Here's the other normal pinon. you can see how extreme the needledrop was beginning later last summer. Up until then he'd been ok.

you have had these for 3 years???? .. how big were they when you got them????

where are you ... how cold did it get??? .. were they wind protected ...

how was the pot protected... when is the last time you changed the media... how do you fertilize it ...

is pinion east coast viable?? .. are summers too hot???

where they covered in snow???

how did you plant them in the ground?? ... what is your native soil ... are they in full sun ...

last pic.. the buds look viable ... i have had pines lose all their needles after a bad winter.. and bud out fine ... so there is hope ... i cant see any buds ont eh others.. due to the pic ...

ken

Hi, thanks, for responding. Hope you can digest all this.

The specific species is Pinus koraiensis and its dwarf

Found the receipt -- they were planted in 2012 -- and were very young seedlings. ordered from Burnt Ridge.

I'm 40 miles north of New York City. Its been an unusually consistently cold winter. Not much in the way of record cold. But I don't recall significant snow cover starting in January -- and not seeing the ground for 2 months-- ever.

The potted one has had nothing done to the media (ground soil, maybe, originally some compost and peat.) since potting -- nor was the pot protected this winter.

They all were completely under snow for essentially 2 months.

Climate-zone is reasonable -- though its potentially more wet here than I believe they'd prefer. The last two summers have been surprisingly mild and even tempd.and aside from Sandy (which was not much here) there've been no tropical soakers.

They're definitely not in full sun. the potted and its buddy They mostly get dappled shade and only get afternoon sun -- and not for very long.

The other three, in the ground, get much more sun -- but not AM -- and the straggly one gets the least.

The media for all 5 is pretty much local soil/compost/peat. Most of the soil I use I scrounge from around the property. It has a high %. worm castings. Top soil is not something easy to find here (ledge/bed rock not very far below any surface). I typically have a yard trucked in every few years -- and then augment with compost, peat, leaf litter and castings.

Fertilization was last spring with, maybe, a Tablespoon or two of ground up evergreen fertilizer spikes per plant.

I'm ok with slow growing (not enough sun etc.) but I do want to address anything that's symptomatic.

I couldn't get my neighbor to agree to let me take down one of their 60' secondary spindle-growth oaks. Its leaning, but not, unfortunately, toward their house. That'd net me about 3 hours of AM sun. Trees don't root deeply here given the rocks under the surface. I hope for a day with 3-4 inches of rain immediately followed by a heavy wind from the NE....