Light green needles on JBP?

[Matt3839]

I just received this Japanese black pine and it has light green needles and pretty small candles for this time of year. The old needles were also cut, for what reason I don’t know…

I’ve read the needle color could could be overwatering or nutrient deficiency….

There are some ants on the tree but I can’t find any aphids and have combed through it too to bottom.

I pulled it out of the nursery pot and the roots look Ok to me but what do you guys think?
Soil is sandy but seems like a little more organic than other pines in nursery pots.

I’m going to let it dry out and then feed with neptunes liquid fish fertilizer and some biogold when it’s ready to be watered. Thoughts?

 

[leatherback]

looks like a normal black pine.
Young needles are also light green..

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Roots look ok, but the soil may be retentive and causing the yellow needles. From my experience, when roots are compromised, it often shows up in yellowing needles. You might dunk it in a mild insecticide for root aphids, then be careful to water correctly. The outsides of a black pot get hot and dry much sooner than the interior with a retentive soil, so you could be seeing the results of cooked exterior roots, while interior roots are drowning.

 

[Matt3839]

Roots look ok, but the soil may be retentive and causing the yellow needles. From my experience, when roots are compromised, it often shows up in yellowing needles. You might dunk it in a mild insecticide for root aphids, then be careful to water correctly. The outsides of a black pot get hot and dry much sooner than the interior with a retentive soil, so you could be seeing the results of cooked exterior roots, while interior roots are drowning.

I see.. hmm it’s definitely outside of repotting season which seems like the most necessary solution.

I’ll definitely try the insecticide and just water correctly and see if it fixes it.

As for the color- it’s definitely significantly lighter than the other JBPs I have of the same age so I do think there may be some issue. And the candles are quite short compared to others at this time of year