Hey! I'm new here and stumbled across the RMBS while doing some research to better understand my situation and how to proceed.
Here's the gist. My partner and I recently bought a house in late December, and now that it's warming up we're assessing our garden/foliage situation. It seems the past few owners neglected their trees/yard/garden and nothing has been tended to in over a decade.
While doing some backyard investigating, we realized we have an amazing 65-year-old Juniper Bonsai. I think it's a male Chinese Juniper, Juniperus Chinensis? Feel free to chime in here.
When we moved in, the entire corner it's located in was overcrowded with trees (10-12 other trees) growing underneath and next to it. This was causing it to be very shaded in spots and it was catching all of the falling leaves onto the top of it every year, causing it to droop heavily all over and yellow in spots.
Juniper assesment:
-It's turning yellow/dying in parts of the tree and thriving in others.
-Heavy drooping on one side
-There are still remnant tree trunks/roots that invading the juniper's space.
-I'm 80% positive there are branches sprouting off the base of the root of the Juniper, and growing out of the ground.
What we've done:
Ideas I have (no particular order)
I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm new to all of this but I'm willing to learn, so any and all advice is appreciated!
It is hard to tell from the photos. I have lost a big juniper like that over the winter because small mammals chew the bark around a trunk. That tends to be pretty obvious assuming you can actually get in there and investigate.
I would prune out all the branches where the foliage is crispy. Junipers can still be green even when dead. Then see if it continues to die. Opening it up to the light is good as they like full sun.