Juniper tips turning white

[SantaFeBonsai]

These white tips are not the same as new growth. I didn't notice the white tips until this morning and I OCD on this plant 16hrs/day so it has to be very recent. The white tips are on 2 of the lowest limbs and closest to the trunk.

A little history. Purchased in New York state and shipped to North TX June 10, 17
Full sun am-pm.
1/8 tsp of Jacks all purpose 20-20-20 1/wk
1/8 tsp of Super Thrive every watering (approx. every 2 days)
1/6 tsp of Pro-TeKt Silicon Solution 0-0-3
Minor foliage cleaning, no limbs, just dead growth and bark clean

Surely this isn't to much ferts or over watering. I let it get close to drying out ( #3 on a 1-10 moisture gauge).

 

[Dav4]

Looks ok to me, but I'd need a good close up to be sure. Things it could be- 1)hard water deposits, 2)scale insects or spider mites, 3)possibly flowers forming but this is very late in the year for that to happen. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about it yet as it doesn't seem widespread but post a better close up pic to be sure.

 

[jeremy_norbury]

Get more trees...

 

[GrimLore]

The white tips are on 2 of the lowest limbs and closest to the trunk.

It looks ok to me also. If you think there is a problem those limbs are in a position getting the least amount of light and probably accounts for the lighter color of the tip growth. If it is in full sun you might consider opening it up from the top letting in more light, that is - if you want to keep that growth.
Myself I would just leave it be as well.

Grimmy

 

[just.wing.it]

I don't see it...looks normal from here.

 

[Adair M]

Very observant! Yes, those interior branches with the white tips are going to start to turn yellow, and die off. They didn't get enough sun for the tree to spend the energy to keep them.

To keep this from happening, because it IS very important to keep interior branches alive, you should thin the upper part of the tree.

Let me ask you... if you are directly above the apex, and look down, can you see the soil? Or does the foliage make a solid canopy? If it's a solid canopy, the sun can't get to the interior, and interior foliage will die.

So, thin the foliage! See my "This is why we don't pinch junipers thread".

 

[GrimLore]

Let me ask you... if you are directly above the apex, and look down, can you see the soil? Or does the foliage make a solid canopy? If it's a solid canopy, the sun can't get to the interior, and interior foliage will die.

I did a rescue with another member here on his a few weeks back. Him and his Son brought all of his plants and spent the weekend. The large Juniper he had was very full and looked to be dying. I worked slowly and carefully with him explaining why all along the way. Also was very positive he understood working from the top down - super important. He called me a short two weeks later and told me "that one looks so nice now it almost glows". I sent him home with a couple of smaller, one being the same species as his. The smaller one's have been properly attended and I told him to use them as a guide and maintain them properly. A little TLC makes a HUGE difference I might add it is almost to explain, even with pictures - most need a "hands on".
Anyways, we worked all of the rest of his trees and they all look far better too. So much in fact he is coming again for the weekend with all of his Tropicals the second week in July as that is proper timing here for that work
I might add - Thank you for your patience and guidance here, much that I know about Juniper care I have learned from you!

Grimmy

 

[Adair M]

I did a rescue with another member here on his a few weeks back. Him and his Son brought all of his plants and spent the weekend. The large Juniper he had was very full and looked to be dying. I worked slowly and carefully with him explaining why all along the way. Also was very positive he understood working from the top down - super important. He called me a short two weeks later and told me "that one looks so nice now it almost glows". I sent him home with a couple of smaller, one being the same species as his. The smaller one's have been properly attended and I told him to use them as a guide and maintain them properly. A little TLC makes a HUGE difference I might add it is almost to explain, even with pictures - most need a "hands on".
Anyways, we worked all of the rest of his trees and they all look far better too. So much in fact he is coming again for the weekend with all of his Tropicals the second week in July as that is proper timing here for that work
I might add - Thank you for your patience and guidance here, much that I know about Juniper care I have learned from you!

Grimmy

Thanks, Grimmy!

 

[SantaFeBonsai]

You can see the soil from the apex. It is only affecting the very lowest branches so i'll assume its isolated. The tree doesn't look like its been rotated for quite some time and had a limited amount of sun, its getting all it can handle now. I thought it might be a precursor for reverting to immature foliage.

So Grimlore, what was wrong with the juniper and what did you do?

 

[GrimLore]

So Grimlore, what was wrong with the juniper and what did you do?

There was a few major problems. The Juniper was allowed to grow in such a fashion that there was almost interior light, wild would be a good word, as are most landscape Juniper. If you observe an old one in landscape all of the interior is basically dead twigs and/or foliage. No light = no green and worse encourages algae and moss.
Step one though was to remove a dead "mat" of moss that covered the substrate surface and was allowed to grow up the trunk around 3 1/2 inches. It was not allowing for proper watering and the substrate was bricked except the outer edges. That was a long process but the growth on the plant was very weak as the roots were getting little water. After cleanup we did a light sulfur treatment and aerated all of the substrate with skewers - it was fine but it was simply dry because of the mat. Of course then the sulfur was rinsed and the roots received a proper drenching.
Step two involved foliage. Looking at the plant from the top all you could see was weak green growth. Most all of the interior growth was fading for lack of light combined with insufficient water passing over the root system. It looked rough but we removed all of the weak undergrowth on all branches, studied what was left and from the top down removed foliage giving it some shape and allowing light inside.
Since then, just a few weeks I have been told it looks excellent but I just checked and he has not sent a picture. I am sorry I did not photo shoot the process as a visual aide for others but weather had us moving in and out the house that day and never gave it a thought It was a larger plant and pretty much took most of the day for us both to finish.

Grimmy

 

[Daluke]

Have you tried misting those leaves in case its old bird crap / non processed foliage feed left on the needles?

It's interesting that it's on the tips of the needles rather than the whole needle.

If it's a sun light problem why is it localised to the tips only?

I agree you should get more trees too. Many a tree is killed by over attention (at least in my case anyway).

 

[cbroad]

@NorthTXacer
I've seen funky things happen from Super Thrive, how much water are you mixing the 1/8 TSP into?

I used to add one or two capfuls of the 2oz. bottle into about 2 gallons of water, definitely not accurate measuring... I would water many different types of plants with it, but my issue was with an Amur maple. The new growth started to look chlorotic soon after expanding, but otherwise turgid and normal. As the growth got older, it would eventually turn fully green and this issue lasted about 3 or 4 months. After talking with someone else on here with the same problem on the same type of plant, we concluded it was probably the Super Thrive. I read somewhere (maybe on here) that it could swing the pH, or lock out some nutrients, or something. I'm really not sure what was going on...

I know they're not the same type of plant but 1/8 tsp sounds like a lot to be using every 2 days. Maybe think about cutting back to once a week or once every two weeks. I'm not necessarily saying that's the cause and I agree that it's probably lack of light, but it just sounds like a lot to be using so often .

 

[SantaFeBonsai]

i stopped the super thrive and protekt a few days ago, you're the second person to offer that advice.

I also took the recommendation of getting more trees