Beautiful Ponderosa turning brown

[nuwildcat928]

Hi,
Bought this beautiful ponderosa pine this year. Over the summer I’ve noticed the tips on some distal branches turning brown. No clear source, perhaps trauma related. I came home one day and found the tree had fallen off its pedestal as some squirrels which have bothering my other trees apparently went after the organic fertilizer in the soil. The pot was cracked in several places, rather than repot in mid summer I was advised to duct tape the pot and repot in the spring. It is watered daily using low dose liquid fertilizer intermittently. Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Rick

 

[MaciekA]

Losing a couple shoots decisively while others continue growing is usually a comforting sign if a high-impact incident happened and that incident was responsible for the shoot loss. In propagation of conifers, once you see some parts of a recently-rooted cutting growing while parts decisively wither away, you know the parts that are growing must have a functioning connection to roots. This is kinda similar.

So with that in mind, assessing where a pine is at after a significant stress like an impact, missed watering(s), repot, collection, heavy pruning, etc, is all about convincing yourself that buds and needles appear to have connectivity to roots. You'd see that by observing some 2025 bud expansion at the tips. Take close observations every couple weeks. Also see below about detecting water consumption in the tree.

One thing that isn't clear from your description or photos is whether there was 2024 growth this year to begin with, or whether the tips died. If you saw candles extend and then grow needles, then it is easy to imagine a ponderosa that fell to the ground possibly bonking some tip shoots too hard and just losing those impact-absorbing shoots but otherwise moving forward just fine.

Regarding watering, I would (and this is more true for ponderosa than just about anything else) seriously not water on a schedule ever, and only water if you see significant drying some distance into the soil volume. If it only takes lifting 1 pumice particle off the top to see a moist one immediately underneath it and you're already re-watering, then with ponderosa, that will may get risky, and if you suspect disruption in the roots from a fall, then it would be riskier still. Wounded roots want to form callus, which needs at least some air, more in a ponderosa than others.

If you're already monitoring the soil subsurface and can on a daily basis see the tree physically pulling the moisture out of the soil, then disregard the above, but also, take that as evidence that photosynthesis is functioning in the tree. If you aren't watering strictly according to a somewhat drier outer shell of soil, then starting that practice today will help you directly measure how fast the tree is extracting moisture while the season is still warm. If you observe cyclical drying, take that as a good sign. A dead tree with no life in it usually leaves behind an always-wet soil mass.

 

[shimbrypaku]

Second picture looks like it’s in shade.

I attempt to keep my ponderosa’s in full sun, as much as possible.

Thanks

 

[Mike Westervelt]

Also, on my off balance trees like yours I tie them to the bench with wire, twine, bungee cord anything to prevent tip overs.

 

[River's Edge]

Based on the major damage being two apical buds there is a possibility of Pine Shoot Moth. It is unlikely that the branch broke just before the apical buds in two separate locations that far apart. I would check them more closely and see if you can spot larvae damage at the base of the two shoots! A clear line od demarcation between live growth and dead tissue with an exit hole above the line. Not sure of your location other than a zone rating! Perhaps pine shoot moth is not prevalent in your area. One of the experienced bonsai enthusiast in your neck of the woods could assist with that information. If the tree was acquired after this spring than the location it spent the winter in would be the likely location for moths laying their eggs.

 

[Mikea454]

Am I missing somewhere your location?
when did the wiring get done?

 

[nuwildcat928]

Thanks for the replies. I am located in the Chicagoland area - western suburbs. The fact that at least 2 large apical shoots and one or two smaller near the top seems to speak against trauma. I have relocated the tree to an area where it will get full sun; didn't want to do this before as it would be in the front yard and someone could possibly steal it or something. At this point I'd prefer to just get the tree healthy. I acquired it in the late spring around May or so. Good news is there is new growth from this year and new needles are continuing to push out - just unclear why some shoots are doing well and others are turning brown.

I've heard that ponderosas need less water and when I water, it's less volume than with my other plants, but I'll be more careful about testing the topsoil prior to watering. Maybe I'm just new but it's hard to tell - for instance we had a storm this morning with a lot of rainfall, so I didn't water today. Just checked and dug about a half inch into the soil, feels dry still. Could the plant have moved that much water? Would it be time for me to water by that logic?

Thanks for the concern about pine shoot moths - looked all over the tree, don't see any evidence of that kind of damage, but now I have something new to worry about haha.

 

[nuwildcat928]

Hi,
Wiring was not done by me, so can't say when it was done - purchased from Hidden Gardens and reportedly came from an enthusiast who was trimming down his collection. Could it have been trauma caused by excessive bending during wiring? But the shoots were completely green before I bought the tree so unless it was wired very recently that seems unlikely...

 

[Colorado]

Good looking tree! Ponderosas can be finicky but once you get them figured out they’re pretty awesome.

Sounds like you may actually be underwatering. Hard to say from just the information provided. But I don’t let my pondos get all that dry, especially when it’s super hot out. Maybe it’s different in a more humid location outside of their native range. But I water them deeply just like any other tree every morning in the summer. Sometimes I will skip the second watering for the pondos, though. Depends on the day.