Hi everyone,
So I picked up a new plant over the weekend, a shimpaku juniper with a good amount of work done to it.
I went to a local bonsai place because I wanted to get moss for a different project I'm doing at home. The place has lots of different species of bonsai plants, all set out on racks in a green house area. It was very humid and tons of moss would grow below the racks and all over the water, with some being very wet and squishy. While picking moss, I noticed some pieces looked moldy with a bluish color coming in on the bottom side. I saw some Junipers with mushrooms growing on the moss in the pot.
I picked out my plant because it was my favorite. I bought some crumbled volcanic rock and pebble fertilizer for it. Once I got home, I started reading up and saw that shimpakus like drier soils. I removed the moss it had and covered it with the red volcanic rock pebbles. I wanted to some maintenance pruning and then noticed some problems.
I believe I have a fungus problem. The above and below photos show the black colored webbing/fuzz growing on some of the leaves. The last photo below also shows some green stuff growing on the trunk. I think the green stuff is coming from the moss that used to be on the plant. I removed pretty much all the moss, and tried scraping some of the green stuff off.
After reviewing some articles online, I bought some copper fungicide spray and gave the branches and trunk a good spraying yesterday. I gave the plant its first dose of water today. I also mist the branches once or twice throughout the day since getting the plant on Saturday. The fungicide says to use it every 7-10 days until the plant gets better.
Additionally, I was taking a look at the plant today, and I saw a few small white bugs walking along the trunk. My guess is that they are spider mites.
So, my questions. I will look for some sort of insecticide tomorrow that works on spider mites. Do you guys recommend any specific sprays? Should I wait a few days (say Wednesday or Thursday) to spray the insecticide since I recently sprayed the fungicide? Is there another routine I should follow? I am insist on not returning the plant and keeping it alive. If it goes through this, I will repot it in say November or so.
I have the plant in my backyard. It gets a lot of sunshine, but is underneath some cover so it doesn't get the full sun throughout the hot day. I am in Miami so it gets scorching hot and humid.
So I picked up a new plant over the weekend, a shimpaku juniper with a good amount of work done to it.
I went to a local bonsai place because I wanted to get moss for a different project I'm doing at home. The place has lots of different species of bonsai plants, all set out on racks in a green house area. It was very humid and tons of moss would grow below the racks and all over the water, with some being very wet and squishy. While picking moss, I noticed some pieces looked moldy with a bluish color coming in on the bottom side. I saw some Junipers with mushrooms growing on the moss in the pot.
I picked out my plant because it was my favorite. I bought some crumbled volcanic rock and pebble fertilizer for it. Once I got home, I started reading up and saw that shimpakus like drier soils. I removed the moss it had and covered it with the red volcanic rock pebbles. I wanted to some maintenance pruning and then noticed some problems.
I believe I have a fungus problem. The above and below photos show the black colored webbing/fuzz growing on some of the leaves. The last photo below also shows some green stuff growing on the trunk. I think the green stuff is coming from the moss that used to be on the plant. I removed pretty much all the moss, and tried scraping some of the green stuff off.
After reviewing some articles online, I bought some copper fungicide spray and gave the branches and trunk a good spraying yesterday. I gave the plant its first dose of water today. I also mist the branches once or twice throughout the day since getting the plant on Saturday. The fungicide says to use it every 7-10 days until the plant gets better.
Additionally, I was taking a look at the plant today, and I saw a few small white bugs walking along the trunk. My guess is that they are spider mites.
So, my questions. I will look for some sort of insecticide tomorrow that works on spider mites. Do you guys recommend any specific sprays? Should I wait a few days (say Wednesday or Thursday) to spray the insecticide since I recently sprayed the fungicide? Is there another routine I should follow? I am insist on not returning the plant and keeping it alive. If it goes through this, I will repot it in say November or so.
I have the plant in my backyard. It gets a lot of sunshine, but is underneath some cover so it doesn't get the full sun throughout the hot day. I am in Miami so it gets scorching hot and humid.