Juniper not doing well

[Paul mabbott]

Anybody know what might be wrong with my juniper? It's at least twenty years old and has been okay until this year. Now parts of it are dieing off ....

[almostnormal]

wow...it could be old age? but this is what certain pines look like when the soil gets too acidic. they sort of die off bottom to top. i'd take the photo down to your local garden centre and see if they have any advice.

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

Anybody know what might be wrong with my juniper? It's at least twenty years old and has been okay until this year. Now parts of it are dieing off ....

Foliage dieback in Junipers is not uncommon. The two main causes are either a watering/drainage problem or fungal infection - making a differential diagnosis may not be easy however. You can try cutting back progessively down one of the side shoots toward the main stem to see how far the dieback has gone - it may be only the foliage and greenwood that is actually dead. If you can find a junction between live and dead wood then it is suggested that water based problems show up as a poorly defined boundary - while fungal infection shows up as a distinct boundary between live wood and dead wood.

As the tree is twenty years old and has only just developed a problem it seems unlikely that water/drainage is an issue, although the root system may have advanced into a heavier layer of subsoil and then suffered a degree of rot.

Pruning will of course spoil the plants's shape but removing the dead wood now will allow regrowth - I would suggest burning the removed material rather than composting it, in case it is a fungal problem.

CM

[Paul mabbott]

Many thanks, I'll be out there with my secateurs.
Yes, one would have though that it would have got used to the wet soil - actually, there is no sub-soil here, just solid acid sandstone not far below the surface!

Originally Posted by Cotham Marble

Foliage dieback in Junipers is not uncommon. The two main causes are either a watering/drainage problem or fungal infection - making a differential diagnosis may not be easy however. You can try cutting back progessively down one of the side shoots toward the main stem to see how far the dieback has gone - it may be only the foliage and greenwood that is actually dead. If you can find a junction between live and dead wood then it is suggested that water based problems show up as a poorly defined boundary - while fungal infection shows up as a distinct boundary between live wood and dead wood.

As the tree is twenty years old and has only just developed a problem it seems unlikely that water/drainage is an issue, although the root system may have advanced into a heavier layer of subsoil and then suffered a degree of rot.

Pruning will of course spoil the plants's shape but removing the dead wood now will allow regrowth - I would suggest burning the removed material rather than composting it, in case it is a fungal problem.

CM