I'd start by looking up white pine blister rust. No, I'm not diagnosing that fatal disease from here at this desk, just saying, your tree presents as one possibly afflicted with WPBR, perhaps an early stage. If I'm wrong about that, then good luck with the plant. Just don't want you to waste time with something for which there is no hope.

Yikes!! That stuff is bad news. I'd never heard of it before. After looking it up, and reexamining the tree, I am honestly not sure. It's obviously been mishandled its entire life, but I am not educated enough to tell for sure whether or not it's got the funk.

Thanks, Ken. That's what I'll do.

dont you have a weeping white pine? If you felt like sharing a pic or two I'd love to see it.

Tom

I've never seen WPBR in TN, that doesn't me it aint here tho. Lots of yellow needles, a lot of WP have a needle problem this year, lots of yellow and way too early needle drop. Never seen it before here and haven't a clue what it is.

Kyle

Is it me or is the bark on the main stem kinda shriveled? A very wet root ball could be anything from the tree being watered prior to your getting it or being over watered so the roots have failed and the tree is unable to stay hydrated, hence bark shrivel. Hope I'm wrong, that would not bode well. The plastic tie is a non issue, it was removed. If it were me I would do as ken says.

A large weeping white pine is a spectacular tree. It will grow almost as fast as the species. If you want it upright, keep it staked as long as you can, if not, give it lots of room, it will get wide. You live where white pine is native, it should do well for you.

btw ... the difference in toms answer to mine...

is that i am .. or was.. a hardcore collector .. any grafted plant.. that you can buy.. is worth 20 bucks.. period ... its worth the risk ... you can waste 20 bucks on foo foo coffee in a week ... why not ...

as a tree hugging ex hippy ... lol ... there are other concerns ...

btw ... never worry about trying to bend an old leader back up ... just pick a younger flexible branch near the bend.. and train that one up ... trust me.. broke off a leader that way once.. lol ...

ken #2's more local advice would be more pertinent than any cultural info i could provide in that regard ...

ken

Yeah, i was wondering about the old leader thing. It has what looks like an old one that is more of a branch now, and a younger one which I will make the new leader, assuming it makes it to fall.

Also, this may be a dumb question, but do I need to have it staked while still in the pot if I don't plan to plant it till fall?

It is through growing for the year so no. If you plan on staking my suggestion would be to install a stout support and then place the rootball next to it. That way you won't damage the roots.

This is something I've done in the past to a weeping cherry that I wanted to grow at least 10' of straight trunk. Get a stick of 1"emt from the big box and pound it into the ground as far as you can, but at least 3'. Be careful not to peen over the end, use a piece of 2 by to protect the end. You'll have 7' of stake, into which you can slide a stick of 3/4" of emt, into which you can slide a stick of 1/2 " emt. Add the additional sticks as the tree grows. Easy-Peasy

i used to put a stake down thru the pot.. right out the weep hole.. into the ground.. so the darn pot didnt flop over in every little burst of air ... ken

If it's in a pot, why can't you plant it in the ground now?

The mark on the trunk looks like it was made by that staking tape nurseries use and leave on too long. Same stuff that's laying around in your last pic. I might be a little more concerned about those brown needles everywhere. Can we get a pic of the whole plant?

tj

Mike: well I guess it can be planted. I just assumed it would need some root surgery, and I figured it couldn't handle the stress of that on top of all its other stressors. What's your opinion?

tj: yeah, I took the tape off. I'll post a picture of the whole thing tomorrow. The needles are quite dry. Even the remaining green ones.

"The needles are quite dry. Even the remaining green ones."

Never a good thing. I suspect you wont have to worry about root pruning. If it is not too late already, you will need all the roots it has.

tj

Yeah, just some minor root untangling and get it in the ground with water. Maybe shade it a bit until it recovers.

A plant in the ground is far less trouble than one in a pot. I'm married to several hundred in pots.

Mike

i have pasted this in 3 posts this morn:

if you are in say.. the PNW ... where mike is .... cool .. rainy.. cloudy ... go for it ...

if you are in my midwest MI .. where july and august hover in the 90s.. with drought possible ... etc ...

plant in September.. when night temps consistently fall into the low 60s ...

in my ground freeze area .. 6 to 10 weeks before ground freeze.. is plenty of time.. for roots to get settled ...

TN is somewhere in between i suspect ... but its the odds of where august will go for you.. my way.. or mikes way ... that is the determinative problem ...

ken#2 is more local to you.. his opinion might be best ...

ken

ken #1

Just for your edification lol. Planting time here is between the time leaves drop in the fall to just before bud break in spring, roughly mid Nov-mid March. That's for stuff that needs to be dug. The nurseries usually start digging in Dec and shipping Jan-early April. The majority of nurseries here are container operations now. Thirty years ago it was common to see flat beds loaded with b&b field grown stock running the roads over winter. Not so much now.

In Ct were I grew up field grown conifers were dug Aug-Oct, depending on soil moisture, and a couple weeks after ground thaw til just before bud break in spring, usually late March-early May, depending on weather. We had a saying, "get your outside work done by election day". In TN most nurseries work through the winter, snow and frozen ground are usually not a problem for any length of time, if at all, rain and mud can be.

When containers came on the scene in a big way, the word was "plant anytime the ground can be worked". What I do here if I've got a container is to wait until the plant is dormant, then plant. The reason being that just about all container stock will need root work, and I certainly don't want to do that at a time when that would stress the plant ie the growing season. Even if no root work needs done, it is for me so much easier to care for a container(s) in a sheltered spot than to have to water stuff scattered all over.

ken #2

Pictures of the whole thing, as promised:

This year's growth appears wilted, as does last year's needles, not good. If I'm correct that the bark is shriveled, as I mentioned above, I'd have to say the tree is probably beyond recovery.

If you want to do something, try this.

Knock the tree out of it's pot, shake ALL the potting medium from the roots.

Find a large root, grasp between thumb and forefinger, and gently tug.

If the bark slips off, the root(s) is dead. Even if dead, try several others.

If the roots seem sound, repot in something like pine fines or small pine bark nuggets that have been dampened, and put in complete shade, no sun. Keep the medium just barely moist and mist the foliage on days with low dew points.

Kyle, if the tree turns out dead, use this as a learning experience. Look at the tree closely and note the differences between a healthy tree and a not so healthy one. Some plants can be seemingly brought back from the dead. Conifers are different in that they can be beyond recovery and still look half decent. I'd bet money that everyone here that has been advising you has a least one time brought home something that was DOA, I know I have.

ken #2

I scratched the bark a little and it was very green underneath. Does that change anything?

Planting time here is between the time leaves drop in the fall to just before bud break in spring, roughly mid Nov-mid March.

==>>>

before i reply .. i will say this: WALK AWAY NEXT TIME ... lol.. do you still get a warranty ...???

as to TN and ken2 ... my z5 ground freezes between 12/15 to 1/15 .... and that can vary wildly in the various z5s....

i presume ... trees in frozen ground ... are fully dormant ... top and bottom ... so i like to say ... they should get in the ground 6 to 8 weeks prior .. to get settled in and full of water.. for the winter sleep ... i extend this by saying a great time is when night temps fall inot the 60s ... which gives 8 to 10 to 12 weeks to settle in ...

so this is why we need to know where peeps are ... with some specificity ...

ken