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Needle Drop
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Taken from the B.Y.G.L. (Buckeye Yard and Garden Online) Newsletter
Contributing Authors: Pam Bennett, Joe Boggs, Cindy Meyer, Jim Chatfield, Erik Draper, Dave Dyke, Gary Gao, David Goerig, Tim Malinich, Becky McCann, Bridget Meiring, Amy Stone and Curtis Young |
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| Seasoned landscapers are familiar with the normal fall needle drop on pines, spruces, and firs; eastern white pine is the "poster child" for this annual event. The inner needles turn yellow, then brown, and then they drop from the trees. It may happen slowly over time making the needle discoloration and loss almost unnoticeable, or it may happen all at once producing a dramatic display that startles even the well informed observer. Aldo Leopold described the process best in his classic Sand County Almanac: "Pines have earned the reputation of being "evergreen" by the same device that governments use to achieve the |
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| appearance of perpetuity: overlapping terms of office. By taking on new needles on the new growth of each year, and discarding old needles at longer intervals, they have led the casual onlooker to believe that needles remain forever green." "Each species of pine [and spruce, and fir, etc.] has its own constitution, which prescribes a term of office for needles appropriate for its way of life. Thus the white pine retains its needles for a year and a half; the red and the jackpines for two years and a half. Incoming needles take office each June and outgoing needles write their farewell addresses in October. All write the same thing, in the same tawny yellow ink, which by November turns brown. Then the needles fall, and are filed in the duff to enrich the wisdom of the stand. It is this accumulated wisdom that hushes the footsteps of whoever walks under pines." Fall is not the only season for "evergreen" needle drop; the needles on Taxus spp. change office in the spring. Joe Boggs reported that the normal inner needle drop on some yews is particularly evident in southwest Ohio this season. Indeed, he has received several phone calls from concerned homeowners convinced this has never happened before and therefore something must be wrong. The best way to convince concerned gardeners that nothing is wrong is to have them take a close look the age of the needles that are turning colors and dropping from their yews. It may also be helpful to ask them to consider where all the dead needles came from that are covering the ground beneath the plants. |
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