Pine trees dying

[b dukes]

I have about 40 acres of planted pines.  In the last few months I have noticed a few dying. About a week ago I saw a few by my house with some of the needles turning brown. Today all the needles on one of the trees is all brown.  Looking around I see a lot of trees with the same thing happening. The are not dead yet just spots of dying needles. It was really dry last year and we haven't had much rain so far this year.  I guess my question is what should I do? How can I tell if it is some type of bug or lack of rain.

[Chuck White]

If I were in your shoes, I'd call in the local Forester!

If they (the dead ones) have any size to them, I'd saw them rather than let them go to waste!

[cutterboy]

It could be the lack of rain, however it looks like you'll get plenty in a few hours.

[Ron Scott]

It's always good to contact your local extension forester for determination of a specific local issue or cause.

[WDH]

Sounds like Ips beetles.  Once the trees get stressed from drought, the Ips beetle senses it and attacks the weakest trees.  Ips is a bark beetle that kills the tree by tunneling in the inner bark and girdling the tree.  If it is a bark beetle, you should see nickel sizes globs of pine pitch called pitch tubes where the beetle has bored into the tree and the tree responded by extruding pitch in an attempt to repel the beetle.  Look up the stem to see if there are any pitch tubes.

Here is an article with some info about Ips beetles.  There are some pictures so you can get an idea what a pitch tube looks like.  Unfortunately, there is not much at all that you can do about it.  You are right about needing rain.  The last two years have been disastrous in Central GA.  I am losing some to Ips just as you probably are.