Chinese Juniper, brown needles

Awesomepirate

Hi there,

A lot of the needles on my Chinese Juniper are brown. Today I spent a lot of time pinching back all the brown needles, which seemed to come off almost by themselves.

Aside from them possible not receiving enough light, is there any other reason why the needles will go brown? Is this anything for me to worry about?

Thanks!

Vishal

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KOREANHORNBEAM

Sounds like you might have let it dried out. Yellow means too much water or disease.


James

BunjinEnt

Vish,

Pictures replace a thousand words. If they are older needles, now is the time for them to brown up and drop off. (Although they should've been pinched in a regimen starting in may or June) If they are new tips, the branch is now probably dead. If the whole tree is doing it. It is probably dead. You can try some emergency proceedures that you can find in the dying bonsai section. If it wilted prior to going yellow then brown, it probably got too much water. If it just went...belly up, it might've gotten too dry.

Post pix, let's have a look.

Wm

BunjinEnt

oops, I thought we were talking about a pine by the time I got writing this and without the ability to quick reference your post, I lost track. Appy-polly-lodgies. The pinching of old needles technique is used in Pines. Pinching Juniper foliage is a task done for most of the season, primarily in spring. The rest except the wilting stands true for Junipers as well. (I know, from kiliing some myself)

If it is dead, give it your best hypothesis of why it died and try try again. We learn best by our controlled failures.
William

Ralph

Vishal,

This link may give you some useful juniper advice:

http://www.dallasbonsai.com/bonsai_...umbshaping.html

__________________
Emerging from winter slumber
Bonsai trees burst buds anew
Spring is upon us!


-Paul S.

Awesomepirate

Thanks James. I think that perhaps either parts of the foliage are beginning to lignify, or the foliage was just old. The greatest part of the foliage is nice and green. I have some photos in the General section under a thread called "My first bonsai - help appreciated" and perhaps a better diagnosis can be given.

However I will post some close up pictures for the experts to analyse
Thanks for replying!

Awesomepirate

Thanks for replying William! I personally believe the brown tips were just old needles. I can see quite a bit of new growth, nice a green at that. The tree is quite well watered, but I've only had it for two days so I can't comment on how well it was looked after before purchase. However, it was a very expensive first bonsai (£275) and I bought it from the very reputable Peter Chan of Herons Bonsai.
I assume it just needed a lot of tidying up - as my introductory thread in the show and tell section showed!

I will however (for my own peace of mind) take several photos tomorrow in the day and let you give me your thoughts.

Thanks a lot!

Vish

Awesomepirate

Thank you so much Ralph! I am going to spend some time reading this.



Kind regards,

Vishal

Awesomepirate

As stated, I've taken some hi-res pictures so everyone here can better diagnose the brown needles:



As you can see, there is a browning of the needles behind the current foliage. Also, I can notice the tips of the foliage turning slightly light green. Is this new growth or a result of over-watering?

Here is another photo to show an example of what I see:



Again, at the top you can see the slight yellow-greening of the tips. I don't know whether this is new growth and to be happy, or a result of overwatering and be worried. Any ideas?

You can more clearly see the brown needles.

And lastly, here's a final photo just in case anyone needs a closer look. I believe in the center it's showing new growth? I don't know, it seems so as the buds are smaller and sharper needles:



I would really appreciate any guidance.

Thanks,

Vishal