Scotch pine

Botanical name

Pinus sylvestris

Type

Evergreen conifer from Europe and Asia, long-lived

Size

50 to 100 feet (USDA Forest Service)

Hardiness

Zones 2 to 8; zones 6b to 7b here

Where it is found

Windbreaks, large yards and old tree rows, about 4,000 to 6,500 feet

Known weak points

Needle yellowing on alkaline soil, bark beetle attack when stressed, western gall rust

Orange bark high on the trunk is the Scotch pine's trademark. Utah State University calls it fairly disease- and insect-free, and rates its drought tolerance high. This page covers identification, where it grows by elevation and when pruning or removal is right, and how it fits with fire and defensible space.

How do you identify a Scotch pine?

Look up the trunk. The bark turns a distinctive orange, thin and flaking, on the upper trunk and limbs; the lower trunk is gray-brown and furrowed. Needles come two to a bundle, one and a half to three inches long, blue-green, often twisted, and may turn yellowish-green in winter. Cones are reddish-brown and one and a half to two inches long.

Young trees are pyramid-shaped. Old ones lose the lower limbs and open into an irregular flat-topped crown, so the tree can resemble a big umbrella.

• Two twisted blue-green needles per bundle
• Orange upper bark
• Small woody cones
• Open, irregular crown on old trees

Where does it grow in Reno, Carson City and the Carson Valley?

Scotch pine is hardy to zone 2, so every elevation in our area is inside its range, from Dayton (4,384 feet, zone 7a) and Reno (4,505 feet) to Incline Village (6,437 feet, zone 6b). Utah State University rates it high for drought and medium for alkalinity, and says it has been widely planted in Utah and the West.

In our valleys it is usually an introduced yard or windbreak tree rather than part of the native forest. The native pines on the hillsides above are different species such as Jeffrey pine and single-leaf pinyon, with three long needles or a single needle per bundle.

What goes wrong with it here?

Utah State University reports needle yellowing on the most alkaline soils and when the tree is overwatered. The Forest Service lists pests of Scotch pine across the country, including pine root collar weevil, Scleroderris canker and western gall rust; which of them reach Nevada is a question for the arborist. A pine stressed by drought can also attract the beetles on our bark beetles in pines page.

A tall pine near a house also belongs in the defensible-space conversation. Dead lower limbs in the crown are ladder fuel, and our ladder fuels guide explains why. Scotch pine is rated not suited to planting under power lines.

Pruning, cabling or removal: which is the right call?

Dead and dying limbs can be cut any time. Planned pruning for a conifer is best early in the year, in late winter or spring, as the client's own pruning guidance says for most conifers. Do not cut into the live crown heavily; pines do not regrow from bare wood.

Removal is the usual answer for a tree that has died, whose crown is largely brown, or that leans toward a structure. A fully dead pine is brittle. Tall pines near a house are often crane-assisted removal jobs. Our dead pine guide shows how that process works.

From the ground, some things are ordinary and some are not. Needles on the inside of the crown yellowing and dropping in fall is normal seasonal shedding for a pine. A branch whose needles brown at the tips, a crown that fades from the top, blobs of pitch on the trunk, fine boring dust in the bark crevices or swollen galls on the limbs are the signs the arborist looks at closely, and the ones to mention when you call.

What does Battle Born Tree Service do about a Scotch pine?

We look at the whole tree, not only the part that worries you, and the free estimate lays out pruning, dead wood removal or tree removal. The crew is eight people, two of them ISA Certified Arborists, and the phone line is staffed seven days a week at 775.232.8243. For firewood, call the office for availability and pricing.