Do white pines get old & brittle???

[John0829]

I have the same thing going on, everyday it seems there are limbs to clean up. And don't even get me started on the crazy amount of pine cones. With every wind or rain event the ground is covered, I have hauled 4 garden trailer loads FULL of pine cones off since Feb. and working on loading up the 5th.

 

[Carl_NH]

Yes - pine cones are a mess - usually a prolific year every so often they produce and shed more cones- I would to do 4-5 bucket loads ( 2-3 yards) in a bad year from just 7 trees we had left until we finally took them down - 80-100' tall.

Pics below were after a micro burst went thru in 2006 and took out 12 large white pines - didnt hit any buildings luckily - but the new teak tables and chairs didn't do so well.

 

[oldballs]

Been here 50 years..planted an assortment of trees from seedling and dry root stock. Little did this city boy know what laid ahead in tree maintenance.....In fact,it put me into the tree business around here

Chain saws, pole saws, chippers, Tractors, chipper/shredders...ropes ...ladders.........burn piles....Pine needle rake etc. Large Spray Unit 50 gallon....Hours and hours of my labor.

Crap (pine cones....limbs....needles) on the roof/gutters. All of the Scots pines are dead....most of the Austrian Pines are dead....Just a few White Pines are still alive. Of course my Red Cedars are doing well....except for attention to Bag Worms. And how about the 100 ft tall Sycamores.....what a mess they make year around.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[jyoutz]

I have several different evergreens on my land and YES, the White Pine are more likely to shed branches. They are also more likely to have severe damage due to storms. Our native Norway Spruce and White Spruce hardly ever lose branches...but they do too.

I planted 3 southwestern white pines several years ago. They are only in the 12’ height range at this time, so they’re very flexible and don’t lose limbs with heavy snow or wind. Yet.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

This is too weird. I have a row I planted along our secondary road. My wife and I left home at 2:30 this afternoon & all was well. Returned at 4:00 and a limb in ditch next to road. Break was on other side facing house and up at least 20-25 feet! Limb is 3" diameter and 17ft. long. I carried it down to brush pile (see how big it is?). I can't figure out how it's possible!

 

[jyoutz]

This is too weird. I have a row I planted along our secondary road. My wife and I left home at 2:30 this afternoon & all was well. Returned at 4:00 and a limb in ditch next to road. Break was on other side facing house and up at least 20-25 feet! Limb is 3" diameter and 17ft. long. I carried it down to brush pile (see how big it is?). I can't figure out how it's possible!View attachment 3102494View attachment 3102495View attachment 3102496View attachment 3102497

Do you have bears climbing your trees? A game camera might show some interesting things. If the branches look chewed you might have porcupines and squirrels will also clip small diameter pine branches.

 

[rumwrks]

Limb is 3" diameter and 17ft. long. I carried it down to brush pile (see how big it is?). I can't figure out how it's possible!

I'm on team game cam to try to figure out what the heck is going on at this point It'd be real interesting to see what's happening when those break! That was a substantial branch!

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Yes we were only gone 90 minutes. No chew marks. There are bears around but few. Why they'd climb a tree in afternoon is weird. No pine cones, no wind, beautiful day. I have a few cameras.

 

[Carl_NH]

Those branches appear to be vertical to the main tree stem or off chutes which are more prone to breaking off as they are suckers on the main stem and are destined die off eventually.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Those branches appear to be vertical to the main tree stem or off chutes which are more prone to breaking off as they are suckers on the main stem and are destined die off eventually.

They're all variety that break which is puzzling though. Today only one break, a healthy end about 1.5" diameter.