Any ideas what can be causing the needles to loose color systematically? There’s no signs of insect damage.
Are the needles falling off?
When was it repotted?
What substrate did you use?
Check the roots. Might need repotting, if you still have good roots.
Needles not falling. Repotted 5 weeks ago in 1:1:1 universal inorganic mix.
Did you notice any black roots when you repotted? Did you keep it in a greenhouse after repotting?
Observe it for now and keep an eye if the leaves start drying. It might benefit from misting.
I did notice black roots. No greenhouse after repotteding, I’m in zone 9.
Did you put it back out in the sun right away (depending on how much you root pruned, that would dry it out)? And if not, then I would put it in dappled morning sun, and I second the misting.
Morning sun and misting. Put it on a humidity tray, don’t fertilize, let the tree recover. I hope the roots are not all black. If you notice the foliage starting to dry out (crispy) in the next few days, then you might want to remove those drying and dying foliage so the tree won’t waste energy trying to push water to those foliage.
It’s like water lines, as long as the foliage is attached ( like faucets or spigots), the tree think it’s an outlet, so water pressure is still distributed. No foliage, no outlet, stronger pressure (better energy distribution) to other areas of the plant.
Do you have a local club? Check with them too. I forgot to ask and consider your climate.
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I’m not noticing any drying of needles. I will place in morning light, mist and remove organic fertilizer. Hopefully it will respond well, thanks.
Goodluck with your Juniper.
Did you do any root pruning? Maybe the tree is reacting to that, but I would think that the needles would be drying, not just loosing color.
Could it be chlorosis?
I live in Zone 10a, and because of my hard water, I have to add a little iron to my fertilizer every now and then. It’s especially true of the trees that go from potting soil, or heavily organic soil, to a bonsai soil mix. I had been using chelated iron that came in powder form, but that was staining my ceramics. Now, I use a fertilizer that has a significant amount of iron in it, and have not had any issues anymore.
Which fertilizer do you use with the heavy iron?
I’ve been using this fertilizer by Arizona’s Best. It’s a 10-10-10 that also has 5% iron included. You can get a 5 pound bag at HD or Lowe’s for about $6.
I’ve been using it for the last year, and it’s done wonders on my junipers and my bougies. Again, I have really hard water, and the summer heat and minerals in the water would really impede the plant’s ability to take in moisture and nutrients. By late spring, the leaves would get that weird yellow/green from chlorosis. At least that is what one of the local landscapers was telling me was my issue. He said that most plants in my area don’t really need anything more than iron when they are growing in the ground. That’s why I started using the chelated iron, but then moved to this. This stuff is mild enough that my trees don’t explode with growth, but they aren’t turning yellow anymore.
It’s also cheap enough that it was worth a try. I figured that if I didn’t use it on my trees, I could sprinkle it around my lawn and get my money’s worth.
Your tree does look way healthy, and much denser than mine ever have though, so try the fert if you want, but don’t make too many changes all at once. I’ve killed a few trees by stressing them out that way.