Is this juniper scale?

Fred1991

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Relatively green to bonsai’s so haven’t dealt with juniper scale before but I’ve been seeing my juniper with a white “hue”. I’ve googled search pictures of juniper scale but I can’t really tell if this is it. Hopefully some of you can help me out (you might have to zoom in). The tree seems healthy and has plenty of new shoots coming.
Hope you can help me 😊
 

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Brian Van Fleet

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I don’t see anything that looks like scale in the photos. The whitish color is on old growth, and may be hard water stains, contrasting with bright green new growth.
 

Vance Wood

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What is the purview of your tree, where did it come from and how long have you had it. There are a lot of trees out there that are Junipers which are identified as something else. This particular tree looks a lot like Pygmy Cypress.
 

Fred1991

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What is the purview of your tree, where did it come from and how long have you had it. There are a lot of trees out there that are Junipers which are identified as something else. This particular tree looks a lot like Pygmy Cypress.

It was sold to me as an itoigawa. From bonsaiplaza (which I feel like is a pretty trusted bonsai place?). I’ve had for 3-4 months now:)
 

Fred1991

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It was sold to me as an itoigawa. From bonsaiplaza (which I feel like is a pretty trusted bonsai place?). I’ve had for 3-4 months now:)
After doing some research on the foliage it looks like a lot like shimpaku to me comparing it to this article

 

Wires_Guy_wires

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I have some itoigawa from the Dutch bonsai plaza. They're fine.

I don't know if he treats them with lime sulphur as a dormant spray, I know some Belgians do it on their junipers. This tends to leave whitish marks on the foliage and a strong sulphur smell. So does hard water, the white should disappear when it gets wet if it's salt buildup. But it could potentially be mildew as well. I'm not sure if, or how much junipers can/are affected by mildew.
 

Fred1991

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I have some itoigawa from the Dutch bonsai plaza. They're fine.

I don't know if he treats them with lime sulphur as a dormant spray, I know some Belgians do it on their junipers. This tends to leave whitish marks on the foliage and a strong sulphur smell. So does hard water, the white should disappear when it gets wet if it's salt buildup. But it could potentially be mildew as well. I'm not sure if, or how much junipers can/are affected by mildew.
Yes it’s seem to be living it’s best life. I do reckon it could be hard water stains aswell. I live in London and it does seem to go away when wet however it seems to come back as it dries. I have recently purchased a filter attachment for my hose but with this happening I’m not sure it’s working. I purchased it as I could see hardwater stains on some of my garden plants. Those stains are still there but there’s aren’t any new stains. Are hard water stains permanent on affected growth?
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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Hard water stains are not permanent on my trees, because the rain washes it out. If we get any rain.
If it gets too much, I just drop my tree in the pond for an hour or so, instead of watering it like usual. After a couple times of watering like this, the buildup is usually gone.

If you have the possibility to get your hands on a rain water barrel, you don't have to worry about pH levels, filters or salt buildup ever again.

Filter attachments sound sketchy. I know about polymer filters that people use for their laundry and coffee machines, but those devices are pretty big and pretty expensive. I don't know about hose attachments but since those in-house filters are roughly 50cm in length and at least 5cm in diameter I suspect a hose filter to be of a substantial size as well. A friend of mine bought "filters" from some kind of pyramid scheme, those were filters one could magnetically wrap around a hose and those would stop the salts somehow, both chemically as well as technically, that's pretty much impossible. If your filter works in a similar sense, I would ask my money back.
 

Fred1991

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That’s was exactly My thought process when I bought it. But my partner was concerned about the aspect of having still water in our relatively small garden and the mosquitos it would bring in. I think I might have to try convince her again. Do you know if there’s a setup that keeps the mossis out so you can safely collect rainwater with out having a complaining partner on you neck? 😅
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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I bought some mosquito mesh for a euro or two and I tacked it to a scrapwood frame. The frame goes on top of the barrel and voila, no more mosquitoes. Just for shits and giggles I added two cheap gold fish, but I have to get them out when temperatures drop below zero. They've been going strong for 4 years now, eating every larvae that manage to get in.
Most modern rain barrels come with a lid though, so if you keep the openings less than a centimeter wide, mosquitoes shouldn't be an issue. Mosquitoes hardly crawl or walk and they don't like small passages because there are usually spiders lurking around.
 

Fred1991

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I like the idea of mosquito net lid I’m gonna try that! so simple you would have thought I would have come up with that idea myself. But no.. I might even try the goldfish too 😂 Thanks a lot 🙏
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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I like the idea of mosquito net lid I’m gonna try that! so simple you would have thought I would have come up with that idea myself. But no.. I might even try the goldfish too 😂 Thanks a lot 🙏
Just tell your partner that you did in fact come up with it yourself, nobody needs to know ;)
 

sorce

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Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce
 

brentwood

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After doing some research on the foliage it looks like a lot like shimpaku to me comparing it to this article

Shimpaku is the umbrella category, kishu and itoigawa are more specific.
Good luck with yours, buy it a partner : )
Brent
 
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