Question
QUESTION: I have a very large pine tree about 70 ft tall in north east Ohio this fall it had very few pine cones and started dropping stems with live needles on them mostly single pieces about 4 inches long and even some double and triple pieces I have already raked up 3 wheelbarrows full and they are still falling off. Is this tree dyeing or is this normal we have only lived here since last summer and it did nothing like this last fall. thanks  Dennis

ANSWER: Pines have two sets of needles and they do drop the second years needles (these are the needles that are closer to the trunk on the branches). Check and see if there are green needles on the outer part of the branches if so the tree is just shredding the old needles. This is normal. Use the pine straw for mulch it makes an excellent mulch.

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QUESTION: sorry I don't think i was clear on the first question. It's not just needels falling its 4 to 6 inch pieces of branch and some branch tips with live needels attached. I was looking at it the other day and there seems to be more brown branches up in the tree then normal also
THANKS Dennis

Answer
Sorry I read right through the twig pieces being dropped. There is an insect called  a twig girdler that will lay its eggs in the twig and cut the twig off with the egg inside and the egg will hatch on the ground. I have never seen it on pine but did find one reference of girdlers on pine. That is about the only thing I can think of that might cause this type of damage. The treatment is to pick up the fallen twigs and destroy them thereby reducing the insect population next year. These insect will not kill the tree but can make the tree look real bad.

You might check with the State Forestry agency there in Ohio and ask one of their Forester to take a look. An on the ground look is always better then a description and they maybe able to see something that was missed. This is a free service in the states. There number should be in your local phone book or here is the web link to their contact page. The Forest Health person is Dan Balser [email protected]

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/forestry/Home/contact/tabid/4802/Default.aspx