Leave it alone for now. My densiflora did that to some degree last year and the buds were fine. Mine is also doing that to a greater degree this year and I will again wait and see. Yours may be due to stress of transplant and, depending on your soil, a once a month watering seems skimpy. Never water on a schedule, water when needed.

tj

That combination of what you see with the red and burnt needles is sun burn and drying in the form of wind dessication and, it could be some form of stress if for some reason the shrub didn't get enough water to help in the anchoring of the root system plus, having enough water reserves. You can believe me that what you are seeing is winter sun dessication and it is very common for Pinus densiflora in the midwest as we get ripping winds and very cold weather at times. I know I'm in Illinois on the Prairie.

If it were due to a snowblower the entire shrub would be experiencing trouble now. The south side is the sun side of the shrub.

Dax

hey anne.. welcome.. dont recognize the ID ...

its probably all of the things you suspect ...

first.. in my SE MI ... we had one of the worst winters in a decade ... i have many winter burnt conifers in my adrian yard ... its a function of winter winds.. and winter sun .... and snow cover reflecting the sun ... the sun can thaw a branch/needles ... and the wind can refreeze it.. repeatedly.. all winter long... which leads to browning ... or tissue loss

permanent damage is a function of whether the buds were affected ... if they bud out this spring.. you are all set ... if they dont.. certain branches may die back ...

RARELY DOES IT KILL THE WHOLE PLANT.. if otherwise healthy ...

you will just have to wait and see ... go out and see if the buds are tan.. and seem to be lengthening over the next few weeks .. if so .. you will be all set.. if they start turning black .. you will know you have problems ....

your nurseryman gave you sorta good info ... too much water is a big problem with all conifers.. not just pine .... but i would have went a bit further.. and told you to mulch it properly .. and then water when .. your finger inserted to the second knuckle in dictated that the soil was hot or dry ... it is more of an art.. rather than a science.. meaning its NOT a calender thing ...

next.. i know you have to buy things when they are available.. but i learned with conifers... if you buy in the heat of summer.. you would have been better off ... putting the pot in some shade .... and holding it until proper planting time in late september or so ... its not that it cant be done whenever.. its about doing it.. when you can cut your risks to a minimum ...

yes .. the snowblowing was not helpful .... but on an otherwise healthy 'established' plant.. the impact would have been negligible.. perhaps but for the harshness of this particular winter ... it really should be avoided at all costs in the future ...

something that confuses me in your facts.. is that you say its 4 to 5 feet high .. my low glow is about 8 years old.. and barely 2 feet high .... about 5 wide ... link below to google images ....

which leads me to believe it was either a really old plant ... or not true to name ...

really old plants ... are very temperamental regarding transplant ... regardless of winter.. or aftercare/watering ...

on top of that.. its the same with really large specimens... i suppose age and size are related ....

give it a few weeks.. observe the bud development .... you will need to eventually remove all the brown needles.. they will simply brush out in a bit ...

if you have a warranty ... discuss it all with the nursery ... but if the buds are alive.. i wouldnt go making a stink about it all just yet ... just put him on notice ... that you may be coming back in a month or two ....

if it should fail... ask for a replacement at about half the size... it will help him keep costs down.. and actually get you a better.. easier to care for specimen ...

i think i nearly got it all.. north side brown.. prevailing winter winds from the NW.. south side brown.. winter sun ...

give us a new post in a few weeks... pix would really help .. lets see how it all buds out.. then we will worry about pruning ...

is it properly mulched??? and never fertilize it ... and sand is optimum ....

good luck

ken

PS: with conifers.. in MI .. any z5 ... the ONLY time to plant is april or october ... buy whenever you can... and HOLD THEM OVER.. until proper planting time... reduce your risks to nil ....

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Thank you all for the very helpful--and de-stressing--information! In light of this, my husband and I discussed the situation further, and I learned that when he used the snowblower, he arched the snow over the Low Glow that was 8' away. However, he did a direct hit with it on the Pinus densiflora 'Jane Kluis' and a couple of other small pines that were planted at the same time in July that are in a small island in the driveway and were only 3' away from the snowblower! They look almost perfect, except for fractionally brown tips that I had to look hard to see. He also said he'd watered all of the July plantings several times more than I'd thought he had.

