What's eating my skyrocket juniper?

Skyrocket Juniper, with its tall narrow column, is most commonly damaged by bagworms, which can rapidly strip branches leaving bare dead spires. Juniper scale and cedar-apple rust also pose real threats. Spider mites attack in hot, dry summers. Deer may rub antlers on the columnar trunk in fall.

Foliage-covered silk bags along branches; caterpillars consume needles, causing rapid browning and branch death visible from a distance on the narrow column. Hand-pick bags in winter. Spray Bt or spinosad targeting small larvae in late May to early June before bags close.

Orange gelatinous spore horns on branches in wet spring weather; nearby apple and crabapple trees show leaf spots. Repeated infections weaken the tree. Remove galls before they produce spores in spring. Apply protective fungicide (myclobutanil or propiconazole) at bud swell if susceptibility is high.

Encrusted white-gray scale on bark; needles yellow and branches die back progressively. Horticultural oil dormant spray; follow up with insecticidal soap in early summer to kill crawlers.

Bronze or gray stippled foliage with webbing in the inner canopy, worst in hot dry periods. Strong water jets to dislodge mites; neem oil or insecticidal soap sprays, repeated weekly for three weeks.