Yellowed Juniper Foliage-HELP

jloeschner

mkingiii,

No matter how you phrase the questions, non-green, CRISPY juniper needles are dead. In winter, some juniper turn a bronze or reddish color, but they do not get crispy. Of course, dead foliage serves no purpose to the plant. Also, as stated before, yellow, crispy foliage on a juniper is usually a sign that the tree has been dead for some time. Of course, you can keep it around for a while just to be sure...

Now, to answer your question about watering, junipers, in my experience in eastern Arkansas, like to remain moist. In the summer, I usually water mine at least once a day. In the winter, I watered them about once every two weeks. Right now, with all of the rain we have had, they are staying pretty wet. Hopefully, this will not drown...for that matter, hopefully, I won't drown, either...

As for your question about what will happen if it goes without water for longer and longer periods of time...it will die. And, "most importantly", I have never defoliated a juniper, so I do not know if it can survive without foliage or not. I do know that they tend to backbud rather easily, so it would seem that they could go without foliage for a period, but I haven't tried this. Sounds like I need to get a cheap juniper and do some experimenting...

Regards,
John

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