I screwed up and fertilized my white pines, hoping it would benefit them, they were about 2' tall, I gave them 3/4 of a cup of 10-10-10. Now, about half of them have turned light brown, I'm sure I'll lose several, hopefully some will come out of it. I guess, I'll be buying more this spring. Live and Learn. Do you think some of the ones turning brown may pull out of it?

The problem was probably more complex than that...when were they planted?

planted in early march of 2006, lost some from weed competition over the summer, i fertilized them 1st week of november, since then, several have turned light brown on me.

Yeah, they just weren't ready for it yet...especially after the heat and drought of this summer. How many acres did you have planted?

i had 200 originally planted, lost 25 over the summer, which is normal, have since lost about 75 from over- fertilizing. Do you think some of them that have turned lightly brown already will make it through?

Possibly, but I wouldn't bank on it. You may wait it out a year and replant, but I would suggest just inter-planting this spring in the areas that have died off. If you have very much grass competition, you should really consider controlling it through spot or strip herbicide treatments. You'll have a lot better establishment then. Down further south here in SW Arkansas it is almost always a necessity just to keep the grasses from out-competing the trees in their first year. Just make sure the herbicide you choose isn't going to harm the trees as well.

do you have a herbicide you recommend?

portable ladder; did you pour the fertilizer right on the tree trunks? Did the entire tree turn brown or just selected branches? I fertilize my trees and have never lost one due to that cause. Was the soil very dry when you fertilized? If the area was heavy in grass that should have cut down on the amount left for the tree. I'd water heavily and hope you can flush the soil.

Simazine is a good choice as a herbicide if you can get it or Roundup if you shield the trees.

Dan O.

i just sort of dumped 3/4 of a cup around the tree, some of the pellets may have hit the needles of the pines, i'm hoping a few are just in shock and will come back strong in the spring, i'm not digging them up, if I scratch the bark, many still have green, so i knowseveral are alive.

I fertilized about 500 of my pines this past spring. I couldn't believe the growth on the one I did fertilize!!!!! They are growing unbelievable! I know it takes about 5 or 6 years for them to really get established but the fertilizer helped, 12-12-12!! I take a hammer and pound it twice into the ground at the end of the longest branches so when the rain drips off the tree it soaks the fertilizer into the ground! It ends up being about 2 shot glasses deep and works great! I'll do this every other year! I didn't have enough to do about 200 more trees and they didn't grow half as much as the ones I did do! I recommend it! I would make sure the ground is already moist and rain on the way! Good luck!!!