In article ,
sherwindu wrote:

One thing that may help is that evergreens like the soil to be somewhat
acidic.
You
can check this with a simple PH testor, or you can simply add something like
Miracle Grow for Evergreens, which will sweeten up the soil.

Sherwin

bruceh wrote:

My father has a couple of old (Japanese?) pine trees, each
about 8 feet tall in which the needles are browning.
He says that he only waters the trees and has never used
any fertilizer.

Is there any fertilizer/additive that can help with
these trees?

TIA

If you want to loosen the soil, add organic material (grass clippings,
compost, ect., if there is a pine forest near you, you might find fallen
branches that still have needles on them). If you could plant rye, or
red clover, they would put lots of organic material into the soil
(roots), to loosen it up. Red clover will also add nitrogen. Don't add
chemical fertilizer because it can harm microorganisms in the soil that
are the basis of the healthy soil you want to produce, use fish emulsion
instead.

Having mulched or planted rye or red clover, and fertilizing with an
organic fertilizer, keep the area under the tree moist.

The compacted soil that I am familiar with if usually play grounds or
areas where people park their cars. If this is the case, these practices
must stop if you want to save your trees and improve the soil.

If you need to adjust the soil pH (I doubt it is necessary because the
pine trees are already there) use powered elemental sulfur, which is
available at most nurseries. Chemical fertilizers are salts, which harm
soil organisms, and which are quickly flushed away (damaging the quality
of the run-off, algae blooms, ect.), requiring further purchases of chem
ferts to replace them. The goal is to produce soil that supports a
healthy biological community that releases their nitrogen, and other
elements, as they live out their life cycle.
--

Billy

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