Gray tips on foliage and dull color

[SmallTreeGuy]

I could do that with probably little disturbance. The only thing I did was skip it out of the nursery pot and into a clay pot the same size: I put some pumice just on top to keep the soil from floating and making a mess when I water. If there are issues, ie. Root rot, root bound, too wet, pockets of dry soil, etc…Would you recommend replacing the soil now all at once with my more free draining mix or replace over time gradually?

Here are some more pics of the foliage with fresh growth next to the unresponsive growth, more gray tips with my hand in the pic and an overall pic of the tree.



Thanks all for chiming in!

 

[Dav4]

Personally, I can never definitively rule out mites. The paper test is a good diagnostic, but for me is not reliably accurate. Don't know what your weather is like, but we are in a drought here. This is perfect mite weather and I have seen mites on many things that have not had mites ever. I even see mites on native 100 year old oak trees which I find highly peculiar. I even found them on an Acer rubrum I have had for about 4-5 years.
I am spraying with a potent miticide with a bit of soap today.
Your juniper damage looks like spider mites.

Unfortunately, that gray hue screams mites to me, as well. I'm actually surprised you didn't see any mites when you checked.... I'd check again, and don't be afraid to really tap the foliage hard while you're checking. Also, make sure you checck the entire canopy... I don't bother with the white paper any more but just use my left hand to catch any falling mites while my right does the tapping

 

[River's Edge]

I would like to suggest a pause! The tree shows signs of mites but just as importantly it shows other signs of stress. Juvenile foliage and lots of evidence of lost foliage, recent pruning of either dead or dying shoots. I would manage the watering carefully allowing the tree to become moderately dry before watering again. I would not repot a juniper at this time of year if at all possible. I would carefully repot in the early spring. Make sure to change out the soil and dead roots. Limit the root cutting and pot in pure pumice for the first couple of years in recovery! It appears in the pictures as a recently collected or dug up specimen so I would treat it as such.
I have to agree that mites are not always easy to spot or identify with the paper test. So it will not hurt to treat for mites at least until the heat and dry conditions lessen. Spraying the foliage with water on a regular basis will also help with mites. Just be sure to not soak the pot and soil when you do that frequently. Junipers do well on the dry side and have all sorts of issues when watered too much in moisture retentive soil.
So back to my main suggestion. manage the watering carefully and fertilize lightly going into the fall season. This will also strengthen the tree prior to the spring repot.

 

[SmallTreeGuy]

Sounds good. I’m going to let the tree sit and treat it when temps drop. We are having our first string of 98 degree and below weather for a few consecutive days and then back up to the 100+ temps so it’s still hot as hades out there. I’ve got some good fertilizer and I’ll plan on doing a light application.

Pause and patience it is!

I’ll try the test again and I’ll get into a routine for foliage spraying until I treat.

thanks everyone!