# Eastern White Pine



## millbilly (May 15, 2012)

I live in South east Pa. I've been noticing alot of white pines just dying, boom dead gone, with the quickness. They start looking chlorotic and thin and a few months later they are dead. Im talking large mature pines. Anyone hear of a problem with the white pines?


----------



## Toddppm (May 15, 2012)

Alot of White Pines around here have been dying off the last few years. You can watch a row go down 1 by 1 over a few years. Mosty from Pine Bark Beetles I think. Not too many native White Pines here, except up in the mountains, they can't stand our weather extremes.


----------



## limbwalker54 (Jun 5, 2012)

Hey Millbilly,

Gimme a ring next time you get a chance. We have a little more info on that.


----------



## garydale (Jun 11, 2012)

*white pine decline*

White Pine Decline White Pine Decline is a phrase used to describe a variety of symptoms for which the cause is not easily determined. When a white pine is declining or dead due to poor site conditions, remove the plant promptly and replace with pines more able to withstand a poor site.


----------



## millbilly (Jun 11, 2012)

garydale said:


> White Pine Decline White Pine Decline is a phrase used to describe a variety of symptoms for which the cause is not easily determined. When a white pine is declining or dead due to poor site conditions, remove the plant promptly and replace with pines more able to withstand a poor site.



Thanks for you input, Im talking about 30/60 year old trees just dying. Not just in one location, but all over.


----------



## ATH (Jun 11, 2012)

I looked at some 10 year old white pine that just died this year. When I got the call that the trees "suddenly" died, I thought 'you suddenly noticed they died' ... as is normally the case. However these did die suddenly. They e-mailed pictures of a dying tree, and a few weeks later it was all brown.

I cannot blame this on 'decline' because they had 2' of growth last year and better than a foot so far this year. I took off some bark and found bark beetles (pretty sure they are a species of _Ips_ beetles). Based on the galleries, I think they may be _Ips calligraphus_, but I am not quite convinced of that. I have more WP at a different site (probably 75 miles from the first) to look at on Friday - symptoms sound similar, but I'll have to see when I get there if they have similar galleries.

Are there bark beetles in what you are finding? If so, can you post a picture of the galleries?


----------



## Sustainable Grn (Mar 8, 2013)

millbilly said:


> Thanks for you input, Im talking about 30/60 year old trees just dying. Not just in one location, but all over.



Sirex Woodwasp?


----------



## Evelyn (May 29, 2013)

*I'm in northeast pa and same thing happened to my 20 yr old white pine*



millbilly said:


> I live in South east Pa. I've been noticing alot of white pines just dying, boom dead gone, with the quickness. They start looking chlorotic and thin and a few months later they are dead. Im talking large mature pines. Anyone hear of a problem with the white pines?



I was told by a tree removal guy that there is a fungus or some disease down south that was carried northward via Hurricane Sandy? I was wondering if the hurricane had anything to do with it because I noticed many browned white pines at the Jersey Shore this year 2013.


----------



## Oldmaple (Jun 9, 2013)

Have seen problems with white pine around here too. Mostly infested with bark beetle but I usually consider their attack secondary (something else is stressing them first). Haven't come up with any good explanations.


----------



## Castenea (Jun 10, 2013)

I have also seen seemingly healthy white pines die in less than a year where I am in MD. Some on clients, several on my parents place. Often the symptoms are a general bronzing with reduced foliage, followed by death within two years, no obviously treatable problem (borer holes in trunk fungal conks etc.). Some when they are removed do not have the blue staining of Ips or Dendroctonus kills. Most do not have clear soil problems, although one at my parents place we think was sent into decline due to waste water from pool repairs.


----------



## PJM (Jun 10, 2013)

Forest health crews recently reported a needlecast on pine trees that may explain what you are observing. The needlecast affects older needles and where the fungus is occurring white pine trees are shedding 2-3 year old needles resulting in trees with thin crowns. The increase of fungus is being blamed on very wet years in 2008 and 2009.

http://na.fs.fed.us/pubs/palerts/whi...white_pine.pdf


----------

