juniper rescue help

SouthernMaple

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buddy has a great juniper but says it is discolored and he doesn't know why? He shari some of the trunk on tree 2 and I think it may be that, what do you think?
tree 1
IMG_20210601_160940.jpg

tree 2
IMG_20210601_160948.jpg
 

Kodama

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Hmmm...does he keep it next to that white siding of the house? If so...wondering if it's too intense of a light or heat reflection or not getting enough light on the backside? Just a thought.
 

Forsoothe!

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When handling a shotgun, it's best to know which end to point at your big toe. Shari is a dead strip of trunk that runs between a dead root and a dead branch. Each end is dead because the other is dead and/or not servicing it. Some trees share resources, while some like Yew and Juniper and some others do not, they have dedicated roots that service specific branches and vice-versa. The trunk surface is the pathway between them. Normally, or often, shari is the artistic cleaning up of a fault in a tree, for example a branch dies and you decide to jin it because it is in a position that is important to the appearance of the tree and the empty space would spoil that so you don't want to cut it off. If you can see for certain that it is serviced by a given root, for example there exists an obvious bump in the trunk, which reflects the sizes of the branch and the root, the length of the trunk from that branch to the root, you may decide to strip the bark from the trunk (to the root) by grabbing the bark at the base of the branch and pulling it downward and off down to the root. You can score the supposed edges of the bark with a razor knife to aid in delineating the pathway, but that's a double-edged sword. Just because you know that there is no twist in the trunk (you don't know that) doesn't mean that you won't inadvertently kill some other part of the tree above or below those two points. A better way is to grab a strip of bark under the collar of the (dead) branch and pull it down, hopefully to the root. If it is indeed a direct pathway, you can expand upon that on either side and continue the process of ripping down small strips of bark from the branch to the root, or in the other direction to complete the "view".

So, if your Buddy didn't plan the pathway, or didn't follow the procedure to create same he may have killed other branches, trunk & roots, willy-nilly. He may want to just leave the dead stuff where it is, clear away the dead foliage as it progress, and see what the package looks like next year. All the yellowing is done been dead as we used to say back in the day. Tell him not to accept this as a total loss, just a recombobulation of his former design.
 

SouthernMaple

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When handling a shotgun, it's best to know which end to point at your big toe. Shari is a dead strip of trunk that runs between a dead root and a dead branch. Each end is dead because the other is dead and/or not servicing it. Some trees share resources, while some like Yew and Juniper and some others do not, they have dedicated roots that service specific branches and vice-versa. The trunk surface is the pathway between them. Normally, or often, shari is the artistic cleaning up of a fault in a tree, for example a branch dies and you decide to jin it because it is in a position that is important to the appearance of the tree and the empty space would spoil that so you don't want to cut it off. If you can see for certain that it is serviced by a given root, for example there exists an obvious bump in the trunk, which reflects the sizes of the branch and the root, the length of the trunk from that branch to the root, you may decide to strip the bark from the trunk (to the root) by grabbing the bark at the base of the branch and pulling it downward and off down to the root. You can score the supposed edges of the bark with a razor knife to aid in delineating the pathway, but that's a double-edged sword. Just because you know that there is no twist in the trunk (you don't know that) doesn't mean that you won't inadvertently kill some other part of the tree above or below those two points. A better way is to grab a strip of bark under the collar of the (dead) branch and pull it down, hopefully to the root. If it is indeed a direct pathway, you can expand upon that on either side and continue the process of ripping down small strips of bark from the branch to the root, or in the other direction to complete the "view".

So, if your Buddy didn't plan the pathway, or didn't follow the procedure to create same he may have killed other branches, trunk & roots, willy-nilly. He may want to just leave the dead stuff where it is, clear away the dead foliage as it progress, and see what the package looks like next year. All the yellowing is done been dead as we used to say back in the day. Tell him not to accept this as a total loss, just a recombobulation of his former design.
i told him its the trees way of saying "jin me"
 

Shibui

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Hard to give definitive advice without seeing exactly what the new shari looks like. If the dying started soon after the shari was done it is highly likely to be related but sometimes we just link 2 events without proper investigation.
Other reasons for the dying foliage could be related to water, sun or physical damage. Remember that juniper bark slips quite easily when the trees are in active growth so it is possible some unplanned damage occurred while the shari was being done if part of the tree was bent or moved. The tree falling off the bench or having something dropped on it could also cause this result. Often junipers take a long time to show signs so the actual event may have been months ago.

Some trees share resources, while some like Yew and Juniper and some others do not, they have dedicated roots that service specific branches and vice-versa.
This is not my experience of juniper. I have regularly carved spiral shari in youngish juniper trunks and they continue to grow just fine. The sort of junipers that most of us have access to will still have the ability to change sap flow to accommodate damage such as shari and jin. Older trees that already have dead sections are another matter and there is likely to be more and less active sections but that seems to be confined to quite aged trunks such as collected mountain trees or previously carved trunks. Occasionally I have come across areas of juniper trunk that were damaged by previous wiring and bending that were not obvious but that is not the same thing as a live vein connecting a particular root with a particular branch.

I have, however, seen some beginners carve shari that completely disconnects branches from all roots. Nothing good comes of that.
 

bwaynef

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Silvering junipers need to be checked for spider mites. It could be something else (poorly-executed shari?), but that (mites) ought to be the first place you look.
 

River's Edge

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buddy has a great juniper but says it is discolored and he doesn't know why? He shari some of the trunk on tree 2 and I think it may be that, what do you think?
tree 1
View attachment 378474

tree 2
View attachment 378475
Two trees involved, one has shari! Both have grey colour discolouration not browning out yet. I would suspect spider mites as the first thing to check out. Always the first thing I check on junipers.
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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I have a juniper that did this all over because I forgot to water it on a hot day.
Could be a dry pocket in the soil, since junipers are so good at compartmentalisation.

But spider mites would be my first guess too. Then something with the sap stream, then something with the roots. If it turns crispy in the next weeks, it's probably not spider mites.
 

SouthernMaple

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Hmmm...does he keep it next to that white siding of the house? If so...wondering if it's too intense of a light or heat reflection or not getting enough light on the backside? Just a thought.
no i moved it there so i could get a better picture with my good camera, here is picture with good cameraSMR_4957.JPG
 

Pitoon

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buddy has a great juniper but says it is discolored and he doesn't know why? He shari some of the trunk on tree 2 and I think it may be that, what do you think?
tree 1
View attachment 378474

tree 2
View attachment 378475
Keep it away from any other junipers. Could be the work done to the tree, but I would also do the paper check for mites to be sure.
 

SouthernMaple

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Keep it away from any other junipers. Could be the work done to the tree, but I would also do the paper check for mites to be sure.
whats odd is that he just sprayed in the past few days
 
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