Question
QUESTION: Hi Jim,

Thanks for being available to answer people's questions. I really appreciate it.
I live in New Hampshire.
There's a big old pine tree close to my house. Over the past couple months it has dropped many many little branches; I don't know for sure but it looks like the new growth that it puts out each year. (Candles?) I've tried to do some searching but I can't find any reasons for this. The ground is carpeted with them.
My biggest concern is if the tree is sick and becoming unsafe. (It's very near the house.) We have had a rough winter, though, with lots of snow and ice and wind.

Any of your thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Thanks so much!

ANSWER: I think what you are seeing are the male flowers of the pine.
The male flowers are called catkins and are found in shades of reddish purple and are on the outer ends of the upper branches. This is where the pine pollen comes from. Pines have both male and female flowers. The female become the cones, The male catkin will drop off after that produce pollen. Here is a web link to a picture of the catkins. I think this is what you are seeing not the new growth. http://www.treknature.com/gallery/North_America/United_States/photo206350.htm

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catkin   QUESTION: Thanks so much for your quick and interesting answer. I never knew that about the genders of the tree!

My tree is a different pine from the one in the photo, so I took a quick picture of one of the things it dropped. The picture is attached. You can see in the background that there are thousands of these on the ground. Is this a catkin?

Again, thank you! It's very kind of you to answer people's questions for them.

High rating coming your way!

Answer
No what you have in the picture is not a catkin but the end of the branch. I have never seen anything like this in my 40 year working with pines. I am sorry I just can not put a handle on this. I have seen some of this type breakage during a hail storm but not to this extent. IF it is weather related the tree will be ok and grow new tips. Since the needles are green and the crown is not turning brown I would lean toward the weather as the cause. I would not think you will have  a problem with these trees. I would suggest that you just wait until early summer- by then new tips should be growing on the broken branches. Sorry that is about all I can think of.