Pine Diagnosis...

[Luke]

hey, my pine is doing some strange things wondering if anyone has any advice for me...
(A) there is little white spots in places on some candles.
(B) some needles are browning
(C) some weird small needle growth
(D) some weird long needle growth

advice would be greatly appreciated
P.S. i lost the tag ages ago, what type of pine is it?
cheers
luke

[shibui]

Hi Liquidluke,
Your pine looks a little like a mugho but it is a bit hard to tell from the pics as I can't get a closeup. Is the mark at the base of the trunk a scar or a graft?
The white spots are likely to be addlejig (spelling?) - a sapsucking aphid like pest of pines. I'm not sure if it is the same as wooly aphid that occurs on apples or completely different. The result is much the same - it can debilitate the tree and spread rapidly to other pines. Try checking a few under a magnifying glass or squashing them to see if they are alive.
Metho may control it - spray it on the tree to get to all the spots but I understand that the bugs come back quickly and you need to repeat regularly. I'm not sure if they also line on the roots like wooly aphid but the best control would be a systemic insecticide to get rid of any on branches and or roots.

The small, twisted new needles could be a resuly of the addlejig? infestation on those new candles.

Long needles could be a couple of things - mature needles replacing juvenile growtyh pattern or, more likely, just better conditions, nutrition, etc.

The brown patches look more like a fungal attack on those couple of buds. Don't confuse this with normal die off of old needles like further down the trunk of this one.

Treat the wooly pest quickly! and good luck

[Luke]

thanks shibui.
Time to get the magnifying glass out, and metho if needs be. This is my only pine so i dont have to worry about spreading.
i dont seem to have luck with pines and junipers, this is my second pine, the first died for no apparent reason and iv had 3 junipers that now reside in bonsai heaven... im thinking its due to the climate here and the fact i have treated them no different to my other bonsais..
iv still got allot of reading and learning to do... anyway thanks for the info...

luke