Austrain Pines Turning Brown - Ask Extension
The needles on about 8 of the Austrian pines in our windbreak are turning brown. It starts at the top of the tress and works its way down until the en...
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Austrain Pines Turning Brown #751154
Asked May 20, 2021, 5:32 PM EDT
The needles on about 8 of the Austrian pines in our windbreak are turning brown. It starts at the top of the tress and works its way down until the entire tree is brown. It takes about a month . I thought this could be caused by our very dry winter so I've been thoroughly watering the windbreak about once a week starting in mid April. This hasn't helped. In fact, a few new trees are starting to turn brown at the top. The second row of our windbreak is Ponderosa pines. They are doing great. What are the possible causes of this and what can I do? The pictures show the various phases of brown.
I live in rural Larimer county near Fort Collins and 4 miles east of I-25 and Anheuser-Busch. It's dry and windy here.
The pictures show the trees in various stages.
May 2021
Larimer County Colorado
Expert Response
Hi John,
The tree in photo #1917 looks like it suffered from the cold snap we had back in October--the temperatures dropped significantly from the 60-70s into the teens. The trees weren't quite hardened off, so we're seeing quite a bit of this this spring.
The others are far more progressed in their decline. Photo #2027 looks like it has few needles, so I suspect that it was maybe in decline last summer?
It's great that you've been watering this spring, but do they receive water during the summer or in the fall and winter on any regular basis?
