Japanese red pine vs Scots pine

The umbrella-shaped, multi-stemmed forms are easily splayed or broken by heavy wet snow and freezing rain, so it is worth shaking deep snow off them, and wind can also damage the weeping and umbrella forms. The needles may take on a yellowish tint in winter, which is not a disease. On heavy, wet soil it dies from root suffocation, and on limy soil it can turn yellow. In Central Europe the shoot blights, needle cast fungi, aphids and spider mites that affect other two-needled pines can appear on it too, mainly on weakened plants in dry, hot summers. Shops sell almost only its dwarf or columnar cultivars, which stay a fraction of the size of the species: check the size of the cultivar you choose before you buy.

In the hot, drought-prone lowlands of Central Europe Scots pine lives at the edge of its tolerance: in Hungarian forests only about a quarter of the stands are still healthy. That is far better than black pine, of which hardly any healthy stands remain, but the trend is the same. Drought-weakened trees are attacked by Diplodia tip blight (Diplodia sapinea): needles at the shoot tips turn brown and hang on for a long time, repeatedly infected branches go bare and the tree can die. The fungus does more damage as summers get warmer and drier and is hitting Scots pine more and more often. Sawflies and scale insects also occur, and it copes badly with heavily polluted air. In a cooler, wetter, hilly location on well-drained soil, and watered in droughts, it is still a reasonable choice; in a hot, dry lowland garden it is a long-term risk.