In the spring look for brown or orange coloured needles. The killed needles are loose and easily fall off the branch. Pycnidia will be present in the empty needle fascicles. On infected shoots a green stain can often be observed beneath the bark. On small or stressed trees the fungus will form a canker on the stem.
Pycnidia occur in clusters or singly on stems and needles.
They are dark brown to black in colour, stromatic, multiocular, without openings and up to 1 mm wide. Apothecia appear in clusters on the surface of stems and in the axes of needles. They are borne on short stalks, are brown to black in colour and up to 1 mm in diameter. S. Wallace, Plant Health Survey Unit.