Juniper reverting to juvenile foliage

[sandymac]

I have a large juniper communalis. I've had it for 5 years now, and it has always had mature foliage. In the past month, though, a large portion of the foliage has reverted to the juvenile stage. The tree is healthy and shows no other signs of stress. It is in a wooden grow box and it is not rootbound. Does anyone know why this might be happening? Thanks.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Do you have any photos? And just to confirm - are you talking about J. communis? I did a search on J. communalis and didn't find anything.

J. communis is a needle juniper, so I'm not sure what you are referring to with mature versus juvenile foliage.

 

[ShimpakuBonsai]

Do you mean you have a Juniperus Communis?
This type of juniper has prickly foliage by nature and I have never seen one with mature foliage.

Do you have a picture of the tree?

 

[sandymac]

Do you mean you have a Juniperus Communis?
This type of juniper has prickly foliage by nature and I have never seen one with mature foliage.

Do you have a picture of the tree?

Sorry about that. I’m still ll not good at plant ID. inherited the tree. It is some sort of mounding juniper. Also, I take it back that it’s healthy. It has curved yellow growths on some foliage and some tips are dead. Other needles have lines on them. If s that juniper tip blight? If so, how do I treat it ? Finally, the soil has developed white specks on it. I am definitely panicked.

 

[pmalelis]

The yellow growths could just be flowers

 

[pmalelis]

Also to me looks like there been root work done or transplant. Any shock can cause a push of juvenile, but this doesn't look bad at all. In time it will revert back . Pruning, breaking, root damage or any other shock can do it.

 

[sandymac]

Also to me looks like there been root work done or transplant. Any shock can cause a push of juvenile, but this doesn't look bad at all. In time it will revert back . Pruning, breaking, root damage or any other shock can do it.

I did a major report and position change 2 years ago and have just let it recover since then. We have had a dry, hot summer here in NE. Maybe I didn't keep up with its watering requirements sufficiently. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Well that simplifies things That is not a J. communis. It is some type of J. chinensis - possibly J. chinensis 'San Jose'. These trees will sometimes revert to juvenile foliage when they are heavily pruned or repotted. If there is a 'secret' to keeping the mature foliage, it is to not mess with the tree too much Easier said than done, but an old tree that is well established in a pot will slowly revert to all mature foliage, or you can selectively remove the juvenile growth if it is growing somewhere you don't want. You will also find that the more you build up ramification, the less likely the tree will be to throw juvenile growth from any one point. Otherwise your tree looks perfectly healthy and strong to me, though the next time you repot make sure you get into the rootball and remove ALL that old soil. (In a year or two since you just recently repotted)

San Jose junipers were planted extensively on the west coast in landscape, and it is a common practice there to get a big fat one and then graft shimpaku foliage on it... gradually removing the original (rough) foliage until only shimpaku foliage remains.

 

[stubmle]

Looks healthy enough to me... also doesn't look much like J. Communis that I have seen. Color and foliage is more reminiscent of Parsonii or some Chinensis variety, at least to my eyes.

White flecks in soil are a bit hard to make out at this distance. Could be perlite?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

more reminiscent of Parsonii or some Chinensis variety, at least to my eyes

For the record, parsonii IS a chinensis variety. Otherwise, carry on

 

[stubmle]

For the record, parsonii IS a chinensis variety. Otherwise, carry on

Thanks for the clarification! I was looking into it a while ago and found a lot of conflicting info. Most sources list Parsonii as a Chinensis variety, but some describe it as a subspecies of Sabina, a cultivar of Sabina-Davurica, a natural hybrid of uncertain origin, or even a separate species entirely. I don't know if any of these classifications had a genetic basis or how out-of-date they were...
I agree it certainly looks a lot like other Chinensis and most sources classify it that way, so I think you are correct and I'll refer to it that way from now on. Minor differences in growth habit maybe, but nothing too major.
Incidentally, I've noticed that Parsonii seem to produce many more berries than most other junipers I'm familiar with, though maybe that's just the particular one I have.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I was looking into it a while ago and found a lot of conflicting info.

