About a month ago, I noticed some of my pines turning yellow near the base of the needles.
Yellowing pine needles
I rarely see this in my older pines, but it sometimes shows up in the younger trees in my garden. It’s a common sign that the trees are staying too wet between waterings.
After a warm spring, the weather turned cool where I live. The morning fog is burning off later in the day and it’s returning earlier in the evening. As a result, my trees need less water.
When the temperatures were warmer, watering was simple – one time per day was perfect for most trees. Now that it’s cooler, I have to pay more attention to the needs of each tree.
In general, the yellowing shows up in trees that were repotted this year, typically young trees that were planted in significantly larger containers. Pines with more mature root systems and younger pines that are more root-bound dry out faster and appreciate the extra water.
Healthy pine foliage
One approach to simplifying care for trees with yellowing needles is to group them together. This can increase the odds that the trees with yellow needles stay dry when needed and the green trees receive the water they need.
Have other tricks for providing trees with the right amount of water? Share them in the comments below!
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Alessandro says
August 3, 2018 at 3:21 pmCiao Jonas! I have only three pine so it’s very easy for me to weight the trees to understand if they need water or not!😊
In winter (I live in Venezia) sometimes the trees takes 7 to 10 days to dry the soil. In summer sometimes (like the last few weeks) I water the trees 2 times per day!
Irina says
August 15, 2018 at 12:47 amThank you for the information you give us. You have a good experience of keeping the pines. Maybe you can help me.
I had problems with pine sylvestris this summer. The tree was excavated in the forest in 2015
Needles in this season grew too big and thick. A week ago I discovered that it easily detaches itself and falls off at the slightest touch. In appearance the tree is absolutely healthy. Many new kidneys, needles have a green color. During the summer, watering is daily. The soil did not dry completely. Can watering or excessive fertilizers be the reason?
I live in Ukraine.
Jonas Dupuich says
August 15, 2018 at 6:57 amHi Irina! I don’t know of a disease that detaches healthy-looking needles. Is it possible that the needles aren’t completely mature? When pine needles reach full length there is a brief period when the needles can break away easily. Over several weeks the needle strengthens the connection to the branch. Excessive fertilizer or water can cause problems, but I’d expect the needles to discolor before they fall off if that were the case.