Jeff in Denver, That looks like typical winter dessication to the needles and to the buds. It appears the tops of the trees suffered the most which sort of correlates with what I am thinking. Often, the bottoms of the trees are buried in snow and this insulates the needles/branches. Where I see needles in a cluster where some are green but others are brown, that looks like, typical, dessication. Also, now you are going to see brown needles amid the branches especially in the center of the tree. That's going to give you a false sense of something else is wrong. Those are needles that are shedded, annually, and nothing more. What to do... Look closely at the branches where the entire tips are dead and see if there are any buds at all beneath the damage. If you find one, clip an inch or so above... if no buds are found, clip off that branch. Some branches that are larger you will most-likely find whorls of buds below the tip clustering of buds... trim the deadened material off to the above the set of buds beneath. I think, with time, you'll have nothing to be concerned with. Dax

Brian: It would be nice, for tree lovers like us, to be able to get a variety of hybrid pines, but the problem is that there is no market for them that would re-pay the investment of setting up production. The one that may, at some point, be available, is loblolly X shortleaf. The idea behind this one is to develop a tree resistant to fusiform rust, which in some areas is a big problem with southern pines, including loblolly. I am not sure if there are others that will have a commercial market worth exploiting. Another factor is that there are regular pines that are very nice. One thing holding back pitlolly is eastern white pine, which is a flat out gorgeous tree, and which is very productive. It's wood, however is inferior to the southern pines, but it does find a ready market. If I didn't already have knock-dead gorgeous white pine groves, seeming to tower to heaven, at my timberland in far western MD, I might not be "messing" with loblolly, and pitlolly, so much. Northern growers also have red pine--not my favorite pine tree, but productive. The only genus that I know of where there is a great tree fancier's interest in hybrids, is the oaks. You can find all kinds of hybrids there, and I have been sampling some. But here's an idea: if there is something you really, really want--maybe the pitch X pond, you may be able to do a search and find out who, and at what university, has worked with it, and then give that person a call. He night be able to tell you if your idea is a good one, and-- you never know--someone might be willing to send you something. --spruce

how many needles in a bundle.. cant tell from the pic. looks like a white pine.. 100 foot potential .. easy to break in snow, ice or wind storms ... about 40 feet too close to the house ... no conifer holds its needles forever.. most lose older leaves in 2 to 3 years.. if you note the pattern.. its all last years needles ... TOTALLY NORMAL... increased by drought and/or heat ... IMHO.. get rid of it.. but not because of the yellowing.. see link based on ID guess ... ken PS: i had 6 of those around a deck.. that size when i bought the house.. i could have taken care of business for free ... 10 years later i had to pay $1000 to have six 40 footers removed professionally after a severe ice storm took off the top 10 feet .... Here is a link that might be useful: link

interior browning is normal. and complicated by recent transplant ... drought.. any stressor .... NEVER cut them off.. until you are sure that the buds for next year are dead... which you will find out next spring ... a pic would really help ... coming to some real usable conclusions ... ken