Worried about my junipers - help please

[Hbhaska]

Good morning. I noticed that both of my tall procumbens nana pre-bonsai trees show yellowing or browning at the tips. They are also not bright green as they used to be only a couple weeks ago. What could be causing this and how do I bring back my junipers to their original bright green state?
Some more history - I had these close to the fence for several months and they were fine. I moved them to close to a prunus tree (apricot) that had peach leaf curl extensively. I had treated this garden tree for fungus by cutting extensively and bonide. When I was rearranging my bonsai, I had moved these closer to the treated tree. My question is - is it possible for the junipers to have picked up this fungus? Or is this something else? I can check to see if the trees are pot-bound and slip pot them for now. But I’m generally concerned if this could be a disease or insects. Spider mites, scale insect? Fungus? Any help with comments would be highly appreciated.
I sprayed some bonide fungicide just in case and moved the trees back to their original spot close to the fence.

 

[HENDO]

Good morning. I noticed that both of my tall procumbens nana pre-bonsai trees show yellowing or browning at the tips. They are also not bright green as they used to be only a couple weeks ago. What could be causing this and how do I bring back my junipers to their original bright green state?
Some more history - I had these close to the fence for several months and they were fine. I moved them to close to a prunus tree (apricot) that had peach leaf curl extensively. I had treated this garden tree for fungus by cutting extensively and bonide. When I was rearranging my bonsai, I had moved these closer to the treated tree. My question is - is it possible for the junipers to have picked up this fungus? Or is this something else? I can check to see if the trees are pot-bound and slip pot them for now. But I’m generally concerned if this could be a disease or insects. Spider mites, scale insect? Fungus? Any help with comments would be highly appreciated.
I sprayed some bonide fungicide just in case and moved the trees back to their original spot close to the fence.

I'm no expert in this field but that does appear to be a lot of foliage for the pot size. Did you check the holes at the bottom of the pot to see if they were crowded with roots, and are there a lot of surface roots?

Your pictures are quite clear and I don't see scale damage like I've seen on my junipers recently. It looks pretty widespread so if it were mites you would likely see a lot of evidence of them being the culprit.

If these are pot bound, and since it isn't repotting season for them, perhaps the only options are to slip-pot or ground plant with minimal root disturbance, or to clean up the foliage in small sessions separated by a week or so.

If they were my junipers and I had the area by that fence, and the trunk wasn't 100% developed, I would be tempted to put them in the ground but it the only downside is you wouldn't be able to manage the roots this time of year. Next best thing would be to slip pot into something bigger.

 

[Hbhaska]

I'm no expert in this field but that does appear to be a lot of foliage for the pot size. Did you check the holes at the bottom of the pot to see if they were crowded with roots, and are there a lot of surface roots?

Your pictures are quite clear and I don't see scale damage like I've seen on my junipers recently. It looks pretty widespread so if it were mites you would likely see a lot of evidence of them being the culprit.

If these are pot bound, and since it isn't repotting season for them, perhaps the only options are to slip-pot or ground plant with minimal root disturbance, or to clean up the foliage in small sessions separated by a week or so.

If they were my junipers and I had the area by that fence, and the trunk wasn't 100% developed, I would be tempted to put them in the ground but it the only downside is you wouldn't be able to manage the roots this time of year. Next best thing would be to slip pot into something bigger.

Thank you, Hendo. I just removed them from the pot to see what’s going on. From one of the pots, dropped a grub of some kind and there were a bunch of holes in the soil. In the other pot, there were some snails but nothing else. The roots seem fine and not overgrown for the containers.
Regardless, I’m going to slip pot them in better substrate - pumice, lava, 8822 mixture. Thanks again.

 

[HENDO]

Thank you, Hendo. I just removed them from the pot to see what’s going on. From one of the pots, dropped a grub of some kind and there were a bunch of holes in the soil. In the other pot, there were some snails but nothing else. The roots seem fine and not overgrown for the containers.
Regardless, I’m going to slip pot them in better substrate - pumice, lava, 8822 mixture. Thanks again.
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Mmmm those are some tasty looking grubs - do you have junebugs there? I find lots of similar grubs in my lawn soil. Perhaps a nice insecticide flush a bit after your potting will take care of em.

I'm suprised you didn't find roots wrapping around the inside of those pots but that is nice to see given the huge amount of foliage. I would be tempted to slip pot into a soil mix more similar to what the roots are currently in, otherwise you may have water just draining around the new soil while your original root system stays wet.

I just slip spotted this guys into a bigger pot a month or so ago but maintained a similar soil to fill in the gaps, it seems to be working well. I also did some minimal cleaning to let the sunlight hit the target areas where I wanted branches to develop.

Looks like some nice junipers you have there which have been kept from becoming prostrate. Looking forward to seeing how the turn out!

 

[Shibui]

That grub looks like the ones we call curl grubs. They eat roots and where there is one there is usually more. They could easily account for the deterioration of these trees. A soil drench insecticide as used for lawn grubs will deal with them
The other possibility is they are getting dry. As already noted these are very large trees in pretty small pots so they will need plenty of water as the weather warms up.

 

[sorce]

When the bottle of "cide" says "use as directed", I wonder if there is a "just in case" section in the directions?

There are fungals that we need. I reckon like a thousand compared to the one that we are always trying to kill.
No sense killing them thousands we need on a "Maybe".

And now the chickens can't eat them grubs!


Sorce