What is attacking Eastern White Pine?

[Blue Sky]

I am an arborist and today I took down a 28 inch white pine that was in decline.  Needles yellowing, foliage half of what a  healthy pine would have.  I noticed what appeared to be open sores on the surface of the bark, with resin oozing out of them.  I got covered with the stuff.  Gunked up my ropes too.  ANY IDEAS?

[SwampDonkey]

blister rust. Requires an alternate host in the Ribies genus (currants and gooseberries). I believe the infection begins in the branches and spreads to the bole. Pruning lower limbs reduces risk of infection, but no guarantees.

Might find this of interest.

http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000413_Rep435.pdf

[Ron Scott]

Ditto, sounds like blister rust. Was it only noticed on one white pine in the area?

[Blue Sky]

I have noticed other trees in our area with signs of die back.  How long does it take for a tree to succumb to this infection?

[SwampDonkey]

Varies, could be 1-4 years for the needle infection to reach the branch and 2" per year advancement toward to main stem. Sometimes the top dies out and there is enough crown below to live for a long time. Meantime it's releasing infectious spores in that rust area that can only germinate on a Ribies plant to reproduce a spore type than infects a white pine.

Remind ya of science fiction?

[Berkshire]

This does sound like white Pine blister rust from the way you've described it. I agree with what the others have said and would like to add to it. One of the first visable signs of the blister rust is looking up at a green tree and seeing one branch that has died (reddish/orange) color. This branch is usually somewhere higher in the tree. Sometimes if you notice this branch and can prune it off in time you can save the tree from the blister rust.

[Blue Sky]

what is common name of ribes?

[Shotgun]

what is common name of ribes?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribes (looooooong list)

Commonly currants & gooseberries.

Norm

[cheyenne]

 The 100 acres next to my property is being butchered & the logger says all the Hemlocks & some pines are dieing from the top down with some unknown disease.The tops are diminishing in color & proceed down with the top wood being punky, It's all going for pulp. He claims that Encon & the cooperative exstention told him cut everything. But they don't know what it is. They think it's air-born. This makes no sense to me. Could this be blister rust, a new invasive, acid rain or an excuse. I have not noticed this on my acreage..........Cheyenne

[SwampDonkey]

Where I'm cutting brush almost 100% of the eastern hemlock are being suppressed by hare browse. You talk about tough wood when they grow suppressed. The blade just bounces off.  They are the weirdest looking shrub you ever saw, other than the leaves you'd think it was something else. And you guys think we don't need coyotes?

[Black_Bear]

The problem described may be blister rust, but currently there are other abiotic and biotic factors affecting white pine in northern New England. The original post was April 2nd, so it is impossible for the pine in question to have been affected by the late frost (at the time of the posting anyhow), but the fungus has been among us (in western Mass. too) for a few years:

http://www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/Cond_2010_3.htm

http://extension.unh.edu/

http://www.vtfpr.org/protection/documents/VTFPR_ForestPestUpdate_June_2010.pdf

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100615/NEWS02/6150309/Fungus-causes-Vermont-pine-trees-drop-needles



 

[Ron Scott]

Fungal Infections Causing Damage to White Pines in Northeast

Bangor Daily News (June 16) - New England's white pine trees are raining needles because of widespread fungal infection, the result of several unusually wet spring and summer seasons. A pair of fungi, Canavirgella banfieldii and Mycosphaerella dearnessii, seem to be the culprits. Commonly known as white pine needle cast, Canavirgella infects 1-year-old needles that began growing the previous year, causing them first to turn yellow and then brown before prematurely falling from the tree. The damage caused by the disease is readily apparent in the state's southern and western counties, where the highest concentration of white pines can be found.

The E-Forester

[SwampDonkey]

It certainly has been wet here the last 4 or 5 summers. This is the first summer in awhile it has been kind of dry for a change.

Last year we had 20" above our normal of 40" for the year.

[SwampDonkey]

Also, folks shouldn't confuse needle cast disease with the natural senescence and cessation of older needles.

[wolfram]

While white pine is not its primary target, the sirex woodwasp will create exit holes that bleed sap in most all pines.

"Several years after the initial infection, white to yellowish orange blisters will push through the bark of the infected branch and release powdery orange spores in the springtime. The presence of these fungal blisters is a definitive sign of white pine blister rust."

[Splinter]

are the mid-upper boles covered in white from pitch?
cut some down and look for brown gray fibrous mats near the source of the pitch.

Calciopsis has entered my woodlot and really done some damage in the last year.
http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000999_Rep1148.pdf

I had been doing TSI with a preference for pine, but have to rethink that now. that crap is everywhere some pines I pruned last year are now completely white on the upper bole from calciopsis. I am in southern nh. Hard to believe a tree bleeding that badly can produce quality wood.
Most of the big trees that have huge crowns are doing ok but intermediates and smaller dominants are getting ravaged.

D

[rgr]

After selectively harvesting northern tolerant hardwoods (near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) in the early 90s, we planted eastern white pines (10,000+) in a few areas in '92-'94 - it has been a lot of work tending to the trees but the hard work is starting to show - with the presence of  Ribes spp. in the area blister rust is a sure bet - but with continuous pruning of branches (no more than 1/3 of total height) and removal of underbrush we have created greater air flow and lower humidity levels (moist environment is good for blister rust) and minimized incidence of blister rust (1 for every 300-400 trees). The removal of the lower branches should be helping as the fungal spores enter through the needles (most likely nearer the ground I suspect). Obviously pruning improves wood quality also (knot free). The pines are growing well and white pine weevil occurrence has been low also as we underplanted the pines with a partial canopy which is now starting to slowly close in.

[smalldog]

Yes, sounds like Blister Rust. I lose about 1 tree every 2 years to the rust. Like others have said, it may start on a limb and work its way to the trunk. Catch it early and cut the limb off when you notice the needles turning brown, then burn it. If it is high in the tree, you can cut below the blister and train the tree to recover. The last couple I have had had the blister down on the trunk close to the ground. There is no hope for that tree, cut it and burn it.

[SwampDonkey]

Nice pine plantation rgr. I battle weevil, and moose, and hares..... but I planted my pine shaded to counter the weevils. I get rust because this land is full of it, not thick, but I can find it in the cedar ground. Now for the moose and hare, I guess a good rifle would help and a few coyotes. Got a lot of coyotes onto the hares by the looks of the tracks out there. They are getting thick, the hares I mean.