Hello all,
I am brand new to Bonsai, I started with a 3-5 year old juniper. I am in Beaumont Tx close to the Gulf right next to the LA border. For the last two weeks I have been watch my tree produce brown ends on the branches. When I turned the tree around the brown was worse. Is this rust disease? I have attached a couple of Pictures. Is there anything I can do with this to stop it? I have read that usually the tree will not survive. Do I work with it or start over?

Is it indoors?
Junipers die if kept indoors.

No it is outside facing the south under my back porch. It gets indirect sun for about 6 hours out of the day.

You said you started with a 3-5 yo juniper. Clearly, this is not a bonsai but a young plant in a pot, so am I guessing correctly that you planted this yourself?

Cnixon wrote:

No it is outside facing the south under my back porch. It gets indirect sun for about 6 hours out of the day.

Well, it looks very sick; possibly already dead.
Junipers can be dead and still green for months.
If this is possible try to get it back to the nursery where it was bought (return, refund, get another one)

Reply to Auk: I got this online about two month ago.
Reply to Clicio: return is 30 day, yea I think it is pretty much gone from day one. I will attempt to prune dead back and hope for the best. Thanks for the replies. Any other there ideas send them on..

Cnixon wrote:

Reply to Auk: I got this online about two month ago.

Are you telling me they sold this as bonsai? You can't be serious.

Yep welcome to being new to this it is called a green mound juniper. It is from Walmart. Don’t laugh yes I said Walmart. Fool me once ok fool me twice no way. Will look for more caring business to buy from this time. That is for sure, next door neighbor is a self trained Bonsai grower. I will ask him for direction.

Cnixon wrote:

It is from Walmart. Don’t laugh yes I said Walmart. Fool me once ok fool me twice no way. Will look for more caring business to buy from this time.

Here, try this first:

www.bonsaiempire.com/locations/bonsai-trees-for-sale#USA

Maybe some of these might actually be close to you and you didn´t know. Hope it helps.

Alain

Two things at play here:

- Old needles turn brown as they are shaded out. So the inner foliage die-off is normal in juniper (As in all trees by the way).
- Growing tips dying. This is a bigger issue. I do not think this is rust (That sits in the branches). It could be a fungus infection, roots that are too wet. General unhappiness of the tree. I would consider the following actions:

.. Check for insects, particularly Scale
.. If no insects are present, treat with a fungal spray
.. Keep the soil on the dry side. Do NOT let it dry out completely, but do not water untill most of the soil surface has started to change color from drying out

Give it plenty of sun and air movement