Browning Juniper Help

[scottsman94]

Hello everyone, new to the forum as well as to Bonsai, and my very first nana juniper is starting to brown at the tips.

I'm located in Chelsea MA, it gets about 6-8 hours of direct sun a day and I check the soil daily and only water when dry.

This started out as pre-bonsai and was trimmed, wired and potted in high grade bonsai soil mix in mid-June.

In reading the other posts on this topic I'm wondering if this is residual stress from 6 weeks ago or if this is something more serious/environmental/user error that I need to fix.

Thanks in advance!

 

[stubmle]

Welcome to the forum!

Sounds like you are taking good care of it. The overall color looks good, nothing too concerning that I see. A few brown needles is normal enough. It's when the whole tree goes brown or starts losing color- that's the sign of death, and it can take junipers months after death to show it.
Unless things take a turn for the worse, I'd keep on with what you are doing.

I'm guessing you got this at Bonsai West? Looks like their soil mix.

 

[darzuo]

In the future, I would try not to do this type of work in mid-summer. That being said, I think this coloration doesn't look bad, think it should hold out if its been 6 weeks.

 

[scottsman94]

Thanks for the replies! Stubmle, you are correct, we had a company outing with Zuma at Bonsai West and I'm solidly hooked! Darzuo, noted and company events aside, thats good to keep in mind as I expand my collection in the future.

 

[darzuo]

Bonsai West is great, the people are very helpful, I'd pay another visit and take a closer look at their stuff if you get the chance! Their pre-bonsai material rotates in and out pretty consistently, so you should be able to find something you like

 

[scottsman94]

Planning on going back either later this month or early September!

 

[BonsaiMan11]

Hi everyone - im having the same issue with one of my Itoigawa junipers. The tips are yellow in parts of the tree but the I did a light scratch test to the branches and they are very green. I did have the tree in a 20-30% shade cloth since it was around 105+ weather here in Las Vegas. The temps dropped down to a cool 100 degrees for about a week or so and brought the tree out for some more unfiltered light and when I did this my tips of the tree started drying out and got a light yellow and got brittle at the end. My question is:
- Could it have been from being in a shade cloth for a while and exposing it to full sun that could have caused this? Or could it be that im over watering it? I dont think im over watering it since its on 2 parts Akadama 1 part pumice 1 part lava.
- I water it 2 times a day and wait until soil is dry down to about .75/1inch or when i can see the akadama turn to its normal light brown color.

I will upload some recent pictures of the tree once Im home from work so i can get some opinions on this.

 

[darzuo]

Hi everyone - im having the same issue with one of my Itoigawa junipers. The tips are yellow in parts of the tree but the I did a light scratch test to the branches and they are very green. I did have the tree in a 20-30% shade cloth since it was around 105+ weather here in Las Vegas. The temps dropped down to a cool 100 degrees for about a week or so and brought the tree out for some more unfiltered light and when I did this my tips of the tree started drying out and got a light yellow and got brittle at the end. My question is:
- Could it have been from being in a shade cloth for a while and exposing it to full sun that could have caused this? Or could it be that im over watering it? I dont think im over watering it since its on 2 parts Akadama 1 part pumice 1 part lava.
- I water it 2 times a day and wait until soil is dry down to about .75/1inch or when i can see the akadama turn to its normal light brown color.

I will upload some recent pictures of the tree once Im home from work so i can get some opinions on this.

Few questions that will help. Is it all the tips of the tree that are drying out? How long have you had the tree and what / when was the most recent work you did?

I don't think moving it from 30% shade cloth into full sun should be too much of an issue unless it's also in a spot where it's getting more hours of sun as well, assuming you keep up with watering. I would guess under-watering if anything if its very dry and 100+ in full sun for the whole day, but hard to know, depends on the pot size and how established the root system is. I know some people put wet towels on pots in very hot places to keep the roots from overheating, but it's not an issue where I'm at.

 

[BonsaiMan11]

Few questions that will help. Is it all the tips of the tree that are drying out? How long have you had the tree and what / when was the most recent work you did?

I don't think moving it from 30% shade cloth into full sun should be too much of an issue unless it's also in a spot where it's getting more hours of sun as well, assuming you keep up with watering. I would guess under-watering if anything if its very dry and 100+ in full sun for the whole day, but hard to know, depends on the pot size and how established the root system is. I know some people put wet towels on pots in very hot places to keep the roots from overheating, but it's not an issue where I'm at.

I have had the tree since the beginning of June and it came from Tennessee here in the states and traveled to where I’m at in Las Vegas where it’s been 110 with 5/8% humidity.

My gut tells me it’s from the roots boiling due to the sun beaming on it all day long. The trees get about 8/10 safely of direct sun here and with the shade cloth you can reduce that to maybe 8/9 hrs because of where they are placed. This is the tree in question - I will post an updated picture of the tips later today.

Pot size is about 10”L x 4/6” W and height give or take. The tree was repotted from a 3 gallon pot earlier in the spring and has been growing beautiful until the past two weeks I’ve noticed some yellow tips - I’ll add that the tree is still pushing new growth as we speak but the yellowing has sparked a bit of concern for me.

I’m always wondering I’m over watering here in the desert an the constant fear of wet roots on junipers causing me to overthink but I think you might be right on the under watering because last week I did let the soil dry out a day or two with a once a day watering during the lower 100’s temp an soon after that the tips accelerated to the yellow a lot quicker.

