One of the 2 pine trees in my backyard turned brown this fall. Everything I've read says its a goner and needs to be cut down. Not sure what caused this one to die but the one on the other side of the pool to remain???

You could take a sample to a lab to test.

Did the tree ooze a lot of resin?

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You could take a sample to a lab to test.

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What kind of lab?

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Did the tree ooze a lot of resin?

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A little but not excessive IMO.

Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab at TAMU. Not sure what is available in NTX if that's where you are.

Trees can get diseases and die while the one nearby lives. Kind of like Covid.

BTW, did you notice it dying over a period of time or did it just turn brown in a month or so. Trees most often take years to "die". The presence of rapid decline is a good way to narrow down the cause.

I just lost one to line bore beetles. Are there a lot of pin holes in the bark?

It's 100% dead. But it doesn't look like a major danger to your house so cutting it in the spring should be fine.

Check for Pine beetles. Google "pine beetle pitch tube" - it only takes a couple of these visible to kill a tree. We've lost several in East TX to them. Our ones that showed brown needles at the top only took a few weeks to go solid brown like yours. If pine beetles, they drill that hole & then proceed to ring the tree from the inside. We could actually hear them chewing. Creepy. It's important to get rid of the sick one asap if you have them - they just move on to another pine.


https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/EvidenceOfBeetleAttacks/

If there's one bright spot, They do produce some cool lumber. Wish I had a portable saw mill for this one

Definitely dead. I lost two pine trees a couple of years ago. Whenever a pine tree turns brown like that there's no way it's gonna come back.

Like 03_Aggie, I lost my only pine tree to bore beetles. Cost me $300 to have t removed.

So the tree company came out for the estimate and said it was some type of tree borer. He said the exact name but I cannot recall. The tree is costing me ~ $700 to take out. As for my other green pine tree that looks well, he said it also had tree borer holes in the trunk and should have it treated. Any recommendations on what to spray on it to treat it before this one ends up dead to?

Find out the name of the borer and come back to us.

Faster the better.

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Find out the name of the borer and come back to us.

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He simply replied wood boring beetle.

No help to me.

Call your local Ag Extension Office.

03_Aggie said:

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If there's one bright spot, They do produce some cool lumber. Wish I had a portable saw mill for this one

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I saw a report on TV in Colorado where someone was making furniture from those. It looked really impressive and unique!

PlanoAg98 said:

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So the tree company came out for the estimate and said it was some type of tree borer. He said the exact name but I cannot recall. The tree is costing me ~ $700 to take out. As for my other green pine tree that looks well, he said it also had tree borer holes in the trunk and should have it treated. Any recommendations on what to spray on it to treat it before this one ends up dead to?

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Seems a little on the high side for a tree that size, but not too bad. Does that include stump grinding? If so, then it may be a decent price. Make sure your city doesn't require a permit to cut a tree down, some do. Risk of trouble is low, but it's possible.

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Seems a little on the high side for a tree that size, but not too bad. Does that include stump grinding? If so, then it may be a decent price. Make sure your city doesn't require a permit to cut a tree down, some do. Risk of trouble is low, but it's possible.

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It actually does not include stump grinding but does include haul off. Our city charges them ~ $50 to drop it off at the dump/compost center. I got 3 quotes of: $600, $650, $750. Maybe it's just the Plano area (Dallas suburbs).

I had the tree taken down today. I decided to not get the stump ground. I was paying for a day rate and had a lot of of trees in the yard I wanted trimmed up. The tree had electrical running to it for the tree lights. Now that I have a stump with electrical, any ideas?

Throne/chair?

Carve a face coming out of the ground and make the lights the eyes. Like the trees in Lord of the Rings.