This year, a lot of people are complaining about the juniper as they are turning brown. The same happened with my juniper as well. In this guide, I will tell you why my juniper is turning brown and what I have done to recover my juniper.
The same issue has been found on juniper bonsai and Taylor Junipers. This guide is for all of those.
The reasons why the juniper tree is turning brown
The most common reasons are:
- Due to the wet cold (generally at the beginning of the spring season)
- Due to bagworms
- Seredium Canker fungal damage
There might be some other reasons, like spider mites. But I am not gonna talk about that as I only talk about the most possible reasons that we face.
As there are three major reasons, I will make it easier for you to identify the exact reason through symptoms.
How to treat a juniper tree that is turning brown
Let's start with bagworms.
Bagworms
This should be your first step to check if there are any bagworms on your juniper tree. If not, then you can move to my second step to identify the reason.
A bagworm cocoon looks like this.
If you find something like this, you need to get rid of it.
They will infest your arborvitae and other evergreens if left alone.
Those critters COVERED my mom’s juniper bushes - three planted in the corners of our front yard.
Treatment:
Use Imidacloprid.
If you do not want to use that strong chemical, go for BT. BT also works on bagworms.
Note: Bagworms pick pinch - I use a bucket and put some poison in when I’m done - I use wasp spray.
If there are no bagworms or bagworm cocoons, check the next point.
Juniper is turning brown due to the cold
If it's spring and the weather is wet and cold at the same time (generally at the beginning of spring), you can witness the juniper tree turning brown rapidly.
In this case, stop watering for a couple of days and let the soil dry.
This usually happens due to cold stress and excess moisture, which can damage roots and cause “winter burn” on foliage.
This usually happens due to the root rot.
You can see the tips are getting brown.
Seiridium Canker
If your juniper stem or bark is oozing sap, the most likely reason is seiridium canker.
This is a fungal disease. If your juniper tree is infected by seiridium canker, I am sorry to say, but there is no chemical cure. Just try caring and hope for the best.
I hope this guide helped you.
