Well, timing is rough, for sure, and avocados are extremely sensitive about root disturbance. First off, apply some wood chip mulch under the tree, but keeping it away from the trunk by about 6 inches. If leaves fall, leave them under the tree, do not remove them. Be sure the tree stays watered. Whitewash the trunk with flat latex house pain cut in 1/2 with water. You can also try applying transplant fertilizer (B vitamins) to the roots to help with transplant shock. Can't hurt. Definitely keep the tree shaded. When you plant an avocado tree, the best way to remove it from the pot is to lay it on it's side, and carefully pull the pot away from the rootball without yanking on the trunk. Never carry the tree by its trunk. Then, carefully put the rootball in the hole by holding the rootball, and not the trunk so you don't break off the feeder roots. You may have some leaf fall, but keep the soil moist through our next little heat wave, and hopefully it will revive itself. Patty S.

Thanks ken...that does look familiar....sounds like it might be maple tar spot. Thanks for the reply. Going home to rake up some leaves now :) Have a great weekend! -Chris

tree #1. I would go ahead and remove it the rest of the way. Reason 1, its ugly now and wont get much prettier. Reason 2, you said it produced sour oranges. Could have been rootstock that was producing and really you wont ever know. i would get a new tree. something desirable and known for good fruit. Tree #2 up to you but the way it was pruned you cant even get to the fruit. So that mean birds and animals get the first pick and you are left waiting for something to fall to the ground. Or get a tall ladder or harvesting pole but thats no fun either. Mike

Thank you so much for the informative articles. It looks dismal, not just for my own young pine forest, but for the many acres of older pine forest uphill from them, their parent trees. After mulling it over I have arrived at a philosophical outlook on the situation. When I say this is a pine forest, that is not entirely true. Both really are mixed forests with a variety of maple, hickory, apple and other species amidst the pines. So the way I look at it, while the pines are doomed, the other species will prosper and thrive and take over when their piney neighbors have been reduced to compost and relinquished their monopoly on the sunlight. We do plan to plant more spruce seedlings amidst the pines. It is good news that this rust disease does not affect spruce as well as pines, so unless the wood borer beetle that everyone is so worried about makes an appearance, the spruce trees should be able to carry on the legacy of the pines. I haven't actually planted many trees on the upper hill where most of our pines are. That area of forest pretty much seeded itself. The trees that we did plant, spruce, maple, birch, apple, are down hill from the woods in back. Again, thanks for the info. Better to plan for a pine extinction than to continue wondering.