Browning Juniper

Beginners
1

I am concerned about the browning that has occurred on my juniper. I will start by saying it has looked like this since late October. I’m in Florida and we had just come out of rainy season in early October and I had been almost ignoring the watering because of all the rain. Then the sudden stop caught me off guard and watered it a day or 2 later than it needed. Initially, I thought it was ok, because only some of the new growth had browned. However, within a few weeks of that missed watering the browning shown in the photos occurred. I have been keeping a close eye on it and it doesn’t seem to have gotten any worse, but I’m not really seeing and new growth. Now I have heard that Junipers have a reputation of often having a very slow death, but it’s been about 7 months.

It’s possible that the missed watering had nothing to do with the browning, but I find the timing too coincidental to not be the culprit. Maybe Phomopsis?

I am open to any suggestions about its health (and possibly design, if it even has a chance of recovery).

20220513_190019
20220513_1900191154×866 349 KB

20220513_185956
20220513_185956866×1154 393 KB

20220513_185920
20220513_185920866×1154 308 KB

1 Like
2

It looks like you may have spider mites. I can see the stippling on the needles and the webbing in your last pic. You can do the tap test to verify. A hard stream of water on the foliage may take care of them. There are some spider mite videos in the library, I recommend you view them.

2 Likes
3

Agreed. Mites most likely. I just treated mine. Tap test. White paper beneath the foliage and smear with your hand. Red streaks equals mites. Bio advanced 3n1 or Seven. One application is 14 days apart.

4

Confirmed. It does appear to be spider mites. It has now been treated fingers crossed it recovers. Thanks for the help!

1 Like