Hello Preston,

this is actually normal behavior for this pine. In the late fall each year, the majority of the prior year's needles will turn yellow and be shed. Unless you learn the art of candle pruning each year to keep the annual growth in line, your resulting tree after 10 years will be very lanky and open.

It could possibly also be your native soil. You don't say where you have the tree planted, but as a Southwestern U.S. native, Pinus reflexa thrives in hot, well drained, rocky locations with very little supplemental irrigation. It will potentially flounder in clay and soggy conditions.

Not really the best of news, but I hope I helped answer your question.

~Dave

my way of saying it ...

no conifer holds its needles forever.. 1 to 3 years max .. interior needles are a season or two old.. and are shed in fall according ot genetics ...

the only time you have an issue.. is when this years needles fall off ... but even that can be tolerated ... IF THOSE BUDS REMAIN VIABLE ...

the browning is increased by transplant.. drought.. or any other stressors ...

your pix is a little weird.. to close.. and it looks crooked.. but it all looks normal.. i think.. lol ... show us the other pic ....

these rules are not dependent on it being a pine ... its all conifers ....

ken

ps: neither will ever NEED any fertilizer.. this is genetics.. not feed the baby ...

pps: it should have reached native soil at planting.. if you amended the hole... that is not recommended ... come back BEFORE you plant your next batch ... welcome the the GW conifer forum.. and do come back.. so we can enable you.. and you will get that next batch ... lol ...

"no conifer holds its needles forever.. 1 to 3 years max .. interior needles are a season or two old.. and are shed in fall according ot genetics ... "

First part true, but second part not true - the number of years each needle is held varies a lot from species to species. It can be up to 40 years in Bristlecone Pine. In this instance, it should be 3-4 years, and the poster's plant is showing less than that, just 1ý years, so it clearly isn't too happy. I'd suspect this is just due to transplant shock on a newly planted tree, it should recover as the root system re-establishes over the next year or two.

Resin

Hi again - Thanks for your replies. Here's another picture. Hopefully this one will be a little better for you, Ken. Just let me know if you would like more pics. I took several shots of it.

I live in Joplin, MO (the place the EF5 tornado hit a couple years ago, though it missed us by 3/4 mile). The tree was grown in Oregon and I bought it from the Home Depot here (the one that was on the national news and destroyed by the tornado - not that anyone member that or that it even matters as far as this tree is concerned). Anyway, the tree is in very rocky and well-drained soil.

I hate to admit it, but I don't know what type of oil I have here (that's because I'm just a beginner and didn't even have any interest in trees or doing yard work of any sort until this summer and I haven't had a chance to get to that yet). We have a lot of native oak trees around if that tells anyone anything.

Anyway, my Limber Pine seems to be getting worse by the day. I had given it a good soaking since I hadn't watered it in a week or two, and then we happened to get a lot of rain over several days, so maybe it just got too much water(?).

As far as transplant shock, it had looked beautiful and very happy for about 3 months, then all of a sudden it's turning yellow. This seemed to begin after I'd watered it, however it's possible it could have started before that and I just didn't notice it, being that it began on the west side of the tree and I don't often look at it from that side.

sorry i meant "soil" not "oil" LOL

i will yell: IT ALL LOOKS NORMAL ... period ..

water it when it NEEDS WATER .. insert finger and find out ...

your soil is PERFECT ... high drainage is the ONLY thing a pine needs ...

one wants a drink.. and then NEAR drying in between the next deep watering ... [sounds like me and scotch .. lol .. takes a week or two to want more.. lol ..]

how much shade is this thing in ...

it has been sheared by the producer to be an xmas shape.. its future.. as some one way above noted.. is not that shape.. unless you make it so ...

this is a see-thru pine.. in the long run.. based on how it sheds its needles ...

as far as this goes.. i will yell again .. lol ... QUIT WORRYING ... its normal ...

i remember me first pines way back when.. i went thru the same worry ... but i didnt have GW to tell me not to worry about it ... so dont worry ....

i am surprised.. you arent seeing this in general in your area ...... as you travel the roads ... once you are aware of it.. you start noticing it everywhere ...

come back often ...

ken

I agree with Ken 100 percent. Drive around and seek out any area with old very large mature pines...then look down. On the ground under them you will see layers of needles from years of shedding.

Another opinion:
End of the season browning of older needles is normal in conifers.

But, you planted this tree 3 months ago.
- I suggest that the original root ball is dry, and/or dried out in the past - but within the 3 months it's been at your place.
- To determine if this tree has enough moisture, check the soil of the original rootball.
- Concentrate on adding supplemental water to the original rootball as often as needed.

Any big box store conifer setting around most of the summer in the environment it is subject too has one strike against it.

I am assuming it's B&B. Looks to large to be a potted but nothing surprises me anymore That's also bad if grown in a container that long.

If B&B probably just suffering from not enough root mass to support all the foliage. In that case it will shed what it can't support. Most pines do shed inner needles every year but yours seems to be excessive.

It usually takes 3 years for a new transplant to recover if it does. It's all in the roots and sometimes there is not enough left to support and maintain general health of the plant.

You will know by mid summer next year. Save your receipt.

Dave

This post was edited by Davesconifers on Fri, Nov 8, 13 at 12:03

Thanks everyone for all your help/opinions. I've attached another picture... See the nice green and light blue colors? That's how it looked until about a week ago. It was gorgeous all over. It did have some dead/brown needles in it already near the center, which is how it came from Home Depot. I'm not worried about those though. It's the ones that look YELLOW that suddenly turned that way a few days ago after I gave it a good soaking and then we had several days of rain. Anyway, I appreciate all your opinions. Thanks again!

P.S. I know the yard looks a mess in the pictures, but the leaves all dropped at once a couple days ago and I haven't had a chance to deal with them yet. Normally we don't have all those leaves on the lawn!

It's still just the old needles turning yellow, the 2013 foliage is healthy. So don't worry, it has a very good chance of recovery.

Resin

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Posted by Preston64804 6B (My Page) on
Thu, Nov 7, 13 at 13:34

As far as transplant shock, it had looked beautiful and very happy for about 3 months, then all of a sudden it's turning yellow.
***

It did a good job keeping most/all the needles after a transplant. So no, this doesn't look like any problem to me. My pines lose the oldest needles every fall too. After a few strong wind/rain events, those fall off & the trees look fine.

Preston64804, JFYI, as Resin has explained on previous threads, this pine is actually a bluish cultivar of southwestern white pine (P reflexa), and not limber pine (P flexilis).

I don't think the needle-yellowing is an issue, but I'm always concerned about pot-grown trees & girdling roots, especially w/pines. Carefully/gently scratch away the soil right around the base at the trunk to expose the root crown & you should be able to tell. I had to perform severe but necessary girdling-root surgery on my pot-grown southwestern white pine after receiving it -- took it some yrs to recover.