Needle Drop

One would think that a tree classified as being an evergreen would mean that pine

trees keep their needles indefinitely. Pine trees actually only keep an individual needle for

two or three years. After that time period, the tree stops feeding the older needles and the

needles die in the fall, turn yellow or brown, and drop off the tree.

Each spring the pine trees grows new set of needles, while each fall the pine tree sheds its oldest set of needles. Some years a pine tree may shed two sets of old needles, making the fall needle drop even more apparent. This year with the abundant moisture in the we had a great year of needle growth.

This fall there is an incredible amount of needles that are going to fall and fortunately for us us the last several days of high winds have blown the majority down in one shot.  Now the cleanup begins.  

Older Needles Turning Brown

Buried

Over the last several days we have experienced extremely high winds that have created a mess on the course.  The Ponderosa Pines are shedding their needles right now and the winds have accelerated this process.

Although most conifer trees are considered to be "evergreen", their needles don't live forever. What makes them evergreen is that their leaves persist more than one year before falling. Since new needles are added every year, there is always an overlap between green needles and those that are due to drop in the fall.

Older needles on the inside of evergreen trees are shed each fall after they turn yellow, brown or reddish tan in color. Sometimes this natural process is very subtle and goes unnoticed because only the inner most needles area affected.

Needles In The Rough

#12 Green Buried In Needles