Dwarf mogul pines

[streak]

Last may planted some Feather reed, French Lilies, and Dwarf mogul pines.
Everything took root and started to growing! Sometime around july some of the Dwarf mogul pines started to turn gray on parts of the outer edge of the plant.One just turned brown and later all of them turned brown and I assume that are all dead now! I left them in the ground to see if possibly one or two might have some live roots and show up this spring.
Anybody out there have any experience with these? Or what might have caused these to croak like they did. They were all watered and fertilized correctly.

[Graybeard]

Dunno nuttin about mogul pines but in my experience living around pine trees all my life if all the needles turn brown it's a goner. Having life left in the roots of pines is about as rare as hens teeth unlike sweetgum and elm that just keep on keeping on and are nearly impossible to finally kill off for good.

Just topping a small pine in my experience has been a death sentence for them. Ya can take limbs off but top a small pine and it dies. I have one that is now quite a few years old and is still at most 15' tall with limbs all the way to the ground. I'd really like it to always stay short and am sorely tempted to top it to cause it to spread but not go up but am afraid it will die if I do. I have no clue what kinda pine it is but it sure is a slow grower compared to all the others here. I've seen a few around the area that seem to always stay rather short and I'm hoping this is one of them tho there are no others anywhere close to my house.

[streak]

Yeah Graybeard!
My experience too with pines! When they go brown they are usually done for.
These little mogul pines strangely were very healthy and actually putting out new growth!
A part of one started to turn a little greenish gray and then eventually all did and turned brown except one and it went straight brown. Had cypress mulch in the flower bed so hope there was nothing in that that killed them. The feather reed and French lilies went gangbusters and grew into very healthy plants. The French lilies were unique as they bloom in July and they are beautiful.

[charles p]

Loblolly pines mostly die from their top down - especiall when beetles attack them.  A neighbor of mine cut the dead tops out of some mature trees.  I laughed at him because I have never seen anyone top out a pine tree.  Darn things are living.
It's normal for a pine to shed lower limbs as it grows taller.

[BUGEYE]

Dunno nuttin about mogul pines but in my experience living around pine trees all my life if all the needles turn brown it's a goner. Having life left in the roots of pines is about as rare as hens teeth unlike sweetgum and elm that just keep on keeping on and are nearly impossible to finally kill off for good.

Just topping a small pine in my experience has been a death sentence for them. Ya can take limbs off but top a small pine and it dies. I have one that is now quite a few years old and is still at most 15' tall with limbs all the way to the ground. I'd really like it to always stay short and am sorely tempted to top it to cause it to spread but not go up but am afraid it will die if I do. I have no clue what kinda pine it is but it sure is a slow grower compared to all the others here. I've seen a few around the area that seem to always stay rather short and I'm hoping this is one of them tho there are no others anywhere close to my house.

a nursery can sell you the stuff to paint the cut if you top your tree.  that keeps out water, bugs and disease.

[jvs]

I did a quick google search for Dwarf Mogul Pine and found almost nothing. 
 
There is a Pine that is "Dwarf Mugo Pine" that has plenty of info on.  These are prone to root rot, insect damage and disease.
 
Which one are we talking about?
 
 

[keith44]

I think jvs is on to something with the mugo pines.  From what I found, the dwarf pines all share similar frailties.  They are prone to insect damage, and this year saw the 15 year cicadias come out, and they are all prone to root rot.  The soil must be well drained, but since the roots grow close to the surface of the soil mulch is recommended (perportedly to keep the roots cool) 

It also sounds to me that they may have been planted too deeply.  I am only guessing here, but it is something to consider.