Peg W

Welcome back! We've missed you!!

Thanks so much for all your help! And sorry it has taken me so long to respond!! I really do appreciate your responses and the wealth of information you provided. I looked up the Michigan State bulletin on Pine Wilt, as suggested. It was very helpful. It also confirmed the diagnosis made here. I agree that it is Pine Wilt that is killing our trees. I'm attaching a picture of a stump from a tree that died a couple of years ago. As predicted above, there are many, many small holes in the lower trunk. I don't remember seeing the blue-stain fungus, but then, it was several years ago and I wasn't looking for it. The MSU bulletin said that there is a high correlation between high temperatures and the incidence of Pine Wilt, especially when the trees are already stressed by drought. Sounds like conditions were just right for the last two years. I'm also attaching pictures of the trees from 7 years ago, when we moved here. I agree that they don't look full and robust, but I can't see that they've changed that much. We have a well and they are at the back of the lot, so watering them is not practical. What would be the best way to feed them? I'm also attaching a picture of the ground around the trees, as you requested. We don't do anything but mow there. Does anyone have a suggestion for replacement trees? I know we should use natives. What would be best? It's the west side of the property adjacent to a farmer's field, so it's quite windy. Would White Pine be a good windbreak? Thanks to all of you for your help and suggestions! I certainly do appreciate it!!

Thanks for the info. If we have to replace the trees, you can bet we'll diversify!

Help please. We live in the country and have a windbreak of about 20 Scotch pines, about 30 - 40 ft tall. Each of the last 2 years, 1 of the trees has died. The needles turned brown and that was that. We've contacted 2 arborists. The first said it was a fungus. He told us to put down an anti-fungal, suggesting we use a Weed & Feed with anti-fungal in it. We did that. Last year when the second tree was turning brown, we consulted another arborist. He said it was a bacterial infection. He could spray the trees, but it would be really expensive and not guaranteed to save them. This year we have 3 more trees turning brown. We really don't want to lose any more trees. Does anyone have any suggestions? Even if we can't save these trees, we sure would like to prevent this from happening to the rest! I've attached a few pictures. Thanks for your help!

There seems to be a problem using the View New Content button. I used it and followed 2 or 3 links to view the entries. When I returned to the list of new content, there were still several (> 5) entries listed. When I hit View New Content again, they all disappeared. I thought this happened to me yesterday as well, but today I paid attention. It did for sure. BTW, I had 'View content I had not read' checked. Of course, I'm just learning my way around here. Seems pretty straight-forward and easy to use. Haven't gotten lost yet!