Dying tips?

[PowerTap]

I have a yardidori common juniper that I dug up last year. It made it through last summer without dying, but now I'm seeing a lot of dead tips on it as we start into an early spring.

It's in a probably to large grow bag in potting soil. I'm concerned it's staying to wet and considering moving it into an Anderson flat or a smaller grow box. But I'm not sure if that will improve it's health or further set it back. I'm also not quite sure how to go about lifting it out of the bag without ripping up the roots.

Thanks in advance.

 

[steve27]

Hi, I did the same thing with my garden juniper about 7- years ago , and it surprisingly survived .
the only thing that I did differently was first put in a hand made wood box with plenty of holes in the bottom
and after the wood started to rot. put it in a Anderson flat.
I would say the bag is staying to wet.

 

[Shibui]

Too wet would be my guess too. If you can get the bag up off the ground it may help it dry a little better until repotting time. Also cover the bag to keep excess rain off so the soil is not always wet.

Why are you worried about the roots when you repot? Part of the process is to change soil and cut some roots. Soil falling off roots is no big deal. Cutting lots of roots can be cause for concern but doesn't sound like you intend that?
If the soil has soured and root rot set started then full repot and change as much soil as possible can only do good.

 

[ShimpakuBonsai]

The common juniper should have a needle like foilage.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I would repot it in spring, into pumice or something airy.
But there's a chance that it'll take until fall before the issue stops expanding. My own zombie junipers were like that for an entire year before they recovered.

 

[PowerTap]

Too wet would be my guess too. If you can get the bag up off the ground it may help it dry a little better until repotting time. Also cover the bag to keep excess rain off so the soil is not always wet.

Why are you worried about the roots when you repot? Part of the process is to change soil and cut some roots. Soil falling off roots is no big deal. Cutting lots of roots can be cause for concern but doesn't sound like you intend that?
If the soil has soured and root rot set started then full repot and change as much soil as possible can only do good.

Mostly I have to think through how I'm going to lift the tree out of the bag without damaging the roots. I don't know what I'd do to the roots if I just grabbed the trunk and lifted.

 

[Shibui]

Mostly I have to think through how I'm going to lift the tree out of the bag without damaging the roots. I don't know what I'd do to the roots if I just grabbed the trunk and lifted.

Roots are far more resilient than many people assume.
If still concerned about root damage you can cut the bag down a couple of sides and peel it back to remove some soil and get at the roots more carefully

 

[PowerTap]

I think I'm gonna plop it in this big micca training pot I got sitting around. It'll get into better soil on the way and will drain better than this giant bag.

 

[Tums]

Roots are far more resilient than many people assume.
If still concerned about root damage you can cut the bag down a couple of sides and peel it back to remove some soil and get at the roots more carefully

Yep, if you don't want to reuse the bag, I've just cut mine off.

 

[PowerTap]

Yep, if you don't want to reuse the bag, I've just cut mine off.

I'll probably try to salvage the bag.

 

[Tums]

I'll probably try to salvage the bag.

Try peeling/rolling down the sides then, instead of yanking the tree out.

 

[Shibui]

I'll probably try to salvage the bag.

By all means try to salvage the bag if you can but need to decide how much the bag is worth and how easy to replace V how much the tree is worth and how easy to replace.

 

[PowerTap]

Roots did not look great coming out of the grow bag. But it went into a smaller pot with better soil and got some innoculant while doing it. We'll see what happens.

 

[PowerTap]

Continung to lose more foliage on this post repot. I'm not optimistic and also not sure what else to do for it.

I know that some roots were lost in the repot. Honestly those branches were going to get cut back anyway, but I hoped that they wouldn't die to achieve that.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Mist, mist, mist the foliage.

 

[PowerTap]

Mist, mist, mist the foliage.

And just to check my understanding of the mechanics.

• Misting the foliage slows sugar production in the foliage because when the foliage is wet it can't draw in oxygen.
• Slowing sugar production reduces demand on water from the roots which are moving less water because a bunch of them died in the grow bag.
• I can effectively artificially balance roots and folliage mass while the roots recover.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

And just to check my understanding of the mechanics.

• Misting the foliage slows sugar production in the foliage because when the foliage is wet it can't draw in oxygen.
• Slowing sugar production reduces demand on water from the roots which are moving less water because a bunch of them died in the grow bag.
• I can effectively artificially balance roots and folliage mass while the roots recover.

If that were true all the plants in a rain forest would be dead.

But seriously junipers can take in a lot of moisture through their foliage and misting is standard practice when collecting yamadori. Since you lost a lot of roots this is a way to replace the moisture uptake that was lost with them. Do not reduce your foliage, that is where junipers store energy, not in the roots.

 

[PowerTap]

As an update, I think this tree is going to pull through! We are in mid July and the folliage is notably greener and I'm starting to back budding along the branches and trunk.



I probably have another year or two of rebuilding and starting to chase the folliage back closer to the trunk before it gets styled.

 

[19Mateo83]

Good save!

 

[PowerTap]

End of the season and this tree has made the turn and growing. Looking forward to seeing what it does next year.