JBP going down hill after treating with fungicide

Pine_nut

Mame
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My JBP has needle cast that has been getting worse over the last few months. I’ve treated with a spray on copper fungicide a handful of times over those months. It was repotted in Aoki soil in March.

Last week I applied Bonide granular fungicide and it has been going down hill since then.

I returned from a three day trip today and noticed a lot of brown needles. There are a lot that have brown tips and are green at the base. The second flush of candles seem to have irregular needles forming.

Is there anything I need to do at this point or just keep a close eye on it and hope it recovers?
 

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Potawatomi13

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No idea what aoki soil is:confused:. Even curly needles better than none at all. These should be gone in a couple years. Personal feeling is enough treatment with Copper for awhile. Several on here including self alternate with Daconyl. Another thought; that if applied in rainy weather or foliage watered after application perhaps was flushed into substrate killing michorhizza as well as perhaps Copper toxicity has afflicted your tree. Do you water trees foliage? If so suggest not to do anymore. This encourages growth of fungal diseases as well as removing fungicide. Pick off dead needles and dispose of in garbage, keep tree in mostly sunny spot, fertilise weekly. Suspect it will survive.
 

JesusFreak

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I would check pH of water too. I lost about 4 pines bc I was giving untreated tap water. This looks way better than mine did
 

Brian Van Fleet

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Fungicides won’t reverse the damage done by fungi, so you’re just experiencing that play out. Carefully remove dead needles to allow airflow and sunlight to reach the interior of the tree. The Bionide should help prevent existing needlecast from infecting new growth. But I have also noticed the granules create a hydrophobic condition in the soil, so be sure to aerate the surface with a chopstick to ensure water penetrates the entire root mass.
 

Adair M

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I agree with Brian. This looks like the tree is sluffing off the old damaged needles.

I have found that Aoki has a very high percentage of akadama, so I mix in pumice. I make my mix 2 parts Aoki 1 part pumice to “dry it out”. You could add some lava, too, if you want.
 

Pine_nut

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No idea what aoki soil is:confused:. Even curly needles better than none at all. These should be gone in a couple years. Personal feeling is enough treatment with Copper for awhile. Several on here including self alternate with Daconyl. Another thought; that if applied in rainy weather or foliage watered after application perhaps was flushed into substrate killing michorhizza as well as perhaps Copper toxicity has afflicted your tree. Do you water trees foliage? If so suggest not to do anymore. This encourages growth of fungal diseases as well as removing fungicide. Pick off dead needles and dispose of in garbage, keep tree in mostly sunny spot, fertilise weekly. Suspect it will survive.
I do not water the foliage. Here’s a link to the Aoki blend so you can see the details of it:

 

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Pine_nut

Mame
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Fungicides won’t reverse the damage done by fungi, so you’re just experiencing that play out. Carefully remove dead needles to allow airflow and sunlight to reach the interior of the tree. The Bionide should help prevent existing needlecast from infecting new growth. But I have also noticed the granules create a hydrophobic condition in the soil, so be sure to aerate the surface with a chopstick to ensure water penetrates the entire root mass.
The soil has medium sized particles, it drains very quickly. Thanks for the info. What about the needles that are green at the base but brown at the tips. Should those be removed or cut the brown sections off?
 

Pine_nut

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I agree with Brian. This looks like the tree is sluffing off the old damaged needles.

I have found that Aoki has a very high percentage of akadama, so I mix in pumice. I make my mix 2 parts Aoki 1 part pumice to “dry it out”. You could add some lava, too, if you…
I’m discovering this myself. I wasn’t aware that the Aoki would hold moisture as long as it does. I’ll definitely need to adjust my mix next year. Thanks
 

Brian Van Fleet

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The soil has medium sized particles, it drains very quickly. Thanks for the info. What about the needles that are green at the base but brown at the tips. Should those be removed or cut the brown sections off?
I’d keep needles with any green for now.
 

River's Edge

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It is important to understand that fungicides do not reverse damage. They do take time to affect the pathogens within the plant. If health seems to improve after three or four weeks that has been my experience to indicate the systemic is working and has slowed the decline. The true test is when the new needles open in the following spring or next flush and are not affected by the needle cast.
 

Pine_nut

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I have this fung-onil concentrate that I haven’t used yet. I’ve used up the spray bottle fungicide that I was using. This fung-onil says to dilute it with 5 tsp in 4 gallons of water.

Can I just do 1.25 tsp in one gallon and fill my spray bottle as needed? Do you know if this mixture will be good over time or does it need to be used up quickly? I don’t see any mention of that on the tag.
 

River's Edge

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The ratio sounds like you figured it right. However, personally I would not use more treatment, just allow the Bonide infuse to do its job! I am not a fan of the shotgun approach or layering treatment after treatment on a tree.
Monitor the water to ensure it is not staying too wet so conditions do not favour fungal spores and as others have suggested avoid watering the foliage.
 

Pine_nut

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The ratio sounds like you figured it right. However, personally I would not use more treatment, just allow the Bonide infuse to do its job! I am not a fan of the shotgun approach or layering treatment after treatment on a tree.
Monitor the water to ensure it is not staying too wet so conditions do not favour fungal spores and as others have suggested avoid watering the foliage.
How long after a systemic treatment should the foliage preventative spray resume to keep the new foliage healthy?

There are few days a week where I am working out of town, so during those times, I cannot move my tree under cover to keep the rain off of the foliage. I’m happy to do that while I’m home though.
 

River's Edge

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How long after a systemic treatment should the foliage preventative spray resume to keep the new foliage healthy?

There are few days a week where I am working out of town, so during those times, I cannot move my tree under cover to keep the rain off of the foliage. I’m happy to do that while I’m home though.
I have not used the preventative spray treatment fungal-onil so would refer you to the directions for that product.
I use preventative treatments of copper based and Lime Sulphur based products as dormant season applications.
I reserve the Bonide Infuse granular when an actual infection is spotted, then I use it by itself to treat the tree.
Reverting to preventative measures after the tree is healthy.
For a good set of Dormant spray guidelines for pines, refer to the resources section of this forum. Several write ups by @markyscott will set you in the right direction.
 

Dav4

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How long after a systemic treatment should the foliage preventative spray resume to keep the new foliage healthy?

There are few days a week where I am working out of town, so during those times, I cannot move my tree under cover to keep the rain off of the foliage. I’m happy to do that while I’m home though.
Honestly, I’d be spraying with daconil or a copper fungicide every few weeks until the new needles are more mature. That, and a systemic like the bonide, is my spring/summer regimen here in the muggy and fungal ridden southeast.
 
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I had the same issue last april and two of my pines are having sign of needle cast..

I follow @Adair M advice to spray daconil and copper (alternate) and on the decandling season apply granular systemic fungicide..

Now my pines are all green and not just green, its dark green...

I only water my pines every other day and if you look, i live in a dry and hot city. (1:1:1 akadama, pumice, lava)

I only water everyday when it hits 108+ degrees
 

Mike Corazzi

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I had the same issue last april and two of my pines are having sign of needle cast..

I follow @Adair M advice to spray daconil and copper (alternate) and on the decandling season apply granular systemic fungicide..

Now my pines are all green and not just green, its dark green...

I only water my pines every other day and if you look, i live in a dry and hot city. (1:1:1 akadama, pumice, lava)

I only water everyday when it hits 108+ degrees
How many hours of sun do they get?
 
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