A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Shrubs and Trees Do my shrubs need trimming...?

I have a few evergreen type shrubs, the small ones. Now that it's getting warmer I can see one side is a bit brown. Do I trim this brown off?

Rosepetal - Do you know the variety of the shrubs? If not, do an image search on google with some common types such as arborvitae, boxwood, juniper and yew for possible ID. Arbs and boxwood are famous for browning.

you can, i usually do if the brown is noticable. if it is just barely the tips, i leave it.

Here are some pictures I just took of the shrub, it's a juniper herbalyn.





This is the same shrub just taken from the other side.

Rosepetal--
Does the tag for this plant state it's a juniper? Your plant looks like a dwarf alberta spruce to me. Glad you could post photos.

Hey you're good herbalyn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right you are. Thanks for correcting my error.

you do have a dwarf alberta spruce.

they are extremely succeptible to spider mites. that may be the cause of brown.

Rosepetal --
How old is the DAS? It appears to be in a container that is sunk in the ground, correct? Is the brown part on the side of the prevailing wind or facing south?

Red Spider mites are a possibility, hold a sheet of white paper under a browned stem and give it a light tap. If you have mites you should see them on the paper. Do this when the sun is out and has warmed the spruce. If RSM are the problem keep the spruce watered, spray the browned area several times a day with a jet of water from a hose over a few days. If this doesn't help try a garlic spray. I cannot recommend a chemical since I don't use them and don't know what is legal in Canada.

There are two other possibilities: My first thought was root damage since the brown is at the tip of the tree. Do you know if it started hight and worked its way down? If so its a good possibility the roots are not getting the water and food to the top of the tree. A girdling root could be choking off roots that feed that part of the tree.

The least likely is to much prevailing cold wind blowing on that side all winter or if the brown part faces south it can be sun scald.

Don't do any pruning of those browned spots yet. Try the spider mite test first and go on to the other ideas. Other posters may have suggestions if its a spider mite infestation.

Herbalyn, My DAS is one year old and yes it is in the prevailing wind and the brown facing south. But the container is bottomless, just a 5 gallon pail cut in half with the bottom cut out. The intension was to have a rim to keep the stones in line.

I'll test as you say with a piece of paper, thanks for the info'.

No spider mits that I could see, but it has been cold here, hardly warm enough for them, or can they be out at this time too.