All good even. I'm with you when it comes to science. It's a pitty that all the religious crazies in the world didn't pay more attention to it rather than the bulls**t they do waste time on...but that's another storyevan wrote:Sorry to get a bit riled up about the topic treeman. I think the semantics in our responses and the way I was interpreting your responses may have gotten a tad mixed up, and I tend to get a bit defensive when it comes to matters of science and sometimes go on a tangent.
I completely agree with what you've said about fungal infection caused by root damage as a definite cause of black tips in some instances. But also in my experience I've observed that some black pines will develop black/brown tips by natural aging as well. Particularly in 2 to 3 year old needles, and that rather than drop when they've turned brown, they'll do so when they've completely yellowed instead.

I spent a couple of years at hort school. The only thing I really remember from it was where to get the coffee.
I found that most of what you learn comes later from private study and experience...