These 3 other pines get the west wind, but were protected from the direct winter sun most of the day by lots of tall oak and hickory trunks. The house and more deciduous trees blocked the SW and NW winds here. Also, I had planted a couple of rose bushes and a few perennials about 3-4' away from these pines (until they fill in), and had soaked them every other day during July and August, so some of their water probably got to the pines.

The Low Glow is down the driveway about 15' from the street (that doesn't get salted) and is in a wide open area where it gets the wind from all directions. I looked a little more carefully, and it is the NW (not N) side, as well as the south side, that is most brown. The top and center, north, and east sides are all nicely green. The buds look tan all over. Whew! I do think, though, that since it had such a huge root ball, that it probably never got enough water last summer.

Ken, thanks for the welcome; I posted a couple of times last year, but that's not enough for you to remember. I wonder how old our Low Glow is--it doesn't look like any of those in your link since they all are just youngsters! Also, ours has shorter needles, since they said at the nursery that they'd been pinched to keep them that way, if I'm remembering correctly. I went out and measured, and ours is 4-1/2' tall and 7' wide. The trunk is 5" in diameter, and the tree has been beautifully pruned. The trunk is 21" tall before any branches appear. We found it out in a distant part of the nursery with the deciduous trees. It was in a huge pot, and looked like it had been there for a while. My husband fell in love with it immediately (I did too, but the price was a real stopper!) and decided he just had to have it. ;o)

I just remembered that it's not too long until magnolia time at Hidden Lake Gardens, and that it's because of one of your posts, Ken, that we went there and saw all of the conifers last year which started our pine purchases. My husband sort of went crazy as we wandered through the many kinds of conifers, and he raved about the gorgeous bark of the tanyosho pine there, which is what got us out to the nursery. They had only one, but it had a 4" diameter trunk, and the branches shooting up in the vase shape like the one at Hidden Lake Gardens, so we bought it. We'd seen some elsewhere which looked more like a tree rose with a tall skinny trunk and short branches sticking out of the top--not very attractive in our opinion.

tsugajunkie, we also got 5 beautiful 7-8' Canadian hemlocks to block the neighbors' houses. I LOVE the softness and gracefulness of the branches. I'm trying to decide if a Jeddeloh, or some other form, will work above a 10' wide section of our rock wall out front.

BTW, when I was looking at the Jane Kluis, I noticed that on some of the lower branches there were some 3" needles surrounding the 1 to 1-1/4" needles that are also found on the rest of the bush. Is there something I should do about these? Is there some place we can get information on how to prune, pinch, and shape Japanese pines?

Thanks very much for all of your help!

Anne

Look at some photos and know that when new growth extends that you can pinch/cut them off when the needles begin to expand from the candle. Therefore you'll be controlling the length of growth. A photo of Pinus virginiana 'Wate's Golden' at Stanley and Sons website has always captivated me. You just gotta go for it.

Since I'm on another computer (a mac) I can't bring up another browser at the minute so you'll have to search for that photo.

Take care,

Dax

here is a pic of mine.. one gal in 2003 [so about 6 years old at the pic] ... perhaps yours is on a standard... but it should look just about the same.. only higher... would really like to see a pic of yours... go to photobucket.com... sign up.. its free...

NEVER PRUNED .... the whole point of this plant.. is its natural shape ...

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great to hear you went to hidden lakes.. I THINK.. mothers day is crabapple time.. and that drive is spectacular ... and that would be around the time the harper conifer collection.. would be budding out .... based on the vagaries of spring ...

ken

Anne- Rock walls seem to beckon the spreading hemlocks. Look into the likes of 'Bennett', 'Cappy's Choice', or 'Cole's Prostrate' all of which will crawl down the wall. 'Jeddeloh' is a bit more upright.

tj