Dr. Phyto

Scots pine

Pinus sylvestris

Diseases & pests on this plant

• pine needle castLophodermium seditiosum

  Yellow-brown discoloration of pine needles from second growing season, black football-shaped fruiting bodies (hysterothecia) running along dying needles (very diagnostic), premature needle drop leaves bare shoots, young trees with severe attacks stunted, Christmas trees unmarketable from cosmetic damage.

• Diplodia tip blight of pineDiplodia sapinea

  Brown dead shoot tips + needles still attached to dying shoots, resin oozing from infected shoots + cankers, characteristic black pycnidia (fruiting bodies) on dead needles + cones, crown dieback in repeat infections, secondary bark beetle invasion of stressed trees.

• Scots pine resin canker / Scots pine blister rustCronartium flaccidum

  Yellow-orange aecial blisters bursting through pine bark in spring (the diagnostic primary symptom), copious resin flow from cankers, dead branches above cankers + crown dieback, severely infected young trees killed; mature trees survive but lose economic value as timber.

• pine wood nematodeBursaphelenchus xylophilusEU-notifiable quarantine organism

  Sudden wilting + browning of entire pine within 2-6 months (the diagnostic rapid timeline), reduced + brown resin flow when bark cut, dead needles remain attached to branches initially (not normal), microscopic confirmation required from wood samples, vector beetles (Monochamus) found on dead trees.