Is my pine dying?

[souvik1811]

Hello gurus,

Is my pine dying? It was doing quite well for 6 months with new shoots all over, and has suddenly started turning brown. I have heard pines shed during autumn, but this looks excessive.

I am not sure what kind of pine it is. Im in India with temperatures around the upper twenties (celsius). The soil is organic (the idea was to fatten up the trunk) with perlite for drainage. I saw a lot of white miccorhiza while checking the soil recently but it seemed too moist. There have. Been a lot of rains recently and maybe the drainage is not as good as it should be? It seems the perlite has floated to the top.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

No your pine is not dying, but it appears to have a couple of things going on. First, the lower/older needles will naturally shed every year, and that behavior is to be expected. Second you have a few upper needles that are injured or dying that appear to be suffering from physical damage - which may have been caused when you were styling/wiring it.

I don't know what kind of pine it is, either, but it reminds me of a long needle white pine that we have here in the US. You have to be careful when handling the needles because they are thin and flexible and do not stand up to the same level of abuse of a black or red pine, or a shorter needle pine like a mugo.

 

[souvik1811]

Thanks, that's encouraging. Ive heard it's normal for lower needles. But I was scared to see the tips of the secondary branches also turning brown. I hope it's OK? Thanks again

 

[Shibui]

Old needles do indeed die after 3-5 years but that's not what I am seeing in this pic.
For a start, most of the brown needles appear to be juvenile foliage - single needles. You can see a still green adult cluster of 3 on that lower left branch.
Second, the brown needles are part of the latest growth. There's no bare 'neck' indicating a new growth section that I can see.
Third, some of the dying needles are right at the tip of the branches.

Pines do not like wet feet so your report of more rain recently could explain the problem.
Not sure what 'organic' soil you have used for the tree. Organic soil can be OK for pines provided it has plenty of larger particles to provide air to the roots and drainage. Perlite has a habit of floating out of the soil mix which may mean the mix does not drain properly.
There's plenty of space in that container to dig down and monitor how wet the soil is and whether it dries out between watering (or rain)

The size of the container could also be part of the problem. We find that if small plants are potted into oversize containers and the roots can't fill the soil quickly the soil can become toxic and cause problems. Much better to upsize pots a few sizes at a time.

re ID. The cluster of 3 needles indicates this is one of the 3 needle pines. Lots of juvenile foliage at this stage would hint at a species that matures a bit slower. The only 3 needle pines I'm familiar with down here are P. radiata which also has persistent juvenile foliage.

 

[souvik1811]

Thanks a lot, very helpful!!

 

[souvik1811]

I made a last bid effort to rescue it. I saw that the soil was moist but not soggy. The roots seemed fine and do not seem like they have root rot.

Interestingly, this little pine was sharing its large pot with a pretty tall barbados cherry which is also being fattened up (visible in the background of the picture). Apparently it's roots were all over the pine roots. Was the pine suffering due to competition?

I filled in some akadama that I had handy (I need to restock on my substrates) and gently repotted it without any root work in a much smaller pot. I removed most of the browning needles. And yes, there were a lot of physical damage also which must have contributed to the browning.

Fingers crossed. I hope it survives.