About four years ago, I inherited a Norfolk Island Pine from my former boss who was retiring. He claimed the plant was about 20 years old and he raised it from a seedling. He religiously watered this tree twice a week and had it in an east facing full (floor to ceiling) window. The tree was only about 3 ½ feet tall and, since he never repotted it, and, as such, it was extremely root bound. The tree was not very full (somewhat scraggy) with some upper branches appearing to do better than the rest of the plant (but none with the classic dripping foliage that) this plant should have.

I had moved from my previous job to a new location,which does not nearly have the amount of light it had previously and repotted into a larger pot. I water it but don't overwater and it is not sitting in standing water. To compensate for the lack of light, I placed it under a grow light and, over the next couple of years, the top part of the plant flourished while a couple of the bottom branches slowly turned brown and withered.

This tree seemed to do OK for several years in this spot until recently when I have noticed within the last two weeks that many of the needles on the whole tree (including the top branches as well) are turning a dark brown to black. Nothing regarding its location has changed. The grow light is still lit but I wonder if there is something with the bulb that is making this happen. After noticing this discoloration, I decided to fertilize it with Miracle Gro
(houseplant dosage) but it still appears to be the same.


Normally my inclination is to just throw this (and all such plants) into the dumpster, but since it carries some sentimentality with my former boss (who still calls to check on it) I did want to try to save it. Do you have any suggestions on anything I can do to salvage this?

Any thoughts you may have on this would be greatly appreciated.