No kidding! I think there is a lot of conflicting information about some of these cultivars, and I don't doubt that there is some confusion in nurseries as well. I see parsonii all the time here on the east coast, but no San Jose. It was the exact opposite on the west coast. It would not surprise me in the slightest if they ended up being the same cultivar... or at least very very closely related. The only thing about "Parson's juniper" is we know the name came from the east coast nursery that imported it back in the 1860's. San Jose doesn't even have a listed source - and the cultivar was apparently passed back and forth between nurseries and "selectively developed" over the course of decades, so I'm not sure you can even DNA test for it. Maybe the source was a parsonii from the east coast? I'll bet you could compare San Jose junipers from different nurseries and find some that didn't look the same as others (similar to the same issue among some Japanese maple cultivars)

Here's a fun read:

https://www.phytologia.org/uploads/2/3/4/2/23422706/102_3_106-115adams_et_al._windsor_j_chinensis_cultivars_cp_and_its_datafinal7-14-20wkr.pdf

They did a DNA survey of 24 J. chinensis cultivars at Windsor Gardens, UK, and found that only three of them were true "J. chinensis". Others were hybrids.. and one was even a misidentified cypress

 

[sandymac]

Looks healthy enough to me... also doesn't look much like J. Communis that I have seen. Color and foliage is more reminiscent of Parsonii or some Chinensis variety, at least to my eyes.

White flecks in soil are a bit hard to make out at this distance. Could be perlite?

Thanks. At least I know what it is now No perlite, just akadama. I just noticed the white stuff in the last few days. It has appear ed on some of my other trees as well, even the tropicals. My only fertilizer is Ozmocote.

 

[sandymac]

Well that simplifies things That is not a J. communis. It is some type of J. chinensis - possibly J. chinensis 'San Jose'. These trees will sometimes revert to juvenile foliage when they are heavily pruned or repotted. If there is a 'secret' to keeping the mature foliage, it is to not mess with the tree too much Easier said than done, but an old tree that is well established in a pot will slowly revert to all mature foliage, or you can selectively remove the juvenile growth if it is growing somewhere you don't want. You will also find that the more you build up ramification, the less likely the tree will be to throw juvenile growth from any one point. Otherwise your tree looks perfectly healthy and strong to me, though the next time you repot make sure you get into the rootball and remove ALL that old soil. (In a year or two since you just recently repotted)

San Jose junipers were planted extensively on the west coast in landscape, and it is a common practice there to get a big fat one and then graft shimpaku foliage on it... gradually removing the original (rough) foliage until only shimpaku foliage remains.

Thanks!

 

[sandymac]

Well that simplifies things That is not a J. communis. It is some type of J. chinensis - possibly J. chinensis 'San Jose'. These trees will sometimes revert to juvenile foliage when they are heavily pruned or repotted. If there is a 'secret' to keeping the mature foliage, it is to not mess with the tree too much Easier said than done, but an old tree that is well established in a pot will slowly revert to all mature foliage, or you can selectively remove the juvenile growth if it is growing somewhere you don't want. You will also find that the more you build up ramification, the less likely the tree will be to throw juvenile growth from any one point. Otherwise your tree looks perfectly healthy and strong to me, though the next time you repot make sure you get into the rootball and remove ALL that old soil. (In a year or two since you just recently repotted)

San Jose junipers were planted extensively on the west coast in landscape, and it is a common practice there to get a big fat one and then graft shimpaku foliage on it... gradually removing the original (rough) foliage until only shimpaku foliage remains.

Thanks. I'll keep the juvenile foliage to help keep it strong. I was just concerned that it indicated a problem. Definitely will work on removing the old soil, in stages, in future repots.

 

[shimbrypaku]

Sorry to crash your post,
I have a juniper that was sold to me as a Shimpaku, as you can see from the pictures it is not a shinpaku that I am accustom to.

It looks like your juniper foliage. I just embrace the difference look.
Thanks

 

[Bonsai Nut]

It looks like your juniper foliage. I just embrace the difference look.

Check out photos for Hollywood juniper... aka J. chinensis 'kaizuka'... aka J. chinensis 'Hollywood'... aka J. chinensis 'torulosa'. They are supposed to be the same cultivar, but the name has changed over the years. It is the largest of the Chinese juniper cultivars.

 

[shimbrypaku]

Check out photos for Hollywood juniper... aka J. chinensis 'kaizuka'... aka J. chinensis 'Hollywood'... aka J. chinensis 'torulosa'. They are supposed to be the same cultivar, but the name has changed over the years. It is the largest of the Chinese juniper cultivars.

View attachment 614230

Thanks for the info,