-watering.
Photo 4: The dead branches following a path from the same side of the tree indicate possible root damage. From the photo, it doesn't appear that you would be able to prune it into a balanced shape, so you'll best consider removing it.
Photo 5: Based on the lack of trunk flare at the base of the tree, this one is planted too deeply, so that the roots can't function properly to provide oxygen to the tree. Since it is still small, you can consider raising it to see whether that helps it put on growth next year. To do this, dig up the tree, carefully retaining as much of the rootball as possible; to provide a firm base for the root ball, add enough native soil to the hole to position the top structural roots 2-3 inches below the soil line. Back fill with soil. Replace the grass below the tree with wood mulch. Follow this link to the CSU document on tree planting http://static.colostate.edu/client-files/csfs/pdfs/TreePlanting_636.pdf.
Photo 6: Unless this is a Pinyon pine (which it doesn't appear to be based on paired needles in the photo), this pine appears to have a pretty heavy load of Pine-needle Scale, a sap-feeding insect. These can be controlled with beneficial insects, dormant oil or crawler sprays in spring http://extension.colostate.edu/docs/pubs/insect/05514.pdf.
For the most part, fir and spruce will show similar symptoms in response to root damage or watering issues. I would be glad to look at additional photos; where possible include a photo of the entire tree. Another option is to bring in samples to the Jefferson County Diagnostic Clinic ($7 fee for each), where we can more definitively assess the problem. In the mean time, don't fertilize any of the trees that are understress, as that could push them beyond their limit.
Best regards,
Thank you for the photos and for your responses. Several of the photos show trees with symptoms of root disease (small, yellow, chlorotic foliage; reduced growth; scorch; tufted leaves at the end of branches; and branch dieback), as described in this CSU Fact Sheet on Healthy Roots/Trees: http://extension.colostate.edu/docs/pubs/garden/02926.pdf . Here are my observations on the individual photographs:
Photo 1: Some of the needle browning could be normal aging: needles normally live 3-5 years, then brown before dropping off in late summer. The general thin-ness of the foliage could be either under- or over-watering. Check the soil beneath the dripline of the tree by probing with an 8" screwdriver, or digging down gently to check soil moisture at about 8". While you're digging/probing, check the depth of the first structural roots (growing laterally below the crown): trees planted too deep can fail to thrive.
Photo 2: Looks pretty good. Would you send a photo of the entire tree?
Photo 3: Overall, this tree looks fairly healthy. The slight scorching from the bottom up, can be an indication of root dysfunction: either from planting depth or over-watering.
Photo 4: The dead branches following a path from the same side of the tree indicate possible root damage. From the photo, it doesn't appear that you would be able to prune it into a balanced shape, so you'll best consider removing it.
Photo 5: Based on the lack of trunk flare at the base of the tree, this one is planted too deeply, so that the roots can't function properly to provide oxygen to the tree. Since it is still small, you can consider raising it to see whether that helps it put on growth next year. To do this, dig up the tree, carefully retaining as much of the rootball as possible; to provide a firm base for the root ball, add enough native soil to the hole to position the top structural roots 2-3 inches below the soil line. Back fill with soil. Replace the grass below the tree with wood mulch. Follow this link to the CSU document on tree planting http://static.colostate.edu/client-files/csfs/pdfs/TreePlanting_636.pdf.
Photo 6: Unless this is a Pinyon pine (which it doesn't appear to be based on paired needles in the photo), this pine appears to have a pretty heavy load of Pine-needle Scale, a sap-feeding insect. These can be controlled with beneficial insects, dormant oil or crawler sprays in spring http://extension.colostate.edu/docs/pubs/insect/05514.pdf.
For the most part, fir and spruce will show similar symptoms in response to root damage or watering issues. I would be glad to look at additional photos; where possible include a photo of the entire tree. Another option is to bring in samples to the Jefferson County Diagnostic Clinic ($7 fee for each), where we can more definitively assess the problem. In the mean time, don't fertilize any of the trees that are understress, as that could push them beyond their limit.
Best regards,
