Unusual growth on pine trees - northern Florida

[Midmid1]

A friend was hiking in northern Florida and came across 2 pine trees approximately 12 miles apart that had an unusual growth on them.  My thoughts was that these were hybrid pines that had been damaged at some point and the tree had recovered but the growth was from the recessive gene.  I have no science or forestry background other than just enjoying myself surrounded by woods.

If anyone can enlighten us, I would appreciate your help.

[Tom]

Welcome to the forum, midmid1.

It's called Witch's Broom and is the result of anything from a fungus to mechanical damage.  

[WDH]

The only cure is a broth of bat wings and eye of newt used to water the roots only on nights with a full moon.

Just kidding!

[Texas Ranger]

Dead cats and spunk water work better, and you do it at night, so the effects will be ready for the dawns early light.

[SwampDonkey]

Does dwarf mistletoe affect pines? I know it infects hemlock and fir forming brooms. But it's only one cause of broom as there are others pointed out. I did a study one time on broom in fir, it seems they only grew for about 16 years on samples we looked at. We collected lower limbs, but the uninfected limbs at the whorls were still nice and green, so ruled out shading.

I found a spruce one time, it was all shaggy on the bottom half of the tree and true limbs on the top half.

Here's the thread link

Might be a new candidate to the "An Eye for Trees" thread. ;)

[Midmid1]

I knew I had stumbled onto the right website!   8)

Thanks for the answer(s).  I'll have to try out that cure of broth of bat wings and eye of newt used to water the roots only on nights with a full moon on my pines that are affected with those darn pine beetles.   ;D

[jim king]

If that could be controlled and reproduced it sure would make some nice Christmas trees.

[KBforester]

Does dwarf mistletoe affect pines?

There is a mistletoe on ponderosa  pine and doug-fir.  Not sure if its the same type that we have in the east or not....

[SwampDonkey]

I don't know either, I would assume no because of the influence of the Rockies. But I do know mistletoe is found in the western hemlocks and it was quite common where I worked on the north coast and up toward Meziadin Junction (Nass River) and upper Skeena. Didn't have much for bugs and pest diseases on the Queen Charlottes as I recall. And devil's club wasn't even hardly found there either. Lots of great big old banana slugs though. ;D

[Texas Ranger]

MidMid, where are you located? 

Swampdonkey, we have mistletoe in some hardwoods, but have never seen them on southern pines.

[WildDog]

1st up welcome Midmid1, hope you stay around, you will find answers to just about everything that makes the world go round here.

There is a mistletoe on ponderosa  pine and doug-fir.

We get Mistletoe on our eucalyptus, and have a a little finch sized mistletoe bird.

[clww]

Usually the only tree around these parts with Mistletoe are the Maples.

[RynSmith]

If I recall correctly, the mistletoes found in deciduous trees are the 'true' mistletoes.  They are only semi-parasitic in that they do have their own chlorophyll and only take water from their host.  The kind found on conifers are dwarf-mistletoes and take both food and water from the trees they live on.  Most are species-specific but some can occur on more than one kind of conifer.

The first kind is the one you're supposed to  under.  ;)