Im a newbe to this - need help with browning leaves

[smitti]

Hi all
I realise this question may have been asked before but as a newbe I'm seeking help. Think I may have over watered my juniper squamata. Live in Brisbane. Leaves are turning brown over the last week.
Is it too late to fix.
Cheers

[Josh]

Firstly welcome to the forum. If you can post a picture of your tree then we can make a more informed comment. There could be a couple of reasons for browning leaves. Try and get nice clear photos of the overall plant and close up of the foliage that's going brown. Is it to late?? impossible to tell without a picture. Hope all goes well with it.

Josh

[smitti]

Here is a pic Josh. A few leaves are dropping off. Soil is moist to the touch.

[NAHamilton]

Hi Smitti,

From this picture, it looks like its the older needles naturally dying off. Are the tips browning also?

[smitti]

Tips not browning but feel brittle.

[Jarad]

Scratch off some of the bark on some of the branches, green=good, brown=bad.

[MoGanic]

Hi mate,

I agree with this being natural die off of old needles. If the tips are still green, you're fine.

The foliage on a Squamata is not soft to the touch and is actually quite prickly (albeit not nearly as much as a straight up needle Juniper haha). When you say it feels brittle, is the foliage actually crumbly/breaking apart with just a slight touch? Or is it still attached firmly to the tree? You should be able to pull a tip off very easily if it's dead to the point where it's brittle - but it would usually be brown by this point.

I wouldn't worry too much. FYI putting this in a free-draining mix would mean that you cannot over water as any excess simply drains out. There are plenty of things you can add to any soil to improve drainage and for a new comer, I would recommend just getting whatever is easily available to you and adding this to your soil mix (or just buy pre-mix from a local Bonsai nursery - which is what I do, but amend to suit different species if required).

Cheers mate,
Mo

[shibui]

I agree that this looks quite healthy. We often get this question at this time of year because evergreen trees start to drop the older needles in autumn. Even though they are evergreen, individual leaves only live for a year or 2 then die. In the meantime new leaves have grown on the tips to replace the older ones so life goes on.

From this you may foresee a problem: As the years go past the branches will grow longer and the green needles will be further out away from the trunk which will not look good. To counter this you must prune so that new shoots start to grow along the branches then every few years you cut the branch back to a suitable side shoot and let it grow out all over again. Pruning is very important.