The primary branch to the right is the one that started yellowing its tips. Another thing I read is that black pots with summers like ours are terrible for them.

Thanks for following up

 

[darzuo]

I have had the tree since the beginning of June and it came from Tennessee here in the states and traveled to where I’m at in Las Vegas where it’s been 110 with 5/8% humidity.

My gut tells me it’s from the roots boiling due to the sun beaming on it all day long. The trees get about 8/10 safely of direct sun here and with the shade cloth you can reduce that to maybe 8/9 hrs because of where they are placed. This is the tree in question - I will post an updated picture of the tips later today.

Pot size is about 10”L x 4/6” W and height give or take. The tree was repotted from a 3 gallon pot earlier in the spring and has been growing beautiful until the past two weeks I’ve noticed some yellow tips - I’ll add that the tree is still pushing new growth as we speak but the yellowing has sparked a bit of concern for me.

I’m always wondering I’m over watering here in the desert an the constant fear of wet roots on junipers causing me to overthink but I think you might be right on the under watering because last week I did let the soil dry out a day or two with a once a day watering during the lower 100’s temp an soon after that the tips accelerated to the yellow a lot quicker.

The primary branch to the right is the one that started yellowing its tips. Another thing I read is that black pots with summers like ours are terrible for them.

Thanks for following up

So it was repotted in spring before you acquired it? Was the wire also applied when you got it?

If it's only one branch yellowing and that branch was wired recently I would say it was damaged while wiring, it happens especially with wiring in summer if you're not careful. It can take a few weeks to over a month for conifers to show damage visually on the foliage. If it was wired and repotted in spring out of your hands and hasn't been touched since you got it I would consider letting up on sun or keeping it back under shade cloth, but I believe junipers should fine even in dry hot conditions. Someone from your zone may know more. Besides that I would keep on top of watering and see how it progresses.

 

[SFDrake]

Hi everyone - im having the same issue with one of my Itoigawa junipers. The tips are yellow in parts of the tree but the I did a light scratch test to the branches and they are very green. I did have the tree in a 20-30% shade cloth since it was around 105+ weather here in Las Vegas. The temps dropped down to a cool 100 degrees for about a week or so and brought the tree out for some more unfiltered light and when I did this my tips of the tree started drying out and got a light yellow and got brittle at the end. My question is:
- Could it have been from being in a shade cloth for a while and exposing it to full sun that could have caused this? Or could it be that im over watering it? I dont think im over watering it since its on 2 parts Akadama 1 part pumice 1 part lava.
- I water it 2 times a day and wait until soil is dry down to about .75/1inch or when i can see the akadama turn to its normal light brown color.

I will upload some recent pictures of the tree once Im home from work so i can get some opinions on this.

Really hard to overwater a juniper in well draining mix. It takes a couple weeks or more for them to show distress, so it's not something you started recently. Doesn't look too bad from the pics, they normally drop old foliage and sometimes drop a branch or too...good luck with your tree!

 

[SFDrake]

I have had the tree since the beginning of June and it came from Tennessee here in the states and traveled to where I’m at in Las Vegas where it’s been 110 with 5/8% humidity.

My gut tells me it’s from the roots boiling due to the sun beaming on it all day long. The trees get about 8/10 safely of direct sun here and with the shade cloth you can reduce that to maybe 8/9 hrs because of where they are placed. This is the tree in question - I will post an updated picture of the tips later today.

Pot size is about 10”L x 4/6” W and height give or take. The tree was repotted from a 3 gallon pot earlier in the spring and has been growing beautiful until the past two weeks I’ve noticed some yellow tips - I’ll add that the tree is still pushing new growth as we speak but the yellowing has sparked a bit of concern for me.

I’m always wondering I’m over watering here in the desert an the constant fear of wet roots on junipers causing me to overthink but I think you might be right on the under watering because last week I did let the soil dry out a day or two with a once a day watering during the lower 100’s temp an soon after that the tips accelerated to the yellow a lot quicker.

The primary branch to the right is the one that started yellowing its tips. Another thing I read is that black pots with summers like ours are terrible for them.

Thanks for following up

That black training pot might be soaking up some heat too. Maybe put a white cloth over the pot during the hottest part of the day?

 

[BonsaiMan11]

So it was repotted in spring before you acquired it? Was the wire also applied when you got it?

If it's only one branch yellowing and that branch was wired recently I would say it was damaged while wiring, it happens especially with wiring in summer if you're not careful. It can take a few weeks to over a month for conifers to show damage visually on the foliage. If it was wired and repotted in spring out of your hands and hasn't been touched since you got it I would consider letting up on sun or keeping it back under shade cloth, but I believe junipers should fine even in dry hot conditions. Someone from your zone may know more. Besides that I would keep on top of watering and see how it progresses.

Yes it was repotted this spring and not too sure about the wiring being done at the same time of the repot. I would like to say no to this since the individual I got it from it very experienced in bonsai.

For the most part all my junipers are doing great in the sun but I’ve also gotten some mixed issues with the pots being black I think the roots are burning up because of the amount of sun they are exposed to - I’ve started to put things in front of the pots to take the sun directly instead of being hit directly by it. I’m going to see how it progresses as the days go by.

Here is the updated picture from yesterday - the first picture was last month in early July. If you look you can see that the tree is still pushing new growth.

Thanks for the response and feedback on this.