White Pine Decline?

[Jace]

In Missouri.

Tree on left.
I'm thinkin this is White Pine Wilt or Decline.
Probably has blue stain fungis, or nematodes killing it vascularly.

Their neighbor had 2 white pines wilt/turn yellow/brown, and die, and 1 atleast was from the blue stain.(See last photo of 1 of them)

Im thinkin theres no helping this tree outside of maybe lessening thew amount of water from the sprinkler system, and pulling back the mulch from the trunk some. But even that will not turn it around.

I wish there was something I could do to save it.
Opinions?

(Of course, removing it will better allow the larger/healthier one more room to grow!)

 

[Jace]

any advice, opinions, agreements, or even disagreements?

 

[treeclimber101]

Shot hole borer , look for tiny holes in the trunk , You definitely have some sort of needle cast i Can see it in the 3rd pic.. If it is a borer those trees have to go quick or you will lose all of them one by one ..

 

[Urban Forester]

Leptographium procerum (aka. Verticicladiella) is most often associated with planting in heavy clay soils. Resin loss begins appearing about a foot from the ground. Bark removal shows dark maroon tissue where white (creamy) colored tissue should be, if these are the symptoms then it could be White Pine Decline. There are also numerous bark beetles that can cause decline, however this is most often a slow death and numerous enterance holes can be seen. This COULD be something as simple as poor planting, undersized root balls, etc.

 

[Loraxguy]

white pine

In one of the photo's it appears to go straight into the ground?

 

[allmark]

What about mature trees. I have experienced over the last 15 years trees fom small to 100' and 36" dbh die in a matter of months. I treated 1 tree 15 years ago that started to decline in the adirondacks by pruning and fertilizing with mychor added. That particular tree is 36" dbh. It has been fine since yet other trees in the area have died over the years. My experience has been 1 will die and others on same property never do.

 

[Meadow Beaver]

Around here carpenter ants get the pines.

 

[ripplerider]

There are many white pines dying here in the No. Ga. mtns. Is there a treatment for blue stain fungus? I will be taking one down Fri. that has recently died. What are the symptoms of this fungus, just a blue stain in the wood? Can they be saved once they start turning brown?

 

[Urban Forester]

Is there a treatment for blue stain fungus?.. What are the symptoms of this fungus, just a blue stain in the wood?.. Can they be saved once they start turning brown?

Blue Stain is vectored to the tree by bark beetles, in your case mostly likely Southern Pine Beetle. The fungus replicates quickly, clogs the conductive tissue causing decline. The "treatment" is to keep the bark beetles out of the tree, very difficult if not impossible. The best "defense" is a healthy tree that can fight back as the beetle enters. They pick weak trees because a healthy tree will exude pitch into the holes drilled by the adult female, suffocating her. A weak tree can't resond fast enough, and no, as far as I know they can't be saved once infected. Sanitation of infected trees is recommended.