I just received this Japanese black pine and it has light green needles and pretty small candles for this time of year. The needles are much lighter than my other JBPs that are around the same age and all are locally grown. The old needles were also cut, for what reason I don’t know…
I’ve read the canopy wide needle color could be overwatering or nutrient deficiency but also:
There are some ants on the tree and I also noticed some coming out of the drainage holes at the bottom. I can’t find any aphids and have combed through foliage top to bottom. I’m beginning to think there may be root aphids..
I pulled it out of the nursery pot and the roots don’t look like root rot but I did notice some white bits on some of the brown roots and it did not look like mycorrhiza…
Soil is sandy but seems like a little more organic than other pines in nursery pots.
I’m thinking of doing a soil drench with safari sg20 in case it’s aphids and then letting it dry out and fertilize in the next watering. Any thoughts anyone? See red area in first photo.
