What killed this pine?

[BlueRidgeMark]

This pine was looking pretty bad when we moved in a year ago, and is stone cold dead now. The top was about half green when we moved in, and the last green at the very top went brown in the last few months.

Any ideas? And can you tell what kind it is?






Its next door neighbors had some brown around the lower limbs last year, but have greened up this spring.

 

[smokechase II]

pouch conks

The small fruiting bodies look like pouch conks that are more typical of a pine tree being dead 2+ years on the west coast.
They are not a cause of death as far as I know. Pouch conks, I think, represent a rotting process and not a killing one.
That could well be wrong.
Anxiously awaiting responses.

Are there any concerns with the roots, drought etc?

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Could be rotting. It's been a long time dying, I expect. We've been here just shy of a year, but it was already far gone then.


Anybody want to climb this baby?

 

[Newfie]

From the pics I would suggest it is a hemlock likely killed by wooly adelgid. Hard to see the needles though.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I'll get some better pics in the morning. I'm sure it's not hemlock. The leaves and cones are wrong. It and its buddies (it's one of 6 in a row) look like pines to me. I'm just not sure of the variety.


Spent most of my life in the west, so I don't know these eastern trees. I'm larnin'!

 

[pinus]

Pine, absolutely
Looks to me as was said. Not a sudden death. The funguses loaded the basement for the attack of beetles, whose killed the tree boring into the cambium finally, probably.

 

[jrizman]

Pine, absolutely
Looks to me as was said. Not a sudden death. The funguses loaded the basement for the attack of beetles, whose killed the tree boring into the cambium finally, probably.

second all that (Virginia pine, but need foliar pics). bettles most likely finally killed her. look for small holes in the trunk to confirm this.
i also agree that those conks did not kill it, but are sign of rotting within. best idea to remove this tree quickly if it has a target.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I plan to post more pics tomorrow.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Confirmed, it's Virginia pine. Sorry I never got those pics posted. Here's what I found when I felled it today:



A close up:



Dunno if this is the culprit, or just an opportunist. There were a number of beetles, but I didn't get a picture.

The wood on the lean side was fairly punky already, and ants had mades themselves at home:

 

[l2edneck]

Possibly lightining? Was there any burn marks? We had a out break of those worms I think they just eat the already dead.(i am prolly wrong so pls correct me if i am)

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

No lightning. It had a green top a year ago.

 

[jrizman]

I would suggest that the beetles killed it (those white things are larvae, part of the beetle life cycle). We have had some pretty bad outbreaks down here in the south. the big one was back in the late 90s and they come and go in cycles. they usually attack stressed trees (drought, hard winter, etc).
Thatll make some nice firewood (its dry and will split well and burn hottt!). i use it to start the evenings oak logs

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Yeah, some people are afraid to burn pine, but I'm not one of them! In fact, that's my new plan for it. Had a plan to use them for a planter, so I bucked them to 5' lengths to make them easier to move around. Got them into place, and didn't like the looks of it, so it's off to the firewood pile.


I did get a good look at the beetles today, as I was moving the logs around. Black, about an inch, inch and a quarter. I looked them up, and they (and their damage) fit the description and picture:

http://www.gardening123.com/ProductInfo/sevin/PestList.asp?TM=2&PestCat=1


Funny thing - when I cut the stump down (for later grinding), I found the base was pretty full of ants on one side. One of my boys was watching them, and called me over to see a couple of ants apparently holding a small beetle prisoner. Not a pine beetle - too small, about the size of the ants. Half inch or so. Every time he would pop his head out of one of the holes, you'd see an ant come up behind him and start dragging him back in, and another ant outside the hole would rush over and head him off and help stuff him back in the hole!

Should I have called 911?

 

[jrizman]

I hear that, i feel pine burns well too, get it hot and the resin will not do much to clog anything up. i clean out the pipe every fall

im not sure what one you linked to, sorry i didnt provide the beetle earlier, this is the one:
http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/trees/southern_pine_beetle.htm

they have done wonders to the pines in the southeast, hardcore infestation lately. There are also several beetles doing some crazy ???? to the pines out west also

nice, ant dining at its finest! glad u get your kid out there to check that stuff out!

 

[Fumbler]

Southern pine beetles are less than 1/8 inch long, that larva is way too big. Also, if it was SPBs then the opther trees in the row would probably be dead too.

To get a good ID of the beetle, you have to show us a picture of the galleries.
Peel off some of the bark and you'll see the galleries that the larvae make. Each beetle has a particular pattern.

From the first photos it kinda looks like ips beetles.

 

[jrizman]

Southern pine beetles are less than 1/8 inch long, that larva is way too big. Also, if it was SPBs then the opther trees in the row would probably be dead too.

To get a good ID of the beetle, you have to show us a picture of the galleries.
Peel off some of the bark and you'll see the galleries that the larvae make. Each beetle has a particular pattern.

From the first photos it kinda looks like ips beetles.

I disagree. SPB can be large, especially while they are actively feeding on the wood (inside of the tree) and boring holes in it. SPB will focus on any stressed trees. i have seen them in one and not in any others just adjacent to the infested one (however they may move to the others soon if the popluation can overcome the trees natural defense system).

Ips, i dunno about that. anyway, i dont think Ips is in the east (it may be, Ive just never personally seen any). we usually dont have many of the species that the ips likes...
heres some info on ips:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05558.html

just my opinion.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Hmmm. I'll try to post some pics of the galleries tonight. I did some more reading, and I'm much less convinced it's SPB. The beetles don't look the same - the ones I saw were more tapered. And there were no pitch tubes that I could see.

 

[Fumbler]

I'm not sure what it is, but we commonly see ips damage here in the piedmont/costal plain of NC and rarely see single trees that die from SPB. Usually we find SPB damage in clumps of 5-10 trees.

Were there any wood fibers packed tightly around the beetle holes? Pine wilt (caused southern pine sawyer beetle + pinewood nematode) is another possibility.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I didn't see any actual holes except for the ant holes in the base. There were galleries under the bark, but they didn't appear to be the same as online pictures I've seen of pine bark beetle damage.

 

[jrizman]

I'm not sure what it is, but we commonly see ips damage here in the piedmont/costal plain of NC and rarely see single trees that die from SPB. Usually we find SPB damage in clumps of 5-10 trees.

Were there any wood fibers packed tightly around the beetle holes? Pine wilt (caused southern pine sawyer beetle + pinewood nematode) is another possibility.

Ive never seen that, guess we learn something new every day. Thanks for the info. Here in TN, we see pines hit by the beetle one here one there, and sometimes whole stands. clumps are very common, guess thats not the case in town, u know?!
yeah, lets see some pics of the bettle holes, the SPB usually has large holes, while ips will be smaller. i have a hard time doing id when there is only partial info, i like to see it in person to make a better assessment. i just looked at the pics again, you may be right about the ips, like i said, ive just never seen it here in TN.

lets see more pics so we can know what we (i) am talking about. thanks for schooling me!