Eastern White Pine help

[m_klem]

We have a beautiful white pine in our yard in Colorado. The tree has done fantastic up until a year ago when the crown did not grow. Now this Spring all of the needles have suddenly turned brown and are falling off the tree. Upon inspection of the tree there appear to be open cankers in the bark on the topsides of the branches. The biggest ones are near the trunk. Some of them are oozing sap. See pictures. We have had an unusually wet Spring this year. I haven't noticed any sawdust or beetle holes bored into the trunk or the branches. Any ideas what it might be? Is it too late to save it?

 

[StihlyinEly]

It looks a lot like white pine blister rust,

Here's a helpful link: http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/php/management/whitepine/

Have a look at all the info and pics and see if they match what's going on.

 

[m_klem]

It could be pine blister rust. I took a closer look at the green bark on the trunk and it does seem "puffy" with some small reddish splotches on it towards the bottom of the tree. I don't see any scales or abnormal reddish growths like they show in those pictures though. If it is the rust then is there a way to treat the tree?.

 

[StihlyinEly]

It could be pine blister rust. I took a closer look at the green bark on the trunk and it does seem "puffy" with some small reddish splotches on it towards the bottom of the tree. I don't see any scales or abnormal reddish growths like they show in those pictures though. If it is the rust then is there a way to treat the tree?.

I don't think so if it's very far advanced. Can you take a pic of the whole tree so we can see its overall condition? From these closeups, looks like a lot of red needles to me, probably too advanced to save the tree. I have not ever tried to prune any out, but have removed several blister rust infested trees for people.

But let's have a look, if possible.

 

[Urban Forester]

Is there sap loss on the trunk, or just the upper side of the branches?