Juniper Squamata experiment.

[bodhidharma]

The prostrata's suffer (for some unknown reason) with browning and dieback. They develop a little brown ball and then dieback sets in. It is persistent and hard to fix. I started hearing about it a while back when a customer said he would never have Juni's again as his whole collection got dieback and he could not cure it. I started noticing it on mine a while back and then another person said it, and another and so on. i tried everything also to no avail but one day gave one a spray with copper sulphate as it works on fruiting trees. It was only a little but it got better. Then Paddles turned up one day (where is she) and gave me a Juni squamata which was also a little sick and died so i have let this Juni progress with the disease and will now start a regime of spraying copper sulphate and we will see what happens. I plan to spray every day for a week and then once a week and we will see. Keep you posted.
P.S..All the branches that have been cut were dead from disease so it is well advanced.

[kcpoole]

Shall be interesting to follow along.
Re paddles, i believe she was a good friend online with a banned member here, and has has not been back very much since that episode I think.

Ken

[boom64]

Hi Bodhidharma ,Very interested to see how the experiment turns out. I have several Junipers that started dyeing of about two months ago. Just the small ramified branches, not in a patch but every third, fourth tip, enough to start me worrying... .Some long branches some short branches. Looked very similar to your pictures. I cleaned off all the dead growth and did a re-pot. They have picked up with new growth and a bit of juvenile growth .Still a little bit of dye back ,will check to see if there are any brown balls .Good luck with the spraying. Regards John.

[Mount Nasura]

watching with interest...

[stocaz]

I had the same problem
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18609
hit it once with copper sulphate and then tried confidor and numerous other things and still kept loosing branches....

Then as you suggested to me i sprayed every 3 days or so for 2 weeks and she's recovering well with plenty of new growth on the heavily damaged branches

Worked for me.

Cheers Ross

[treeman]

This die back of junipers is getting to be a real worry. We never saw it much a decade ago.
Some thoughts:
New juniper growth often gets attacked by big fat brown aphids ( hard to see unless you really look coz they are the same colour as the bark ) and mites are a constsnt threat as well.
It is possible that the damage to the plants tissues these pests cause can become a future entry point for disease.
The 2 diseases I know of are ''juniper die back'' which seem to be a problem in the US but I don't know that much about it.
The other is Cypress canker. And this is a huge problem with almost all of the scale leaved conifers here (but not all)
You can sometimes diagnose CC by tracing the dead or dying branch back to its origin and looking for exudations of sap.

Its a real pain but If we want to try to prevent these, I believe we need to start a regular spraying program for aphids and mites. (2 different chemical types and rotate with different formulations)
I think it may also turn out to be important to spray a copper based fungicide after each pinching, pruning or wiring.

Copperoxychloride is used for CC and has often stopped it's spread. If you can't find that, I guess Kocide or properly diluted Lime sulphur is the next choice.

You can still find Kelthane for mites and Hydro shops usually have miticides.

You can use oil for the pests but I found it somthers the glaucous wax on leaves and changes their colour...permemantly!!
( at least on the ''blue species'' )

If anyone has more information about this probelm....PLEASE share it!

[Jow]

Hi treeman,

What are your thoughts on grafting new foliage types onto these trees? do you think that would remove the issue?

Joe

[treeman]

Hi treeman,

What are your thoughts on grafting new foliage types onto these trees? do you think that would remove the issue?

Joe

Hi Joe,

I guess if you used resistant varieties it could. Seems like these diseases to start in the young leafy growth.
I must admit I have not seen it very often on shimpaku. Do they ever see it in Japan?
The needle juniper I grafted on to J. chinensis San Jose had quite a bit of die back during last autumn/winter. Whatever was there I cut off, sprayed a couple of times and so far it looks very promising.
I was reading a while back that every few years they (Japanese) let Junipers go without triming or pinching at all for the entire year or even longer to invigorate the tree before going back and working on it. Sounds like a sound technique so that's what I'm doing with this one (along with double feeding) and it's never looked healthier (although it also looks like a shaggy dog too) Maybe this helps with recovery too?
It's a real discipline to resist cutting it!

[bki]

Then as you suggested to me i sprayed every 3 days or so for 2 weeks and she's recovering well with plenty of new growth on the heavily damaged branches

Hi Ross,
can I ask what type of spray chem you used and where i can get it?

[stocaz]

Then as you suggested to me i sprayed every 3 days or so for 2 weeks and she's recovering well with plenty of new growth on the heavily damaged branches

Hi Ross,
can I ask what type of spray chem you used and where i can get it?

Hey, just sprayed every 3 days or so for a couple of weeks
Any nursery will have it.
Ross

[bki]

Thanks Ross. I got one today.

[Pup]

Last time Lindsay Bebb was in WA he was pruning a Procumbens, and suggested the owner spray, for PHOMA it is a fungus, first time I saw it mentioned was in Deborah Koreshoff's book, it is a fungus that attacks new growth.
The treatments here are among the recommended ones.

Cheers Pup

[bodhidharma]

Last time Lindsay Bebb was in WA he was pruning a Procumbens, and suggested the owner spray, for PHOMA it is a fungus, first time I saw it mentioned was in Deborah Koreshoff's book, it is a fungus that attacks new growth.
The treatments here are among the recommended ones.

Cheers Pup

Thanks for the confirmation Pup. I had not heard about this at all and tried a few different things before i literally stumbled on this remedy. I will be interested to see if it can bring this guy back from near death.

[stocaz]

Last time Lindsay Bebb was in WA he was pruning a Procumbens, and suggested the owner spray, for PHOMA it is a fungus, first time I saw it mentioned was in Deborah Koreshoff's book, it is a fungus that attacks new growth.
The treatments here are among the recommended ones.

Cheers Pup

Thanks for the confirmation Pup. I had not heard about this at all and tried a few different things before i literally stumbled on this remedy. I will be interested to see if it can bring this guy back from near death.

How did you go ??
I went away for 3 weeks over xmas and when i returned it had killed another small branch on my Juni
I was sure i had eliminated the problem completely but obviously not....
i cut away the damaged branch and have hit it 4 times over the last 2 weeks & i think shes ok

[Neli]

You must be careful because there is a similar viral disease that is infectious...