Q: When we bought our house 10 months ago, we saw we have two small pine trees in the backyard. One is approximately 15 feet tall and the other about 10. On both, the needles are turning brown and dying, from the inside and bottom, up and out. I have tried adding Miracid to the soil, but it does not seem to help. Any suggestions?
A: From the pattern and timing of the symptoms, I think there is little to worry about. Although many diseases affect spruce and pine needles, they all have patterns of one branch at a time, from the outside in or starting in the spring. The old needles falling off while the newer needles are staying on is a symptom of normal fall color.
Evergreens are not permanently green. Palm trees, house plants, and Christmas trees all keep some leaves year-round, but they also lose some leaves at different times during the year. Spruces and pines usually lose their needles during the fall, when regular deciduous trees are also losing their leaves. Of course, the other trees are colorful and noticeable, so only a few people notice evergreens when they lose their needles.
Q: Toward the end of the summer, our red-twig dogwood bush got a fungus, which is severe. All the leaves fell off and many of the red branches are now black or brown. What do you recommend I do to prevent this from happening, and what product should be used to spray? Also, should I spray now and again in the spring? I appreciate your advice. Thank you in advance for your help.
A: Dogwood shrubs and trees are both susceptible to many fungal diseases that attack the stems, trunks, and leaves. In the fall and winter, remove all fallen leaves from around the plants. Cut out all the dead and dying wood. The dogwood shrubs can be cut completely down to the ground, but you lose one of the few reasons to plant red-twig dogwoods and that is the red color in the winter landscape.
Next spring, begin spraying the plant with a fungicide as the new growth begins to come out, and do so as long as the spring weather stays wet and cool. Many times, the infection occurs in the spring, but the visible signs do not show up until there is more stressful dry weather in summer or fall.
The dogwood trees do not like to be flooded, so if they are in low areas where the trunk can get waterlogged, they should be moved to higher ground. Do not pile lots of mulch around the stems of any trees or shrubs, but especially dogwoods.
Q: We planted a lot of trees and shrubs in the spring this year. We had plenty of rain in the spring but almost no rain in September and October. We think we watered enough to keep the plants healthy, but what do we need to do over the winter?
A: First, if you haven’t already done so, add about three inches of shredded wood mulch over any bare ground to keep the soil from drying out too much in the winter. Newly planted trees and shrubs don’t have big root systems for several years, and it is important to keep the soil damp, even when the tree is supposed to be dormant in the winter.
If you live where the ground doesn’t freeze, you may need to water the plants several times over the winter. If you live in an area where the ground does freeze, be sure to water everything very well before the ground freezes.
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