What killed 1 of 2 Healthy 30+ foot pines trees?
Question:These trees have been next to each other for years. All of a sudden needles turned brown, and only a few green ones left on very few branches on one side. My husband emptied an old water softner w some salt pellets at the base, and laid a bag of sacrete there too. Was that it?
Answers:
Hell yeah!
The salt alone will dessicate them in days...
could be that or could be pine beetles. If that's the case, the other one will go pretty soon as the beetles are hard to kill unless you literally burn a ring around any infected areas.
However, pine trees grow well in sandy soil, so the salt may not have been the culprit.
Beetles
Your husbands actions did not help the tree at all. Did the tree look distressed at all before Mr. used its base as a garbage dump? If not then I would pointing miy finger in hubby's direction.
There are other reasons for pines to die...beetles, age as well.
sudden decline points to the salt. pine trees don't tolerate salt well.
Salt will kill anything. Why didn't he dump it in the sewer drain on the street or out in the middle of a field? That water softener was full of salt pellets. It may come back, but you would have to flush it with plenty of water from a hose running for hours to dissolve the salt. It is time to get another tree in another location. If it was beetles, both trees would be sick, not just the one.
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