Pine trees - dying bottom branches

[gbutts]

Like travelin Johns post, I would also be interested in a tree ID sight, as I feel kind of stupid asking for help when I really don't know what kind of tree I'm dealing with. At any rate, they are tall, fifty or sixty foot pines that to me look like spruce. About twenty foot diameter at the bottom, short needles and smallish closed cones about three to four inches long and an inch or so in diameter. A lot of the bottom limbs are totally dry and dead and on some of the trees it has progressed up quite a ways, some as much as 3/4 up. I have trimmed the dead branches off some of the trees, but I am concerned about what can be done to prevent further spread or is this normal. It seems to work it's way up from the ground limbs. Do they need to be watere fed or just removed? Can this process be reversed or stopped. Thanks for any help.

Gerry Butts

 

[Deere John]

If they were sporadic through the tree, I'd say that you have a blue spruce (very sharp needles ?) that is sufferring from drought and that the dying branches are the weakest on the tree - they would be sacraficed first. Watering would help.

If the amount of light below your tree is decreasing over time as the trees grow, I'd say then that the dying branches are normal - trees will shade out their lower branches as they mature, with the upper branches being the most important for photosynthsis etcetera. If they are dead, trim them at the branch collar with a sharp saw, and the tree will gradually heal over the old branch. Tall straight trees that you see in the bush have gone through this process themselves, with self-pruning being done by the dead branches rotting off, or by mechanical action with the adjacent trees.

If this doesn't seem to hit the mark, reply with what details you can.

 

[gbutts]

Thanks for the help

I think you hit it right on the head John. the new needles that just came out this spring are quite green and soft but the old ones are very sharp, so I think they are blue spruce, some of them have a few dead branches in with the live ones and I will make sure they get plenty of water this year, but most of the dead ones are the normal lower situation that you refered to. The great thing about the trees is the privacy they provide in our yard, but the dead limbs are so bad looking I have to cut them off. These spruce trees seem to kill any bushes that they have come in contact with around the yard. Will I be able to plant anything under them, like between the trunks of the pines to maintain the privacy of our yard, like smaller spruces or maybe arbovitis, or will they not survive well under the big trees?

 

[Deere John]

I think Yews (genus Taxus, ie. Taxus canadensis) are reasonably shade tolerant and are ground shrubs. They may work. Maybe Cedar, but I don't think you would be too happy with them - maybe look for an ornamental variety than I don't know about, for where you live.

Remember that whatever you plant will be competing with a "giant" for not only light, but for water and nutrients too, so you may have to supplement.

Maybe some other members here can suggest alternatives?