Juniper Dying?

BrendanOz

This Juniper was twice the height and with advice i cut it down and trained a branch upwards to be the new leader. B4 it was completely healthy - Now its got dye off everywhere, was the pruning to hard, its mid Autumn here at the moment, was it the wrong time of year. Well the tree come back - the apex is completely dead, the branches snap - Please advise

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TreeBay

It may be more than one thing going on. It's going to be hard to isolate a single cause.


1) The dieback at the top is probably a result of either the withdrawal of sap from the apex. It's always a good idea to leave a stub temporarily when you prune back this hard.

2) There is also the possibility that you cracked the branch that you wired upwards

3) Another point is that you should try to keep the root mass in balance with the roots, so if you remove half the tree, you'd prune back the roots at the same time.

3) When you removed half the height (and presumably a good portion of the foliage) the load on the roots reduced proportionately. So its need for water went down by 1/2. If you continued to water at the prior rate, there is the potential for overwatering.

As for what to do now, you probably just wait it out. Make sure you don't overwater in the meantime. eventually you can train another branch upwards and be no worse off.

Late autumn is a good time to do work of this type (and I mean a seasonal autumn - after the deciduous trees have begun to drop leaves if that happens in your area) Our calendar autumn is like late summer here.

Regards,

Matt

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BrendanOz

Thanks for your advice TreeBay - heaps of infor i NEED to take on board being a beginner, very informative.

This being the case and the drastic pruning occuring only 3 weeks ago should i root prune or leave it.

The branch isnt cracked and remains in good shape

I have kept the same watering conditions so i will monitor and adjust the load as advised.

Also, would the top area shot again - even from the truck or is there a need to think about a new leader, im hoping it'll shot but the apex is DRY DEAD

TreeBay

>should i root prune or leave it.

You should wait it out.

>Also, would the top area shot again - even from the truck or is there a need to think about a new leader, im hoping it'll shot

I don't know what you are saying, shot, truck??

Regards,

Matt

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TreeBay

>Also, would the top area shot again - even from the truck

OH, "would it bud from the TRUNK!" Now I understand!

The trunk usually dies back to the next live branch, that one on the right. It's possible you might get a shoot from its base, but it would be more reliable to expect that you'll need to bend a branch upwards to form the new apex.

Regards,

Matt

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