I was thinking of just making a small hole at the foot of the roots (not in the roots), shoving the hose down and let it run slowly to really soak things up, could that work? I also bought a huge drill bit so I can make holes all around the tree and put fertilizer. I also have cedar hedges I want to take care of, will this work for that too? This is what I found that seems to be what I need, is this the right stuff?
Also it's been falling below freezing, am I too late? If yes, should I look at perhaps shovelling a ton of snow against it so in 8-10 months when it melts it will pool water? No snow on the ground yet but I'm sure we're not far off and I may as well start early before I can't get to the tree.
Oh and I was checking for pine cones and oddly I can't seem to find any in this tree, does this make sense? And now that I think about it I don't think I've ever seen any on the ground. I was also taking a look at one of the branches that is dying and I don't see any fungus or anything, it's just loosing lot of pins.