Browning needles on conifer

I'm not a conifer expert so have no idea which one these are, if it's important to know what they are to answer my question let me know and I'll take a picture this weekend.

I have three of these trees in my yard (all fairly large, ~20 ft if I had to guess), they had been looking fine then all of a sudden the last couple days I noticed a lot of branches that were starting to turn brown (could have been going on for a while though and I just didn't notice until recently). My two theories on what could have caused the browning are 1) our recent heatwave (close to 2 weeks of 100+ temperatures, with at least 3-4 days over 110) or 2) overwatering from my lawn sprinklers (they are planted next to the lawn...which I hate and intend to get rid of, but for now I'm trying to keep it alive so my neighbors don't complain). I currently water the lawn with sprinklers for 10 minutes every 2-3 days.

The damage seems worse on one side of the trees than the other--the side with the greater amount of damage is the side that's next to my lawn (the other side is next to my neighbor's yard, which does not have a lawn and is nicely landscaped with relatively drought-tolerant stuff, don't think I've ever seen them watering, so if they have anything it's a drip irrigation system). The more damaged side also faces south and is in full sun most of the day.

The heat is definitely a suspect because an extended heat wave like that is very unusual around here and I didn't notice the damage until right after it, and the side of the trees with the worst damage got more of the brutal sun, but then since the side that's showing more damage is next to my lawn and its water, I thought maybe that could be it too. So I have no idea! Any thoughts?

Hi,
I have thathappen too from time to time, at different times of the year. Just when I'm about to get rid of the pine, it recovers. Maybe a life stage- get rid of old needles to make way for new?

That's what I'm hoping...but I've seen conifers do that before, and this level of browning looks much more extensive (I'm comparing both to other trees that I've seen, and also a recent thread on this forum where someone else was having similar problems--my trees are much browner than the ones in the other thread)

My Ponderosas drop needles if they are transpiring too much water out of the tree. Any drought times my ponderosa will loose all of the needles except the very tip. then replace them as it grows out. But this happens universally around the tree not on one side or the other.

Ecrane3, my big pine (and I do not know what kind but in NJ I am sure it's not a poderosa- used to live in CA once upon a time) is starting with the brown needles again. We've had plenty of rain, so I'm sure it's not a water issue. The soil drains well there and the trees have been here long before we moved in, probably planted when the house was built over 50 years ago. I'm just going to watch and wait. And maybe figure out what kind of pine it is. Make cones. Is not a cedar. Pretty sure it is not a fir.

A lot of conifers have been getting burned as a result of the extreme heat this last week - sunburn:)

Dax

P.s. keep them watered at times such as this. They'll turn purplish in color then brown. I have a dwarf Picea pungens doing this right now on one branch.

Thanks everyone for your input--I'm hoping it's just something caused by our giant heat wave and that the trees will recover (they're about the only things in my yard that I was planning to keep when I re-landscape this fall, so I would really hate to lose them!). The reason I posted was that if there was a chance it was overwatering from the lawn sprinklers, then I wanted to make sure and stop watering the lawn since I'm planning to get rid of it in a month or two anyway. But if it's most likely the heat/sun I'm just going to keep watering how I have been and cross my fingers that they'll improve as our weather returns to normal

Yeah, whatever passes for normal these days. ;-P

For over 10,000 yrs it has been warming. That is why I moved to Seattle in the 70's and Montana in the 90's. Soon to move to Alberta in the 2010's. Just read about the glacial retreats and follow them for the ideal climate.

Cool Sofer. (and not to cool for our planet).

Dax

I grew up on the North side of deTroit (the Straights, la Estrecha). During prohibition the Purple Gang during winter would buy liquor from Hiram Walker on the South bank and drive across the ice at night. When I was young the Coast Guard used icebreakers to keep deTroit open for shipping. Every few years someone would find a car on the bottom loaded with wiskey. Now de Troit never freezes.

That's a great story! But counting back the years to Prohibition, you must be even older than I am if you can remember that.

Older'n Dirt, I say!!!

Guy S.