Diplodia Tip Blight and Canker (Sphaeropsis sapinea, Diplodia pinea)

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Hosts: 2- and 3-needle pines, especially ponderosa pine

Quick ID:

Stunted, discolored needles
Needles attached to branch through winter, usually in clusters
Shoots bent or curled
Cankers on branches or stems
Olive-green streaking on tissue underneath bark Small black fruiting bodies
Field Identification

Tree: The first obvious sign is stunted, discolored needles on the current year's growth. When these shoots are infected early in the season, they show characteristic curled or bent growth.
The twigs may be resin-soaked, and olive-green streaking may be found on the tissue below the bark. The disease spreads up the branch, killing older needles up to the main trunk. Cankers,
which are sunken dead areas, may form on the branches or the trunk. If a canker girdles a trunk the area above it will be killed. In contrast to needles that drop normally, needles that are killed by
Diplodia will stay on the branch all winter.

Natural Resource Sciences, Cooperative Extension, PO Box 646410, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6410 USA