Mark your calendar now. Sprays for apples, crabapples, and hawthorns should have been applied about 2 weeks ago to protect them from spores released over the past 2 weeks. White pines have been the number-one host this week. They do not have an infectious problem or something that will easily go away. Affected pines generally lose color in entire branches, or the tree suddenly wilts and dies.
Roots are sparse, with rotted cortex tissues.
Lab tests have failed to reveal a cause, and the problem has been dubbed white pine decline . This problem will be discussed in an upcoming issue. Meanwhile, fungicides and insecticides cannot help. Concentrate efforts on cultural conditions by providing water during drought, mulching to maintain a more uniform soil temperature, and fertilizing with acidic fertilizer in the fall.