{"id":24113,"date":"2024-06-18T14:55:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T18:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/?p=24113"},"modified":"2024-06-18T14:55:46","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T18:55:46","slug":"why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question:<\/h3>\n

Many of my pine trees and many others in the area have turned unusually yellow and are dropping huge amounts of needles. I don’t remember ever seeing it this bad. Is this something I need to be concerned about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Answer:<\/h3>\n
Jonathan Foster, Home Horticulture Outreach Professional<\/em><\/div>\n

There are numerous reasons why a white pine might brown or lose needles, both biotic (i.e., pests or pathogens) and abiotic (i.e., environmental). Road salt from winter is a common culprit, and you can often see its effects alongside major thoroughfares like I-95. Environmental conditions that promote relatively warm area above frozen ground can also dehydrate coniferous trees, which remain metabolically active a lot rate through the winter months–they can lose water through their needles without being able to replenish it from the hard ground below. This is happening more often with our increasingly volatile winter temperatures.<\/p>\n

However, another likely culprit is something termed\u00a0white pine needle disease complex<\/a>, a major problem for white pines across New England. It’s a suite of multiple pathogens whose success is being driven by our warming climate here in Maine–you can read more about it on the UMass-Amherst Extension page\u00a0“Dieback of Eastern White Pine.”<\/a>\u00a0The Maine Forest Service is aware of this issue and might be able to offer more advice on managing larger number of pines that are being affected–you can contact them\u00a0here<\/a>. If it’s a smaller number of trees on your property, I recommend contacting a\u00a0ME-licensed arborist<\/a>\u00a0to see if a fungicide treatment would be appropriate.<\/p>\n

There is some indication that trees are beginning to adapt to the situation by increasing photosynthetic rates in surviving needles and storing carbon resources in lieu of vigorous growth. But at the moment, WPND remains a major concern for Maine gardeners and landowners.<\/p>\n

I’m sorry not to have more positive news to share, but I wish you happy gardening, nonetheless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Many of my pine trees and many others in the area have turned unusually yellow and are dropping huge amounts of needles. I don’t remember ever seeing it this bad. Is this something I need to be concerned about? Answer: Jonathan Foster, Home Horticulture Outreach Professional There are numerous reasons why a white pine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask","category-pests"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: Many of my pine trees and many others in the area have turned unusually yellow and are dropping huge amounts of needles. I don’t remember ever seeing it this bad. Is this something I need to be concerned about? Answer: Jonathan Foster, Home Horticulture Outreach Professional There are numerous reasons why a white pine […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-18T18:55:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"twood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"twood\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"twood\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0056a6c4a281b4f517e1313fa2c518\"},\"headline\":\"Why are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area?\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-18T18:55:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/\"},\"wordCount\":332,\"articleSection\":[\"Ask the Expert\",\"Managing Insect, Diseases, and Animal Pests\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/\",\"name\":\"Why are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-18T18:55:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0056a6c4a281b4f517e1313fa2c518\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/\",\"name\":\"Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard\",\"description\":\"Information you can use. Research you can trust.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0056a6c4a281b4f517e1313fa2c518\",\"name\":\"twood\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc8c7b5c8d78336ceef76f813278762e12972bcd042b075da831f24d0320bdb3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc8c7b5c8d78336ceef76f813278762e12972bcd042b075da831f24d0320bdb3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc8c7b5c8d78336ceef76f813278762e12972bcd042b075da831f24d0320bdb3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"twood\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/author\/twood\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension","og_description":"Question: Many of my pine trees and many others in the area have turned unusually yellow and are dropping huge amounts of needles. I don’t remember ever seeing it this bad. Is this something I need to be concerned about? Answer: Jonathan Foster, Home Horticulture Outreach Professional There are numerous reasons why a white pine […]","og_url":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/","og_site_name":"Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard","article_published_time":"2024-06-18T18:55:46+00:00","author":"twood","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"twood","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/"},"author":{"name":"twood","@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0056a6c4a281b4f517e1313fa2c518"},"headline":"Why are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area?","datePublished":"2024-06-18T18:55:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/"},"wordCount":332,"articleSection":["Ask the Expert","Managing Insect, Diseases, and Animal Pests"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/","url":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/","name":"Why are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-06-18T18:55:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0056a6c4a281b4f517e1313fa2c518"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2024\/06\/18\/why-are-the-pine-needles-turning-yellow-and-dropping-in-my-area\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why are the pine needles turning yellow and dropping in my area?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#website","url":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/","name":"Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard","description":"Information you can use. Research you can trust.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0056a6c4a281b4f517e1313fa2c518","name":"twood","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc8c7b5c8d78336ceef76f813278762e12972bcd042b075da831f24d0320bdb3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc8c7b5c8d78336ceef76f813278762e12972bcd042b075da831f24d0320bdb3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc8c7b5c8d78336ceef76f813278762e12972bcd042b075da831f24d0320bdb3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"twood"},"url":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/author\/twood\/"}]}},"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":199,"label":"Ask the Expert"},{"value":204,"label":"Managing Insect, Diseases, and Animal Pests"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"twood","author_link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/author\/twood\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":199,"name":"Ask the Expert","slug":"ask","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":199,"taxonomy":"category","description":"This is the top level category for all posts submitted to our Ask the Expert gardening questions form.","parent":0,"count":652,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":199,"category_count":652,"category_description":"This is the top level category for all posts submitted to our Ask the Expert gardening questions form.","cat_name":"Ask the Expert","category_nicename":"ask","category_parent":0},{"term_id":204,"name":"Managing Insect, Diseases, and Animal Pests","slug":"pests","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":204,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":199,"count":196,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":204,"category_count":196,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Managing Insect, Diseases, and Animal Pests","category_nicename":"pests","category_parent":199}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24114,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24113\/revisions\/24114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}