Sick San Jose Juniper, White larva, root rot... Advice needed

[vario]

Hi this is an update to my San Jose Juniper which I potted a few months ago in a pond planter. We had a hot spell and I foolishly overwatered the tree rather than putting it in a shadier spot, since then it has suffered. About half the foliage has browned and/or fallen off. I just pruned it up to remove some of the dead foliage and let more light in. There are some white insects just below the surface of the soil around the root ball. I would like some advice on how to revive this plant. My other juniper is incredibly vigorous by comparison, while this one has barely grown new foliage at all and it has had a lot of brown leaves, many of which I have removed in these images. I used cut paste on some pruned areas, you will see that in the photos. I think there is some root rot going on because the root system does not look healthy at the base.

I have been fertilizing once a month with miracle gro and watering it daily. It sits underneath a maple in the yard so it has some shade during the intense noon sun.



Thank you!

Edit: I wonder if these are mealy bug? However They are only in the soil and they avoid the light, once they are exposed they will find a place to hide underground asap.

 

[Dav4]

I can't ID your root bug, but doubt it's a real issue. Fwiw, assuming your soil mix is really as open and well draining as it appears to be, I don't think it would be possible to overwater it, particularly since it's in a pond basket. Junipers love full sun, too, so I doubt that's the primary problem, either. How did you go about your re-pot? Is there a different soil around the roots.? Do you know how to check for spider mites?

 

[vario]

I thought it wasn't possible to overwater. There were a few times I put the plant in a bucket to fully saturate it as an experiment. After that was when it started going downhill.

When I repotted, I bare rooted it and treated it kind of roughly because I was a newbie. As a result there is a different soil around the roots than what it had at the hardware store nursery.

This was the first of a few I did, didn't make that mistake on the others and they are doing much better than this one. In fact the Parsons juniper is growing out of control, just greenery everywhere, and I will need to prune it soon I think.

The san jose (OP) looked good for about 3 weeks after I repotted it, then came the hot weather and it started looking bad. About half the foliage went brown over the last few months. I don't know much about spider mites, I am a rookie to plants in general.

 

[drew33998]

Take a white peice of paper and hold it below the affectes branch. Shake the branch and if you see red dots on the paper its mites.

 

[coh]

Looks like the critters could be sowbugs (if I'm looking at the right thing, it's kind of blurry).

 

[Stan Kengai]

Your pest looks like a sowbug/pillbug/rolly poley(sp?) as @coh said. They are not affecting your plant. They are after the organic material in your soil: bark, organic fertilizer, detritus.

I don't really see a problem in the foliage of your plant. While not vigorous, it does not look unhealthy. Junipers do not need pond baskets. They do better in a solid sided pot.

 

[vario]

Good to hear, I will look for any mites on the San Jose today.

Also I poked around the much healthier looking Parson's juniper and it had the same white insect in the soil. I gave the Parson's a hair cut as well and removed a few branches here are some photos

Before:

 

[vario]

After prune:
I plan to wire this thing eventually when it recovers from the pruning. I ordered some lime sulfur for the two areas of deadwood, probably hard to see those two areas in the picture actually, I will take better pictures of both plants today.

 

[vario]

Here they are this morning, two days after prune
San Jose

Parsons

 

[augustine]

When did you repot?

 

[SantaFeBonsai]

When I repotted, """"I bare rooted it and treated it kind of roughly""" because I was a newbie. As a result there is a different soil around the roots than what it had at the hardware store nursery.

.