Juniper procumbens sun burn?

[Ugo]

Hi!

Hope you guys are doing well.

I have a concern about the foliage on my juniper procumbens.
I was away for the week, the tree was at that time lush green but now middle section of foliage start to get brown.

My wife was in charge for the trees, all the collection get automated watering except for this tree and another one...
We had an important heat spell last week for atleast two days.

I am looking at the cause of the damages.

Mid foliage section and some tips are becoming brown.
Most of the tips on the affected sections are still green, some needles under theses sections are also green. The damages also happen to be all on the same side, the back side, the one facing sun during the week.

Looks like I got the answer but I prefer asking for opinions.

if the damages are related to sun burn it the first time it happen and Im just wondering what next!

Do you think theses sections will completely die?
Do you have advises on the after care?

Thank you!
Ugo

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Check for spider mites or fungus related to overwatering the foliage and it staying wet. It is definitely not sun damage - since sun damage occurs on the outer parts of the foliage first, and not inner parts while leaving the outer buds healthy and green.

If you look very closely at your photos you will see little spots / flecks of white in the affected areas. What are those?

 

[Adamski77]

Agree with above... it's virtually impossible to sun burn procumbens... has to be something else. Any other things that happen on the sun exposed side?

 

[Eckhoffw]

I’ve just recently become aware of juniper tip blight, mainly Phomopsis.

I know my junipers of the past and present have been subjected to this fungal disease, but am only now realizing it. Always thought it was from the plant drying out.

Something to maybe check into.

Juniper tip blight is a fungal disease that causes browning and dieback of juniper branches, particularly at the tips. It is caused by two main fungi: Phomopsis juniperovora (Phomopsis tip blight) and Kabatina juniperi (Kabatina tip blight). Symptoms include browning of needle tips, followed by dieback of branches, and in severe cases, can lead to plant death.






Good luck!

 

[Ugo]

Hi!

Thank you for your replies guys.
Alright, I realize I should add a few key informations to maybe help understand the problem better.
This tree along with another one got scale insect past Autum.
I treated both with Neem oil with a drop of either black soap or dishwasher soap.
I had to do several treatments to get rid of the pest.
I also used diluted lime sulfur for one treatment a few months ago with no signs of issues.
Bonsai Nut very good observation: The white residue on needles come from that application.
Both tree are still check everyday for pest so I take that out of the equation.
Previous damages done by scale insects?
Damage by sun combined with treatments against scales?
I stopped treatments at the end of May.
No issues of discoloration up to the rising of summer temp.

The actual situation is that the tips of affected branches show fresh growth that continue to expand for a few weeks now.
Most underside of the affected section shows normal needle colors.
Insect would not attack only the top section of foliage, same for fungi , as you guys said sun damage is something that never happened to my junipers...
I really want to understand whats happening so I dont do the same mistake again!

Here some recent pictures of the tree.