AusBonsai

Hello everyone,

Recently acquired this little Juniper and while some of the needles are green and look OK, many of them are browning. See below photos.

What is the problem and what can be done to fix?

Thank you in advance.

Costa

More information would be good. Where do you keep it? Is that sphagnum moss on top? Have you checked how wet it is? Junipers as a general rule prefer not to have wet feet. Suggest you check how wet it is. Also they can discolour during winter if you have frosts etc...
Cheers
Kirky

Definitely remove that sphagnum and check how wet the soil underneath is. I'm thinking it's got very wet feet and as a result is not happy. The pot looks to be quite large in comparison to the plant so it most likely wouldn't require a lot of watering. The problem with junipers is they can be deceased long before they begin to go brown - hopefully not in this case.

Thanks for the replies.

It sits in direct sunlight for the most part of the day through winter. Sitting raised off the ground in a north facing courtyard outdoors. I've just repot it a fortnight back and put the moss on top only then. I've taken it out of its bonsai pot in the hope it would rejuvenate it a little, I'm concerned over the browning. I had been watering 2-3 times a week through winter, and was daily through summer, has this been too much? The top of the soil is a little wet since having put the sphagnum moss on top, previously it had white rocks in the pot to cover the soil. When I repot the juniper, the roots didn't seem overly wet, although the soil was moist. It was watered a couple of days beforehand.

Sorry but I think it has gone to god,Junipers like that seldom come back in my experience,they take months to die ,but here's hoping,good luck mate, I will be more than happy if I am wrong,post another pic in about a months time

Gday Costa,
I think it was probably over watering. Ive been lucky enough to have a few of these pull through after losing around half the foilage.
I gave a friend the same type of juniper as a gift after shaping the tree and putting it in a bonsai pot and he went over seas and it didnt get watered so when he got back he put it in a container and watered it. The container didnt have any drainage holes in it and by the time he brought it back to me to look at all the foilage was brown and crunchy apart from a tiny bit of green on the tips of each branch. I put holes in the container and it looks like its on the road to recovery.
Good luck

Greg

Thanks all for your replies, appreciate the advice and tips.

Costa

co_staki wrote: ↑August 29th, 2019, 10:03 am Thanks all for your replies, appreciate the advice and tips.

Costa

See the yellow tips? That means too much water and not enough light. This tree should be left outside where it can get at least 3 to 4 hours of sun in the morning and the same in the afternoon....plus its spring so full sun now would be fine. Juniper love water but not wet feet. Full sun and it may pull through.

鸕盆栽 Gamauji Bonsai wrote: ↑August 29th, 2019, 1:03 pm

co_staki wrote: ↑August 29th, 2019, 10:03 am Thanks all for your replies, appreciate the advice and tips.

Costa

See the yellow tips? That means too much water and not enough light. This tree should be left outside where it can get at least 3 to 4 hours of sun in the morning and the same in the afternoon....plus its spring so full sun now would be fine. Juniper love water but not wet feet. Full sun and it may pull through.

OK thank you for the tip, I'll move it to a sunnier spot and hope it pulls through!

Costa

Greg F wrote: ↑August 29th, 2019, 12:52 am Gday Costa,
I think it was probably over watering. Ive been lucky enough to have a few of these pull through after losing around half the foilage.
I gave a friend the same type of juniper as a gift after shaping the tree and putting it in a bonsai pot and he went over seas and it didnt get watered so when he got back he put it in a container and watered it. The container didnt have any drainage holes in it and by the time he brought it back to me to look at all the foilage was brown and crunchy apart from a tiny bit of green on the tips of each branch. I put holes in the container and it looks like its on the road to recovery.
Good luck

Greg

Hi Greg,

Any update; did it survive?

Cheers
Rick

Hi Rick yes its alive and im sure it will be ok but the informal upright style it had is a bit lost as two of the branches have died and tghe ones that are left have foilage only on the ends of the remaining branches but with a bit of time and growth another possible plan will reveal itself.. Squat junipers are definitely one of my favorites to use as they are fairly forgiving and easy to shape.

Greg