Juvenile growth on my Juniper

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seanothon

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I have been having trouble getting rid of juvenile growth on my Junipers. They have the spiked out look rather than the appealing scaly look. It is starting to get cold now in OH so I'm sure there isn't much to do while it's dormant but any advice for next spring?
 
What kind of junipers are they? Some almost never develop mature foliage while being regularly pruned and pinched...particularly procumbens/p. nana, san jose, virginiana. Some react more positively to pruning/pinching (prostrata, shimpaku, torulosa) by not producing much juvenile foliage.

While the tree is dormant, nothing will change. The only way to get mature growth is to let the tree grow it. Existing juvenile foliage doesn't change into mature foliage, the growth habit itself changes once the tree recovers by growing mature foliage beyond the juvenile.
 
To be honest I am not exactly sure what the species is. Looks similar to procumbens but I couldn't say for sure
 
Brian Van Fleet said:
What kind of junipers are they? Some almost never develop mature foliage while being regularly pruned and pinched...particularly procumbens/p. nana, san jose, virginiana. Some react more positively to pruning/pinching (prostrata, shimpaku, torulosa) by not producing much juvenile foliage.

While the tree is dormant, nothing will change. The only way to get mature growth is to let the tree grow it. Existing juvenile foliage doesn't change into mature foliage, the growth habit itself changes once the tree recovers by growing mature foliage beyond the juvenile.
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California junipers do. They will actually change from awl foliage to scale foliage, and the transformation is very cool. When conditions are correct and the tree is healthy, it will change its entire cloths in one season. Needle junipers such as foemina will do the same thing given enough time. All the juvinile foliage will eventually change to mature. I am sure other junipers do this also, it just takes so long that as bonsai we nip and pinch so that it never sits around for enough years to consume this foliage, but it does change.
 
I have never seen juvenile foliage change into mature foliage, I've only seen mature foliage grow out from juvenile foliage. I'll be watching a few spots on a couple trees for this phenomenon next spring...
 
since we are talking about junipers here..... does everyone else's JP nana turn really purple/blue in winter?
 
Bill S said:
Eric some junis can scare you with the colors in winter, I'd say you are ok.
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I wasn't worried Bill :) ..... I was hoping some one else out there had a few that do it as well and could tell me if it was some special variety :p
 
my shimpakus, p. nanas and pfitzers all do it in late fall early winter (Iam in zone 5a/b)

Cheers,

Steve
 
I have 3 of them, 2 were a bit protected and have the greyish color, the other got full blast cold nights and has the purpleish hue as well, can't say if it is a variety thing or just a conditions thing. Ya I figured you had enough insite, more for others lurking.:cool:
 
I always have heard that you were supposed to just "prune out" the juvenile foliage on a shimpaku but it seems like it would just perpetuate the problem. If your getting juvenile foliage doesn't it mean your pruning back too hard and you need to wait...?
 
Jason said:
I always have heard that you were supposed to just "prune out" the juvenile foliage on a shimpaku but it seems like it would just perpetuate the problem. If your getting juvenile foliage doesn't it mean your pruning back too hard and you need to wait...?
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Overly aggressive pruning is definitely one cause of juvenile foliage...pruning out the juvenile foliage will perpetuate the problem. Generally, letting the tree rest to grow out beyond the juvenile foliage until the adult foliage predominates is the best remedy.
 
Dav4 said:
Overly aggressive pruning is definitely one cause of juvenile foliage...pruning out the juvenile foliage will perpetuate the problem. Generally, letting the tree rest to grow out beyond the juvenile foliage until the adult foliage predominates is the best remedy.
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What Dave said.
 
So maybe I should let this next year be a growing year for my Junipers? Don't touch them and see if they begin to get adult growth. My younger one I haven't touched too much and has some adult growth but not near as much as I would like.
 
seanothon said:
So maybe I should let this next year be a growing year for my Junipers? Don't touch them and see if they begin to get adult growth. My younger one I haven't touched too much and has some adult growth but not near as much as I would like.
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Again, it really depends on the variety. If it's a P. nana, as you suspect, don't count on much mature foliage in a year's time. You also don't want to let the foliage grow too far away from the trunk either. Like all things bonsai, find the balance...in this case the balance between letting it grow freely enough to produce good foliage (if it's inclined), and pruning it to keep the growth closer to the trunk (most say don't remove more than 25-30% in a season).

Eric: something interesting...both of these shimpakus came from the same nursery, just several years apart. The bronzy colored shoot has been in Northern CA until this week. The green shoot is from one that's been in the South for the last 3 years, and has barely seen a frost yet this year. Interesting to see the behavior difference when you get that rare occasion to compare like this.

SAM_1539.jpg
 
Brian Van Fleet said:
Eric: something interesting...both of these shimpakus came from the same nursery, just several years apart. The bronzy colored shoot has been in Northern CA until this week. The green shoot is from one that's been in the South for the last 3 years, and has barely seen a frost yet this year. Interesting to see the behavior difference when you get that rare occasion to compare like this.
Click to expand...
Interesting.... I should put up some pictures of the little guy ... he's no winner but it made my dad happy for me to collect him :) and he does make a nice full cascade.... the color each year is a wonderful intense purpley/blue ... strangely it seems to mostly only show the needle foliage
 
Just trying to ID one of these. My smaller one has small brown growths on the tips of some adult growth that look kind of like little pine cones. Any ideas for the ID. My camera died otherwise I would just take a couple of pictures
 
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