Junipers are tough, but when they go brown they do it in a very visible way. The good news is that the pattern of browning narrows down the cause quickly. Brown tips, brown patches, brown inner foliage and a whole plant fading all mean different things.

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The short answer: brown tips on new growth in a wet spring usually mean a tip blight such as Phomopsis. Dull, speckled, bronzed foliage in hot, dry weather points to spider mites. Browning on the side facing winter sun and wind is winter burn. A whole plant browning in heavy or wet soil suggests root rot. Some browning of old inner foliage in fall is normal. Prune out dead tips in dry weather, water well in drought and keep soil from staying soggy.

Read the pattern

Pattern	Likely cause	Season
Tips of new shoots turn brown, then gray	Phomopsis tip blight	Spring, wet weather
Older shoot tips brown, small gray lesions at the base	Kabatina tip blight	Late winter to early spring
Inner and lower foliage browns first and spreads outward	Cercospora needle blight or normal shedding	Summer to fall
Fine speckling, dull bronze color, tiny webbing	Spider mites	Hot, dry weather
Brown on the windward or sunny side after winter	Winter burn (desiccation)	Late winter, spring
Whole plant fades, roots dark and soft	Root rot	Wet, poorly drained soil
Spindle-shaped bags hanging from twigs	Bagworms	Summer

Tip blights

Clemson’s Home & Garden Information Center lists Phomopsis and Kabatina tip blights as two of the most common juniper diseases. Phomopsis attacks new, tender shoots during wet spring weather; the tips turn yellow to red-brown, then ash gray. Kabatina attacks shoots from the previous year in late winter and early spring, often entering through small wounds.

What helps:

Prune out infected tips in dry weather, cutting back into healthy green growth, and remove the prunings.
Avoid overhead watering, or water early in the day so the foliage dries quickly.
Give plants enough space for air to move through them.
Choose resistant cultivars when you replant; nurseries and extension services can tell you which ones do well locally.

Spider mites

Spruce spider mites are tiny and active in cool spring and fall weather, and other mites take over in summer heat. The foliage turns dull, speckled and bronzed, and you may see fine webbing. A simple test: hold a sheet of white paper under a branch and tap it. If tiny moving specks appear, you have mites. A strong spray of water knocks many off, and horticultural oil or insecticidal soap labeled for mites can be used if needed. Follow the label and avoid spraying in high heat.

Winter burn

Junipers keep their foliage through winter and keep losing water from it, even when the ground is frozen and the roots cannot replace it. Wind and bright sun make that worse. The result is browning on the exposed side in late winter or early spring. A deep watering in late fall, before the ground freezes, helps. So does a layer of mulch over the roots. Brown foliage from winter burn does not turn green again, but buds further in often push new growth.

Wet roots and root rot

Junipers want sun and well-drained soil. The Clemson juniper fact sheet stresses good drainage; junipers in heavy, waterlogged soil or under a constantly running irrigation head are prone to root rot. The plant fades and browns overall, and the roots look dark and soft rather than white and firm. There is no spray for this. The fix is drainage, less water or moving the planting to a better site.

Normal browning

Every juniper sheds some of its oldest inner foliage, usually in fall. If the brown is limited to the inside of the plant, the outer growth is healthy and green and the browning stops, it is probably just normal shedding.

A pruning warning

Junipers do not regrow from bare, brown wood. The University of Wisconsin’s guidance on pruning evergreens is to cut back only to green, leafy growth. If you cut into the bare center of a juniper, that spot will usually stay bare. Remove dead tips and dead branches, but do not shear deep into the plant to get rid of browning. My guide on when to prune junipers covers this in more detail.

When to get help

If browning keeps spreading after you have pruned out dead tips and fixed watering, or if a large juniper near the house is dying, take a sample to your county extension office or call a certified arborist. The ISA Find an Arborist directory lists certified professionals. If your junipers also have orange, jelly-like growths in spring, they may be hosting a rust that affects nearby pears and apples; see rust on pear trees.

Sources

Juniper Diseases & Insect Pests, Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center
Juniper, Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center
Pruning Evergreens, University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension

Top photo: Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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