Pine Problem

Nina wrote:Bordeaux mix is an amazing thing- one of the first fungicides. It was first used in the 1800's to spray on grapes near roadways in order to keep people from eating them, then a botanist noticed that the sprayed grapes had less disease, and Voila! However, Bordeaux mixture should not be used in very cold or very hot weather or plants may become damaged.

What a great bit of history
Now they spray that much stuff on the grapes, no one can eat them
Thanks for the info Nina.

There seems to be some considerable poetic justice in using something called Bordeaux Mix on grapes.

Or if I may put it thus: it has a degree of claret-y.

Hi All,

I originally posted my Pine with needle cast on Alexandra's thread but thought this was a more relevant thread to ask advice on needle cast. Alexandra's thread can be seen here: https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t4331-anti-transpirants-effect-on-pinus-sylvestris

I have continued to use the copper fungicide (still haven't found out the name of it yet) every 2 weeks, giving the whole tree a really good spray each time. It's now had 4 treatments with the fungicide and the new needles are beginning to emerge looking nice and green and healthy.

I've read on this thread about removing the infected needles. My question is can I remove all the infected needles on my tree? I looked over the tree again tonight and pretty much every single old needle is infected. If I remove them all, I'll only be left with the new growth emerging. Is is too drastic to remove them all or will the tree survive with just the new growth? When cutting the old needles off, do I cut right back to the branch or can I leave 1-2mm?

Photos to show the stage of the new growth and the infected needles. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Paul, I am not experienced of course but I think that you should also take into consideration the fact that at this time of year pines are having yellow needles which then fall off. Perhaps these needles on photos are not affected all of them...
I hope that someone else will respond so that we get responsible information

Hi Alexandra,

Thats a good point, the problem I have is distinguishing between the needles that are infected and the needles that are just 'old'. Some (50% ish) of the needles are completely brown, some with a little bit of green but displaying the signs of needle cast.

Hi my scottish buddy,

The fotos, to me dont show old needles, they are so close to the new growth, however could it be you did hurt them by wiring?

Peter

Paul, to me your pine is budding strongly and in another few weeks the new needles will all be fully opened. I'm told it's important to get rid of all diseased needles. My mate just did his pine, similar state to yours, and he has removed all infected needle by plucking and treated with Bordeaux Mixture with no problems. I see no issue with you doing the same.

Hi Peter, nice to hear from you. You've seen this Pine before - I had it with me at Burrs last year. Terry Foster spent ages teaching me how to wire properly and he wired a alot of this tree. The amount of dead and dying needles makes me think its not a wiring problem, but something a bit more sinister.

Hi Ian, thanks for the advice. I'll go for total removal of all dead and infected needles tomorrow, unless someone jumps in and shouts stop before then. I hope your mates Pine makes it, I'll let you know how mine does.

Cheers.

Paul

Paul B (Scotland) wrote:
Hi Peter, nice to hear from you. You've seen this Pine before - I had it with me at Burrs last year. Terry Foster spent ages teaching me how to wire properly and he wired a alot of this tree. The amount of dead and dying needles makes me think its not a wiring problem, but something a bit more sinister.

Hi Ian, thanks for the advice. I'll go for total removal of all dead and infected needles tomorrow, unless someone jumps in and shouts stop before then. I hope your mates Pine makes it, I'll let you know how mine does.

Cheers.

Paul

I'll take a photo of his next time I'm down and pop it on here.

I to have problems with needle cast!

Will make my own Bordeaux mixture since nothing else is available to me where i live, i have bought the right Lime and Copper Sulfate, but cant find a good recipe for smaller dosage and how to mix it...

Anyone here that has experience with mixing there own Bordeaux?

I didn't know what bordeaux was. Found this off google:
http://www.douggreensgarden.com/bordeaux-mix.html

Sounds not for the faint of mind lol

Hi,
I was reading Peters blog the other day - quite relevant to this topic and some very good advice- wet wet wet.

I've had a needle banding disease appear on my weakest pine - a white pine on its own roots - so am now treating with the bayer 'systhane fungus fighter' product but will alternate with bordeaux.

cheers Marcus

Guest wrote:A classic case of needle cast Fiona. Get your Copper Fungicide out and start a treatment. Once a month should do it. Three or four applications. I have discovered no needle cast on my Pines this year. I have stopped watering the foliage this last year. May be a coincidence.

If my pines are expose to too much rain water, needle cast will appear too. Yes Copper Fungicide works for my pine too.

I have just lost a Limber Pine which I thought was due to a watering issue. Now I am realizing that it
is likely due to a needle cast problem instead which now looks like is spreading to my black pines.
Should I start applying a bordeaux mix now? I have some Limber pines that are putting on new shoots
now....Here's some photos./Users/georgettetuck/Pictures/DSC_0003.jpg

A lot of the needles on my pines have "tips" on them. Should I remove those needles?

That doesn't look like needle cast Georgette. That looks like bands of brown color in the middle of the needle. Yours looks malnourished and possible a root problem (the yellow color). Browning at the tips normally means it's not getting enough water. I'm no expert so see if anyone else has thoughts to your problem.

No needle cast is great news! What kind of root problem might that be? Do you have a favorite that you use to nourish pine trees?
Georgette

This has been a very helpful thread. I bought a fairly mature black pine in Florida in January, looked very healthy at the time. But, over the last three months, its candles have failed to extend, and it apparently has a pretty bad case of needled cast. BTW, all of my other black pines' candles are pushing out their needles already and don't have the problem. I have begun treating with copper. I'll post some pictures and report back periodically with some progress pictures as I get rid of the stuff.

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Japanese Black Pine _________________________________________________________________



Notice the small buds not extending. ____________________________________________________



The brown bands indicate needle cast. Notice, the needles had been trimmed by the previous owner, and it looks they the tips picked up the same fungus. ________________________________________________________________________

https://i.servimg.com/u/f80/14/06/45/18/2013-014.jpg

This is the most infected needle cluster on the tree. ________________________________________________________

https://i.servimg.com/u/f80/14/06/45/18/2013-015.jpg

Another infected needle cluster