Ponderosa Disease Question

[MrG]

Hi All,

My favorite Ponderosa pine seems to be ailing. Up until the past few weeks I would have considered this tree’s season a big success - a great repot, lots of growth and proper attention. But now the needles are displaying a variety of issues and I’m losing several a day.

I’ve read numerous posts and trying to sort info. Here are some answers to questions that might come up:

-I water every other day only when the tree looks really dry.
-6+ hours of full sun
-no specific trauma
-perhaps it got too dry two weeks ago on very hot days for a few days, not sure as I was away.
-the needles come off when I touch them very lightly, and some on their own
-it’s not uniform across whole tree.
-Doesn’t appear to affect this year’s needles, but some of the small needles did brown and fall off
-in cases like the above, they are more brown than yellow, but many are slightly yellow/brown
-for the majority of the summer, I watered only the roots. Later in summer I watered the foliage much more often which I know was stupid.
-when I repotted this year, I worked on the Shin of the tree mildly, and significantly reduced the pot size. I know this was a bit ambitious but it wasn’t too aggressive to the core root ball size

Some photos below and I’ll add a whole tree photo tomorrow.







I really appreciate any insights. I did apply some bonide granular before realizing that was a shitty idea and should have purchased daconil if anything, so I then removed many of the granules. I try to stay away from chemicals across the board.

All best,
MG

 

[Mike Westervelt]

Looks like normal old needle shedding to me, you do appear to have a minor needlecast infection and Bonide granules are the most effective for me at treating needlecast, however it won't repair already damaged needles.
Ideally the Bonide should applied before the new candles open in early spring.

From what I see your Pondy looks OK, the few new buds visible in your picture look fine.

I have several that were looking beautiful and all green 2 weeks ago and now I'm pulling handfuls of 2-3 year spent brown needles off every day.

 

[Mike Westervelt]

Also we should be generously feeding our mountain pines this time of year if not already doing so

 

[Colorado]

Looks like normal needle drop to me also. Not sure if you’re aware, but ponderosa drop their old 3rd year needles in the fall in bonsai cultivation. So, it’s totally normal this time of year for the old needles to turn brown and fall off. I typically have a bunch of old needles on the bench under my pondos and then I’ll also pull off any visibly dead needles by hand.