AusBonsai

Raymond, did you end up spraying with the oil? You really must do that or the problem will continue. I had the same type of scale on some of mine and they're all clean now after a spray. I find with junipers that you really have to be conscientious about spraying for pests, watering and feeding, and keeping them in plenty of sun and air movement. Keep them in tip top condition and they will repay the effort.

First up, REALLY REALLY appreciate all the help . I have continued spraying with pest oil, confidor and rose shield. Following are pics taken this morning. Any advice would be welcomed








Sorry about the size of the photos. For the life of me i cannot add them as attachments

Hey Raymond,

Doesn't look to me like your tree is sick. But it looks like the most extreme bend was put in the branch exhibiting the die back and also, this was one of the thicker branches.

My guess is the bend is restricting sap flow. For the most part, the rest of the tree looks to be fine. It could even be that a major root supplying this part of the tree was cut.

Misting it several times a day will help - but you need to keep at it. I've seen Junipers collected with barely any root and then put in a misting area and they grow like crazy (no foliage trimmed off the top either).

Sorry I can't offer any definitive reasons though mate. But I wouldn't say it's a fungus by any means - the pattern just doesn't look the same.

Good luck!

Mo

So... Whilst i may have a pest, the following pictures show a situation that certainly wont help me tree... I removed the wire and raffia and found a 6cm split from the fork of the branches. Poor photos, I know...
top (between the red lines)

bottom view (yellow arrow)

so i wrapped it with budding tape, nice and tight and added a support wire.



I will now be removing the rest of the wire and raffia on the weekend. I need to clear my mind of any more damage i may have done. The whole experience, wrapping for the first time, wiring with large wire and cranking the sh*t out of my tree will benefit me, BUT, it also has shown me that my techniques still need some fine tuning.

NIce find Raymond.
Getting hard on trees can be quite damaging and it is the hardest thing to judge just how far you can take them.

Seems like going backwards, but removing wire and raffia, to check is the only way to confirm if that is the cause of the troubles. If not then you can always rewire again later.

Keep us posted

Ken

So its been a while and this is still happening ... Fresh new tips just turn brown and drop off. Im still rotating the pest oil, lime sulfer, neem oil, rose shield and still the issue persists. Anyone got any ideas as to why I am not doing anything different. I have removed all of the raffia and wire, my watering/liquid fert regime has not changed. I am doing all i can but have resigned myself to the fact that I may not have this one for much longer. I sincerely hope this isnt the case, but i'm not a magician...

Hi Raymond, is your tree a Shore Juniper (J.conferta)?
Shore Junipers are quite weak in bonsai cultivation and are fairly gutless in in the landscape too. Your core problem might be choice of species.

Cheers,
Mojo

And you are located in WA too. That might present challenges.

Cheers,
Mojo

Hey Raymond, sorry to hear none of these solutions have worked thus far.
I'm having a similar issue with one of my junipers and I was studying the foliage of some of the first few photos and noticed some white spots.
Are they still on the tree? I have these little white pockets with a yellow-ish/brown dot on the top of it on parts of my foliage. The foliage also has a chalky appearance in the same area... Is this what scale is like?
They are extremely small and hard to photograph but will try to get some tomorrow as I noticed some this arvo...

This tree has decided to stop dying off and now has some nice growth to it . What i did do was rather than water it like normal, it took the hose and sprayed the foliage daily. I will post a pic tomorrow...

If thats all you did soulds like it was thirsty. And not getting a good enough soak.
Glad to hear its getting better. Can't beat the old hose for a good watering.
Cheers
Kirky

Good to hear!

Heres a pic of what I'm assuming is scale on mine;
Does anyone have a successful product or method they can recommend to get rid of them?

Elmar wrote:Sure they're mites? could it be Mildew? I can't really see on the pictures ...

Sorry for your struggle! Nothing worse than having your favourite go thru that and you feel powerless to fix it!

I've heard some people mention a copper based poison ... don't recall what it's name is.

Best of luck!

Cupper sulfate??, if so don't get it onto the roots it kills the plant.

Try looking up Juniper Blight.

Kind Regards,

Peter

Hi ben17487,
My screen shows that it is soft brown scale on your Juni foliage.

Good luck.
Regards,
Black Knight