probably normal needle shed,,,,,my 25 footer is starting now,,in il.
wow has that been in pot for 10 yrs ?
ron

Thanks! Yeah, I'm afraid so, no place to put it right now but that's a pretty big pot.

Looks normal for autumn.

are we sure this is ponderosa ??? ... leaves look short and too fine for such ...

and seeing most of it.. why only what might be 5 whorls on a 10 year old plant???

the yellowing is normal ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

After 10 years in that pot your tree could be on the decline.

Al

It does seem a long time in the same pot, though some needle shed is normal now, it's probably root bound and will start to suffer. I have a couple of Ponderosas as bonsai collected from the Rocky Mountains 50+ years old), and the needles are even shorter, but they get normal bonsai care and maintenance. In regular soil and pot just left for 10 years the needle length will reduce when it gets root bound but then eventually will either starve for lack water or it get root rot.

Thanks all. It hasn't been in the same pot, it's only been in a pot since I grew the seed in 2004. I see where the confusion when I said afraid so up there but yeah, pots. I like it and I'd never neglect it. I water it with the others and I just put it that pot about a year ago. The gift shop that I got it from said (the tag) it's a Ponderosa Pine, actually it does look like one. I'll post another photo of more the whole thing. It's kinda a unique tree here because there aren't any in this region that I know of.

Oh, here's that photo, I attached but I guess the submit button above the post doesn't include the attached pic.