yes i have.. but i wont tell you mine.. until you tell me yours ...

never heard of rainbow .. but i will add cesarini variegated to the list ... or is it mrs cesarini???

btw .... ITS ALL PINES with yellow bands on them ...

ken

Summer stress from humidiy causes fungal issues although my plant is sure looking good (Golden Ghost) sent by Ken as a matter of fact. I think in our zone 5 humid climates this pine would benefit from afternoon shade.

Dax

Ken,

It's Pinus densiflora 'Cesarini's Variegated' and
Picea pungens 'Mrs. Cesarini'.

hey joy .. i was lazy.. didnt feel like checking the database ....

from my hosta background... i have come to the conclusion that all white tissue ... or tissue that starts yellow and fades in the heat of summer to white ... is simply a negative to the plant ...

this tissue in no way 'feeds' the plant ... due to lack of chlorophyll ...

if we work on the theory that for the years of 'getting established' .. every leaf is a food making machine... well ... if you remove the green from the leaf/needle... it just takes that many more years for the plant to get 'established...

instead of being 'fully established' after the second season ... i am convinced it can take 3 to 5 years on conifers that have white or yellow tissue that goes white .... its all an issue of the green mass of needles versus the white mass .... if the plant is a majority green.. it tends toward normal establishment... if it is highly yellow... then longer ...

in my z5 .... the yellow/white tissue burns to a crisp in the heat of summer .... and whatever is left.. can burn to a crisp in winter.. winter sun and winter wind.. can desiccate the bee gee bees [technical term there .. lol] out of them ....

both cesarini var and burkes red.. both lost all needles the second and third spring .... though golden ghost never did .... i would guess at this time... that perhaps the first year.. they were totally covered by snow cover.. and avoided the problem ...

IT SEEMS ... that once they get a significant root mass .. to offset the extremes of summer and winter... they hold up much better ...

whether dax's suggestion of disease is the 'cause' i might argue its the after-effect .... a weakened plant ... he might not see the disease in a year or two ...

all conifers in pots die over the winter for me.. so i cant discuss that ....... but the exposure of the root mass above ground .. seems to suggest such to me ...

when the plants lost all their needles in spring.. i thought i had lost the plants.. but this is where i learned.. its all in the buds .... if they remain hard and tan.. they remain viable.. and the plant can re-leaf ...

well super coffee buzz started here.. i think i addressed my theory.. lol ... will have to re-read it all later and add anything else...

is it close to your theory???

ken

Great theory Ken. I support it all the way.

densiflora.... succeptible to PWN (Pine Wilt Nematode) in our climate. Another factor to consider.

Great observations...

Dax

soooo.. what about your theory??????

ken

Thanks Ken. Sorry for the pause in posting - I've been having some PC problems lately.

Short version of my theory:
I think your theory is right :)

Long version:
I found that the grafts which had no green needles (that is rootstock needles) on them suffered the most. The ones that had at least some green needles left had little to no problems. If the plant had a green twig left it didn't suffer in any bit. I checked about 1,5K Oculus Draconis / Golden Ghost plants grafted this year on two different rootstocks (P. sylvestris and P. uncinata) and the pattern seems to be quite obvious and can be seen on both varieties, and on both kinds of rootstock. I tried to identify water/dryness problems, but couldn't find any pattern. All the plants have been kept in a plastic tunnel (so I'm looking for additional problems that this might have caused). On the other hand, plants that I had outside didn't have any problems this year (although they didn't have any rootstock needles left on them), but... they are all a bit more established - two, three years old and more.

I was trying to come up with other that factors could intensify the drying/dying/burning of the needles.

- dryness/wetness? Water stress is of course always a catalyst for other problems, but like I already said - I couldn't see any rule here. Plants drying in wetter/dryer places behaved similarly.
- humidity? High humidity would make a weak plant more prone to fungi diseases. I wasn't able to test this though.
- high temperature? This was my first thought when I saw the dead needles. But know I'm thinking that maybe August is the "death month" because summer is when the variegation becomes most visible (the percentage of yellow/white tissue increases) not simply because it's hot.
- amount of sunlight? I was wondering what would be better - full sun or for example 30% shade? It seems that some shade would prevent any potential sunburn problems. But on the other hand - if the problem is because of a too small ratio of green mass (in comparison to the whole plant), than less sunlight will also mean less food produced by the existing chlorophyll.

Well, there is still at least a few things to think through...

Again, thanks Ken for your input - I think you very much hit the needle on the head ;)

Oops, I meant: Plants growing in wetter/dryer places behaved similarly.

HOSTA WITH VERY LARGE WHITE TISSUE... IN THE CENTER... WILL REGRESS IF GROWN IN TOO MUCH SHADE ...oops .... just not enough sun on the green parts to retain vigor ...

so you put them in more sun .. so that little green edge... will get the most sun possible... to store energy for next year ...

the down side is that the white.. useless center.. will 'melt out' or basically burn out .... so you will have one ugly.. but vigorous plant ... i often tell hosta peeps.. grow them in too much sun.. for a couple years.. so that your babe can grow to some size.. and then move it to more shade to make it pretty ... its the babes that are problematic ....

based on how my young plants.. lost ALL needles.. in full blistering sun ... after a long winter... with no set back at all ....

i would suggest that more sun gives the plant more energy... which in the long run.. is better for the plant.. but makes for one ugly plant for a while ...

rather than growing them in too much shade ... where they wont burn.. but they might not have vigor ..

which is all complicated by the fact that you want to grow perfect specimens for sale ... you arent going to sell a lot of ugly burnt up plants.. eh????

no clue about your understock choices ....

also.. i think you are saying.. that OD's with a lot of yellow are better off if you leave the understock needles on for an extra year or two ... yes??? .. is that what you meant by green needles ...

obviously.. if you have 1500 of them... you have done more than i have.. lol ..

ken

This is literally the only thing I have found on golden ghost red pine issues and it’s 13 years old.

I have a golden ghost Japanese red pine that has been browning and losing needles since July. It was insanely hot then we had crazy rain and humidity so it’s hard to diagnose without digging it up.

This is the first year I have had one and I want it to thrive so bad. I keep coming back to this thread so maybe reviving it will help diagnose issues! I’ve removed a lot of the brown needles in hopes of helping it