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What's getting to these white pines?

Started by alecs, May 12, 2015, 03:06:01 PM

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alecs

Hi,
Here in MA, we had a pretty rough winter as far as snow and cold temps are concerned.  As we got into March and April, I noticed a lot of Eastern White Pines that seem to have died or are dying.  The first trees I noticed were little saplings, which appeared completely dead.  All needles brown and droopy, and bark looking a kind of weird brown color.  My dad thought it was just natural selection and these trees didn't survive the winter.  But now I am seeing the same thing on branches of larger trees.  My neighbor is convinced it is some exotic pest that is going to wipe out all the trees. 

Any ideas on how to tell what is happening to these trees? 

It looks different that what I am seeing on some other trees.  On some other trees, I have seen yellow needles instead of the brown on these ones.  And in what I believe is normal growth, I have also seen some trees where the needles away from the branch tips are dying.  But the ones I am concerned about are where the whole tree or major limb's needles turn brown and it looks pretty much dead.

Do I need to remove the dead trees to prevent spreading?  Or is it just as my dad says - natural selection and nothing to be worried about.

Thanks,
Alecs



  

  

 

pine

Without seeing any photos of the branches up near the trunks have you considered white pine blister rust?  It is a big issue with white pine out west don't know how prevalent it is back east.

alecs

I looked at the pictures online for blister rust, and the needle damage looks similar.  However, I don't see the fungal growth that is supposed to be prevalent on the branches or main stem.  They just look kind of brown.  I'll take a closer look later today and take some more closeup pics.

thanks

alecs

OK,
Here is a close up picture of where a branch meets the trunk for a small sapling.  This condition, whether blister rust or something else, seems to be affecting lots of trees in this area, mostly the little saplings that are a few years old, but also some branches on larger trees. 

The branches that are affected tend to look "wrinkly" like in this picture, and the ones that seem to have been affected for longer end up looking uniformly brown all over, instead of like the brown patches on this tree.

Any more ideas based on this clue?


 
Thanks
Alec

Den Socling

The hardwoods people around here wouldn't care about an attack on White Pine. They are taking over the forest.

pine

Here is a link to an article on western White Pine Blister Rust.
http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/php/management/whitepine/

Here is a picture that shows a very similar bark discoloration to what you have.  I do not know eastern white pine.




A young canker on the main stem near the base of a western white pine sapling showing the characteristic orange coloration of the bark around the border of the canker. This tree will probably be killed within a few years

Ianab

What's the tree canopy like above the pine saplings? If they aren't getting enough light they just get sickly, spindly and  eventually die of something. Pine generally needs a good amount of light to regenerate. A larger clearing or a clearcut. Once other trees start to shade them out, they don't do well.

It may some sort of fungus that eventually kills them, but it's because the tree is weakened and conditions are damp under the canopy.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

g_man

I have a lot of eastern white pine and I see quite a bit of blister rust. Usually one branch is first infected and dies. A canker forms at the base of the dead branch. There is a lot of pitch oozing from the canker. It usually takes a long time (years) for the canker to choke the entire stem and for the entire tree to die.

Since you posted the picture of the "wrinkly" branches I have been looking for some like that and have not found any.

gg

4x4American

If you have a log with that blister rust is that what will cause red rot or some thing else?
Boy, back in my day..

BaldBob

Quote from: 4x4American on May 15, 2015, 08:23:37 PM
If you have a log with that blister rust is that what will cause red rot or some thing else?

Something else. Other than Blister Rust weakening the tree and making it more susceptible to other diseases, there is no relationship between Blister Rust and Red Rot.

Gary_C

I am thinning a white pine stand right now with scattered blister rust and the infected trees do not look like anything you have.

I suspect it's just moisture or cold stress that is causing the weaker trees to succumb.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Phorester


Dig up one or two that look to have recently died, and one or two live ones and compare the root systems.  If the tree appears to have been dead for more than a few months, rotting of the root system might mask root problems that might have killed it. Check for missing bark, check to see if the root system on the dead ones looks to be fewer in number than on the live ones, etc.  Might be a critter chewing the roots underground. Might be a root disease in the dead ones.

Don't just pull up the trees, dig them.  Pulling them up could simply pull away dead or thin roots and mask the condition of the entire root system.

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