"The name Loblolly means a low wet place, ..." Back in spring 2005 on about 9 foot centers , I planted two 100' long staggered rows of one gallon potted sized loblolly trees. The rows run North to South. The elevation of the land decreases as the planting of the trees progressed from the North toward the South. The land consists of 6 to 9 feet depths of very fine silty loam soil on top of ever increasing hardening depths of clay. At the North end and in the middle of the rows my planting holes did not fill up with water once I dug them. In the holes where I planted Two trees at the South end of the planting rows, I encountered water when only digging down 16 inches. In the previous two holes I had dug when almost having approached the South end, the soil in the bottom the 16 inch deep hole seemed soggy with just a slight amount of visible water sitting in the bottom of the hole. That indicated to me that this lowest elevation of the planting lines had a high subsurface water table. all four of the trees planted in that lower elevation of land severly struggled. I did not water them, but the rains that fell throughout the year seemed adequate to keep all the trees alive, except for the two trees planted on the southern end of the lines. Those trees suffered when we had long rain events in the spring, and then would produce a flush of new green needles at their branch tips once the rains ended long enough for the soil to dry to deeper levels. By the fall of 2006 both those trees had died. That made my row of trees nine feet shorter, and the then two trees which now make up the south end of this shorter row, had also been struggling, but they seemed to overcome the rising water table stress well enough that they continued to survive. Today, the trees growing more toward the north end of the planting rows are about 15 feet tall, their lower side branches are wide enough to touch the tips of those loblolly trees spaced about 9 feet down the lines from them. Today, the two, which struggled, but survived, are only about 8 feet tall and are not filled out enough for the ends of each tree's branches to touch the other's. All the trees in this staggered double row planting receive full day sun. with no other trees East or west of them mature enough to cast any shade onto parts of the line. They also all receive about equal forces when winds blow against them in the spring, fall, and other breezy days. The soil where they are all planted is the same, The only difference is the fact that there is a higher subsurface water table which affects the southern end of the line planted trees. There are not enough trees demanding water on this lot to keep that water table, during long lasting or frequent off and on rain event periods, from rising into the root ball zones of the trees I mentioned that have struggled. After significant rains, runoff water washes over the lot, and if I walk across that lot at the end of the runooff flow, there is still about an inch or so of surface water which I splash through that has not yet had the needed time to perculate down through that fine granulated, silty loam topsoil. It may take a full sunny day before any water which has not flowed down the land's sloped elevation to perculate down and saturate the topsoil. At no time have I seen it where any part of that lot appears to be flooded. If Loblolly trees are supposed to be able to handle so much water in the soil; than what else could explain the problems that my 4 loblolly trees encountered on the South, lower elevation part of the two rows?

Seems to be different in many ways from how I graft. Needles removed from scion. Scion buds waxed. Top grafted. Does anyone on this forum use these techniques for grafting conifers? Thanks.

Perhaps you could post a photo of it? Are the needles of the newest (this years) growth also turning brown and falling off? Pinus Taeda should be able to handle the heat just fine is it is a warmer climate conifer. Could it be drought stress? Perhaps it did not get the same water as the others? Or, Many pines (some much more than others) do a considerable needle drop in fall, but usually that is it shedding its oldest needles. Anything else look off?

2) Leave all three, which are healthy, and see how it goes. ==>> there really isnt any hurry .. i would wait a year or two ... at least until spring .... in my colder zone... i always .. at least.. wait to find out if ma nature killed any of them.. before i remove the one viable one... lol ... most of us dont have cherry pickers or 10 to 12 foot ladders... i would NOT be all to anal about using a pole saw and trying to surgically.. perfectly prune off extra ... if i had to leave a one or two stub, yet not harm the others.. so be it ... and yes.. i did learn that by harming the one i wanted .... i find it weird to find a bug this time of year ... i would have expected this in spring... not what is basically winter ... but i dont know your personal bugs.. lol ... the third option ... would be.. during late bud extension ... to snip the extras so buds are set lower than the extension on the longer chosen one..... thereby forcing dominance on such ... timing would be of the essence ... all that said.. a pic would be worth a lot of arguing ... why not offer one?? ken