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Shedding White Pine Needles (IL)

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From: Hildegard Shaffer City: Newport, RI
We planted a young white pine in 1996 and this year for the first time a lot of needles are falling Is this going to happen every year or will it stop for a few years? This pine stands in a large area of periwinkle and the needles are therefore hard to clean up. Will the needles kill the periwinkle?
	Extension Message From: Jay Hayek Extension Specialist, Forestry Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences jhayek@illinois.edu
All conifers shed their needles, including eastern white pine (Pinus strobus). Needles are shed every year, however, some years the needle shedding is much more pronounced and noticeable -- this is completely natural, unless of course all your tree's needles fall of at once leaving the tree completely bare! The white pine's needles will not kill the periwinkle; however, conifer needles can increase the acidity of the soil.
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