Knowledgebase
Snow damaged Columnar Juniper tree top #754878
Asked June 08, 2021, 4:34 PM EDT
Boulder County Colorado
Expert Response
Good Morning, Lynn --
Before doing anything too drastic, it's good to do a bit more sleuthing! So I'm glad you sent a question in. One thing that will be good to do is to try to snap one of the top branches - is it brittle and does it break easily? If so, then we know that those branches are indeed dead. If not, then they may be damaged but not entirely gone.
Another question I have, is this: did this browning appear more recently? Or has it been there since the winter? If it has appeared more recently, the tree might be underwatered and struggling from the hot days we've had! Drought stress starts from the top of the tree down. So some good watering over the next few weeks might be helpful to see if it turns the health around.
It is best to prune trees in the late fall/winter to provide the least amount of stress to the tree (which is right now using energy to grow). I have had some success pruning the top of an evergreen tree, however trees do need to have one branch be the leader. So cutting off the leader will likely significantly slow the growth of the plant until another leader is established. However, let's do some problem solving first by answering the questions in the first two paragraphs and then we can reassess.
Feel free to follow up.
Kindly,
Jasmine
On 06/09/2021 11:02 AM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
We are forwarding your question to our Tree Team for them to answer your question whether the columnar juniper tree is able to have a new leader.
Vickie - Boulder County Master Gardener
Yes the juniper can develop a new leader, but it may take a while and will never really look the way it did before getting damage. So you may want to consider a replacement. If you're patient, you'll need to train a new leader with staking close to the trunk.
Here's a fact sheet on pruning -- most importantly, trim away all dead branches and perhaps thin the lower branches to stimulate a leader to develop.
https://static.colostate.edu/client-files/csfs/pdfs/618.pdf.
Boulder County Master Gardeners