Should I be worried? (AKA another browning tips post)

[Brain Treez]

This kishu got its initial styling in a Scott Elser workshop on 10/4. I'm inclined to attribute it to the tree's post-styling decision of what bits of foliage can/should be dropped, but as it's my best tree and I'm paranoid just in case it's something more sinister...

We'll start with a current (10/22) photo:




And then a photo from 12 days prior (10/10):




And then a photo the day it was styled (10/4), with some really poor lighting:





And the tree the day before (10/3) it was styled:





You can see the tree was in overall good health when it was styled, with the exception of that one branch with foliage browning back from the tips. The branches kept during the styling weren't the strongest, but Scott didn't seemed concerned about them or the few brown tips either.

Is this just the tree adjusting to a perhaps harsh reduction, or gods forbid the start of tip blight? I want to believe it is shaded foliage being dropped, but some of these tips are on the tops of or center of pads.

What say you all with more experience?

 

[bwaynef]

Just fyi, tip blight on a reasonably healthy tree won't kill it. It mostly seems to delay it a bit, or slow it down. I'd have kept the strong foliage when styling to prevent this. It seems like whatever was causing it was already there, so its not a result of the styling, though choosing to go with weak foliage instead of the strong does seem to have lent to this situation now.

Give it all the sunlight you can, water & fertilize, and give it however long it takes to show health.

 

[Brain Treez]

Okay, so is this tip blight?

This discoloration began on a branch that wasn't styled or wired at all. It began at a time that was reasonable to be the first signs of winter bronzing (overnight lows were dropping to the 30's) and looked to progress that way for a couple weeks into late November. It was around this time we started experiencing record highs for this time of year, with highs of about 60 and sometimes lows only down to the mid 50's. So I thought maybe the winter bronzing was put on pause with the warm temps. However, this specific spot continues to darken and doesn't appear to be spreading to any other areas.

Should I just trim this shoot off and spray it with fungicide come springtime? I assume fungicide won't do much in the heart of winter (assuming winter every really arrived) since the cold temps won't proliferate any fungus.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

This is one of those situations where I would simply remove that branchlet, and watch for further issues, but I wouldn't panic.

 

[leatherback]

This is one of those situations where I would simply remove that branchlet, and watch for further issues, but I wouldn't panic.

agreed.
Cut it out. Provide good conditions, well ventilated and sunny wherever possible, and just see where things go.