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