Friday, October 7, 2011

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

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