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Pine cones dropped before maturing. #762760

Asked July 20, 2021, 10:59 AM EDT

Hello--I have a very big white pine tree, maybe about 28 years old. This spring, many of the pine cones that were forming at the top of the tree dropped before they could mature and open. They were about 3" long and "skinny" when they dropped. A friend who lives in my town said the same thing happened to her white pine. What would cause so many pine cones to drop in their early stages of developing? We wondered if this could be related to the zillions of cicadas we had in June. The tree is very healthy. Some years I get a lot of pine cones, some years none. But I have never had so many drop early like this year. Thank you for any information.

Butler County Ohio

Expert Response

I can think of a couple possibilities. One is that it just happens to be a really good cone year for the White Pine in your area. This happens on a sort of cyclical basis. And possibly, out of that abundance of cones, it's just dropping some.

Or perhaps an animal (bird or squirrel) is cutting some of the cones off. Squirrels will eat pine cones and nip off tips of branches. You may seed branch tips on the ground as well as the cones.

Cicadas damage twig branches by depositing eggs on branches and do not usually effect the cones.

It's also possible that the tree has put out a flush of stress cones. This happens when the tree is dying and it makes a final effort to reproduce.

Since you indicated that the tree looks otherwise healthy and other trees in the vicinity also look like they have a lot of cones, my guess would be that it is just a good cone year and that you will see lots of both immature and mature cones on the ground through the course of the season.

Ultimately, if there doesn't appear to be any other troubling symptoms, I would just take a wait and see approach and monitor it over the next 1-2 years.

Pat - MGV Cuyahoga County Replied July 20, 2021, 11:38 AM EDT

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