Do white pines get old & brittle???

[I Piddle]

Sounds like a stupid question, but 43 years ago I planted 100 white pine seedlings. You could hold all in one hand...pencil sized and I planted with a dibble bar. Now they average about 18"-24" across and 40ft tall. The problem is almost every day there are branches that look healthy but snapped off, anywhere from 1/2" to 4" diameter.
After snow & ice I hauled 5 heaping truckload off, now it averages a wheelbarrow a day. Pictured are a few and I used a small chipper.
Is this because they're old?View attachment 3084091View attachment 3084092

Somewhat off-topic, When I was a kid 70+ years ago the state of Maryland bought several farms around us. I used to see deer eating in the Buckwheat fields at night. The State planted pine trees in the fields. These trees are 70 or more years old. I don't know what kind of pine. To the point, the trees are planted like crops. Relatively close together. They are 20 to 30 feet tall, the trunks are under 12". They provide good wildlife habitat. But I see no economic value other than pulpwood. Our paper mill shut down about 10 years ago. In 70 years there should have been some good hardwood trees bigger than that. I understand about the habitat, but I would think the return on investment would be a significant decision in the type of trees planted. As an individual, I would have limited options when planting trees, but as a State, they have time on their side. Do other states plant pine trees on their land purchases?

 

[rumwrks]

Trees grow at variable height rates determined by site conditions (soils, climate). The same species could be 70 feet in height at 40 years, or 40 feet in height at the same age on different sites. Height growth is site dependent, diameter growth is more dependent on climate and room to grow. A species that lives to 200+ years is by no means old at 40years.

This is true in spades. I have some doug fir that was all planted at the same time in the early 90's as part of a replant operation. The ones on good soil without to much competition are maybe 12"-18" at breast height, some of the ones half shaded out are only 3-4" (yes those should have been pre-commercial thinned 10yrs ago.. I just got the place.. working on it..), some that are a just a bit to thick are 6-8" but nice and tall (also thinning those) and some that were planted in either overly swampy or shallow soil are only 10-15' tall, 4" across and super scrubby or in some cases dead (those are getting cleared entirely and I'm turning that back into open meadow / shrub spaces).

 

[jyoutz]

Somewhat off-topic, When I was a kid 70+ years ago the state of Maryland bought several farms around us. I used to see deer eating in the Buckwheat fields at night. The State planted pine trees in the fields. These trees are 70 or more years old. I don't know what kind of pine. To the point, the trees are planted like crops. Relatively close together. They are 20 to 30 feet tall, the trunks are under 12". They provide good wildlife habitat. But I see no economic value other than pulpwood. Our paper mill shut down about 10 years ago. In 70 years there should have been some good hardwood trees bigger than that. I understand about the habitat, but I would think the return on investment would be a significant decision in the type of trees planted. As an individual, I would have limited options when planting trees, but as a State, they have time on their side. Do other states plant pine trees on their land purchases?

It depends on the land use planned, but yes state land/forestry departments do plant trees on lands intended for timber management. Those 70 years old trees are small diameter due to forest density. Sounds like the stand was never thinned.

 

[ruffdog]

Another thing with White Pine, if they are getting canker, they will get more brittle and lose limbs.

 

[jyoutz]

Another thing with White Pine, if they are getting canker, they will get more brittle and lose limbs.

White pine blister rust canker. This is a serious disease that typically kills the tree.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Another thing with White Pine, if they are getting canker, they will get more brittle and lose limbs.

I don't think that's what these have, although I went to school with a boy who had it on his hootie.

 

[mllud]

Another thing with White Pine, if they are getting canker, they will get more brittle and lose limbs.

I went out to visit a friend that has a row of a few white pines, and he has several limbs down similar size of fuddy's fallen limbs. We have had some high winds.
I have seen that canker on other species of pine and Cedar but not on white pine around this area.

 

[jyoutz]

I went out to visit a friend that has a row of a few white pines, and he has several limbs down similar size of fuddy's fallen limbs. We have had some high winds.
I have seen that canker on other species of pine and Cedar but not on white pine around this area.

The deadly blister rust canker only affects white pines.

 

[mllud]

Thanks
I did a just did a search about it. I see it kills everything past the affected area.
We had a lot of other species of pine trees dying for years in Missouri, some trees recovered. The limbs had red fungus but not like the photos shown of that red canker you're referring to.

I hoped that doesn't move through here. I see that Yellowstone has it bad.
Bugs and fungus.
I lost all my nice ash a few years ago to that Emerald ash borer. I suspect?
Imported bugs are costly.

 

[jyoutz]

Thanks
I did a just did a search about it. I see it kills everything past the affected area.
We had a lot of other species of pine trees dying for years in Missouri, some trees recovered. The limbs had red fungus but not like the photos shown of that red canker you're referring to.

I hoped that doesn't move through here. I see that Yellowstone has it bad.
Bugs and fungus.
I lost all my nice ash a few years ago to that Emerald ash borer. I suspect?
Imported bugs are costly.

White pine blister rust only affects white pines. Other species make have different cankers, but the blister rust usually kills the tree. The lodgepole pines in Yellowstone are being hit by bark beetles. Like white pines blister rust, the emerald ash borer is another exotic pest from Eurasia. The bark beetles in Yellowstone are native insects to North America.