Question
I live in phoenix AZ. The needles on the pinetree in my yard have turned brown and it is shedding some bark. However, it is growing a lot of pinecones. Is the tree likely dying or could there be some other problem?

Answer
If all the needles on the pine are brown the tree is dead. It takes two years for cones to mature and then some pines hold the old cones on the tree. I would guess what you are seeing are the old cones that were not very visible for the needles. IF there is green needles on the ends of the branches then the tree is still alive and more than likely just dropping the older needles. (pines have tow sets of needles and they will drop the older ones either when the new ones are budding out or from a disease called Needlecast). Is sounds like in your case all the needles are brown and with the bark sluffing off I would say the tree is dead. Sorry!