Juniper growing new growth and going brown!

jNINE

Hi all,

I live in Australia where the current daytime temps average 30-35 deg C and night about 20-25C.

I have a Juniper that I've had for about a year now. It has lots of nice green new growth, but also lots of browning leaves, with the odd little stem completely falling off. It started browning before it started growing and it looks about 20% new shoots, 20% browning, 60% normal. It is still producing new green buds.

I keep it outside all year in a partly sunny position and water at least daily, usually in the morning, and sometimes at night if it has been a very hot day. I also use a slow-release granualted fertiliser and water from the top with the occasional dunking.

Any ideas why it is browning and any advice? I'm thinking it does not particularly enjoy the tropical climate, as winter gets down to a minimum of about 10deg C and summer up to 40deg!

thanks

J

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midwestbonsai

Hi there! Welcome to the forum! If you'll take a moment to fill in your User CP (upper left on the banner above) we can know exactly where you are, and perhaps give you more specific information.
-Paul

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Ralph

Given that it is spring time/summer time in your area, and you keep it in a partly sunny location, I would highly lean towards mites. There are a couple of things you can do to confirm this. First, take a sheet of white paper, and while holding it under the foliage, shake the foliage. Examine the paper for any very tiny critters that may be hopping or moving around.
To take care of your mite problem, you can treat with any number of pesticides, but a more effective method is to hold the foliage under a brisk spray from a water nozzle.
Afterwards I would spray with a 50% diluted kelp solution.
Put your juniper in full sun, mites hate it. Give your juniper a feeding of chelated iron, this will green the foliage up nicley.

Let us know if this helps.

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


-Paul S.

MoSinister

jNINE, I don't know specifically what your problem might be, but I'll regurgitate some advice I've seen before. First, find your friendly local bonsai club. They are in the best position to know what your problem might be since they know the climate and growing habits of most species that do well where you are.

The most common problem caring for bonsai is watering. There are many other things as well, of course, but watering is the big one. Here is a link called "All there is to know about bonsai" that contains many, many links to caring.

http://www.fourseasonsbonsai.org/allthereis/soil.htm

Is the browning occuring deep inside your tree? Sometimes inner growth dies off when a tree's growth becomes too dense to allow light and air circulation to enter to the interior portions of the tree.

A picture of your problem would help people here make suggestions as to what your issue might be.

Regards,
Mo

jNINE

Thanks for the info. Attached are a few pics of what it looks like now. I have moved it to a slightly cooler place but it still gets sunlight.

I can't see any mites, but some time ago (maybe 6 months) I noticed a white flaky substance, not like scale or mites though. I gave it a small mist of white oil which seemed to get rid of it.

At the moment it seems to going brown and green at equal rates! Not just inner growth either.

Attached Images

	Bonsai1.jpg (52.4 KB, 28 views)
	Bonsai1.jpg (52.4 KB, 26 views)