Well its not nearly as concerning as whats going on in the world around us but somethign is attacking out Lodgepole. New grown emerged fine, buds opened and needles are about 1" long, and now the new growth is dying.
I assumed it was a pathogen (several other pines have been hit already this year) and I treated once with Mancozeb a broad spectrum fungicide. Next year's buds are set and seem fine. Although sappy, they are still sharp.
New needles appear to be dying from the inside out and only 20-60% on each branch tip are dead. they fall off easily leaving just the sheath, leaving what appear to be healthy new needles right beside the dead ones.
any thoughts? I've had shoot tip larva before on ponderosa. perhaps this is early signs? in those instances the tree was fine and set buds behind the dead tips.
Hey Dan. I'll have to post an update when it starts growing again this Spring. The damaged needles shown in the images above just died off above the site. In fact the tree was shown at DBG during the virtual show as a side piece. I'm actually not sure it was a fungus. I've seen a lot of similar needle damage and i suspect it was an insect. I'll be setting sticky traps and keeping a close eye on my pines this Spring. I'll report back. Hope your trees and structures survived the blizzard without any damage.
-AJ
How is the tree looking this spring Adam?
Had this happen last year on a mugo and on a pinyon. Appears to have gone away with anti-fungal as above.
UPDATE
the pics above show that the needles were dying from the inside-out. Now they are dying from the outside-in as shown here. Has anyone seen this occur?
I treated with Mancozeb. The remaining stubs/partial needles seem fine. I've cleaned the tree of all dead needles. Buds set for next year seem fine.
Hey Adam, I also have one of my limber pines that looks like it has a similar issue. I have also been using Daconil, but has only been about a month and without success yet
A
Pine Tip Blight. I have it on several different pine species. Daconil working great on my trees now. https://rockymtnbonsai.com/index.php/2020/05/04/colorado-bonsai-pine-diseases-in-kansas-tip-blight-dothistroma-needle-blight-and-pine-wilt/