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

The white spots are scale. I would treat them with Imidacloprid. Then see how it responds and decide if the browning needles is still an issue.

Agree w Dan. You have wooly aphipds on the buds and scale on the needles. Neither are going to cause much harm. the scale can be scraped off as noted and the wooly aphids can be washed away with a hose on high pressure or a spray bottle w a little dish soap in the water. Or you can treat w a pesticide like Bayer (imidacloprid). Unsighlty but not much risk to the plant.

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.

great trunk line. i want this tree. do you know how to graft? black pine on this would be amazing. get the needles down to ~1" for such a slender tree. it would be worth putting the time in.

both of these gamble oaks were collected in May 2010. the tall one was growing solo and i put it back in the ground in nursery soil. the short one was the center tree in a clump. I put it in a big nursery can full of 100% turface. probably would not do that now. in theory you can go with small er root ball but i didnt. i think pumice would be fine but dont let it dry out. they seem to like wet soil. they grow in clumps so look for good trunk lines and then cut the rest of the stems away to get the best one.

I've found them to be very hearty trees. they are very cold tolerant and grow well in poor soil. you can find them growing south of denver and into new mexico. good luck.