I have had this northfolk Island pine tree for 10 years, and now the needles are dry and brittle is this way all throught the plant, needles are also falling off, NEED HELP!! Was my Mom's and handed down to me HELP!!!!!
Check for spider mites first by shaking a branch over a plain white piece of paper. You'll see tiny little specks moving on the paper if mites are present. If no mites, probably a light or moisture problem. Araucaria heterophylla info: http://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Foliage/folnotes/norfolk.htm
Other than spidermites, a few other reasons can cause needles to dry. The potting soil dried out too much at sometime, maybe it was over watered, pot bound, too much sun, or it's in a warm dry room. Mine lost branches and needles in the winter months from the (heated dry air) These trees do better in a cooler room rather than a warmer one (in the winter) months.
In my experience hot, dry air as is found indoors in the winter is the no.1 killer of Norfolk Pines. Give it humidity by using a pebble tray, a humidifier in the room or regular misting, and keep temperatures around 18-20 degrees Celsius. That should help stop the deterioration, but once the needles have dropped, I believe they will not grow back on the same branch.
We found the problem to be a mostiure problem, and did some trimming of the dead limbs, Plus we are misting the plant now. Question: how often should we mist the plant?
That I can't give exact advice on. Probably once a day is enough. I found that in spring time an open window helps a lot with humidity levels and lowering the temperature level (as long as it is at least +5 degrees Celsius).
You can mist daily if you like, (cover the soil) but it really won't raise the humidity levels long enough to do much good, the water just dries too fast. Misting will keep your tree and plant leaves clean.
how do we then try and get it to grow more branches? because we trimed a lot of them off. We need growth now. Fertilizer?
The only awy a Norfolk is going to 'grow new branches' is from the top... They don't reproduce and develope like some random shrub... These are bizarre trees on most every level.
Fertilizer won't help I'm afraid. I had a Norfolk Island Pine that was over 50 yrs old when it came to me. and it was already close to my ceiling. If any of the needles, or branches dried up, it would do that in the winter (from dry warm air) not in the summer. After a few years, it started to look more like a palm tree because most of the growth was at the top. Once branches, and I'm pretty sure needles as well dry up, you won't see any new ones. Branches for sure. I tried to take a tip cutting (caused multiple tips to grow after cutting) several times without any success when the tip of the tree was less than 4" from hitting the ceiling. I talked to a local horticulturist about how to go about getting the top to root, he said it was almost impossible and never heard of it successful, and that to get one to root, you would probably have to have more than perfect conditions, if that even worked.
