Inevitably, this time of year I will have customers come in worried that their pine trees are dying because they see some yellowing of the needles.

Evergreens, like pine trees, change color in the fall just like deciduous trees. But unlike deciduous trees they only drop about one-third to one-half of their needles every year.

As the evergreen grows outward the inside branches don't get enough sunlight to properly benefit the tree, so every fall the tree will shed these needles. So if you see some yellow pine trees this time of year, they are not sick, they are just preparing for winter like everyone else.

Likewise your evergreen shrubs around your house will lose roughly one third of their inside needles as well. If a bush you have is getting yellow on the outside then you may have a problem. Bring in a branch and we can take a look at it for you.

It also helps to bring in a picture or two of the plant in its natural surrounding. Sometimes a plant problem is not caused by a bug or fungus, sometimes it is just not happy with where it is planted.

Another issue related to the yellowing of evergreens is fungus. The cool, damp conditions this time of year is perfect for fungus production and spread. First find out what type of problem you have and, if you are not sure, bring in a sample to your local garden center for identification.

But when you do bring in a sample of a diseased plant, please remember to put it in a zip-loc type bag so that the disease doesn't infect the garden center as well. Yes it can be spread that easily. Rust and black spot are two of the most prevalent types of fungus this time of year, but other types do exist.

There are loads of fungicides on the market today to combat every type of fungus, but each has its own special field of expertise. Finding a solution is generally easy after we can identify the problem. There are fungicides that can be dusted on the plants or mixed with water to form a spray whichever way is easier for you.

One thing to remember is that fungus can lay dormant in the ground over the winter. Untreated leaves or needles that fall to the ground transfer the fungus to the soil where it will stay until spring when cool, damp conditions once again make the fungus active. So besides treating your tree or bush, always treat the ground around the plant as well.

I know many of you like to rake away your leaves for the winter, but they do make an important insulative barrier to protect the feeder roots of your plant for winter. I would recommend that you rake the leaves away from a tree or bush that you are treating for fungus, treat the surrounding ground and then put the leaves back around for insulation.

As long as the ground is treated, even if fungus is on the fallen leaves, it will die by contact with the treated ground and will not be able to get into the soil to survive the winter. You will need to treat any affected plants again in the spring to make sure the fungus doesn't come back so make sure you store your fungicide properly. Liquid solutions never want to freeze and dry powders never want to get damp.

If you store your liquids in a shed or cold garage and they freeze even once, just throw them out. Likewise if you have a powder and it gets damp in the garage over the winter and is lumpy in the spring, throw it out too. Once a powder gets wet it activates and once activated will work for two to eight weeks and then it becomes inert.

With liquid solutions if they freeze the chemical bonds get broken and the product becomes inert. So store your chemicals properly, so that the only thing you will getting rid of is the fungus.