shimpaku question need some experienced input.

I picked up two large older shimpaku (I believe itoigawa). In pretty bad nursery soil, somewhat neglected of proper pruning. I repotted into akadama/pumice/grit mix.

Any thoughts on this, I've not seen this much foliage yellow/drop off before. But I've dealt mostly with deciduous trees.

Situation:
*really good strong growth in the outer/upper (whips are very strong)
*I see new feeder roots in the soil.
*Interior foliage is yellowing and shedding mature scale foliage
*some back budding
*no pests that I can see
*full sun
*feeding weekly (fish/seaweed + some slow release w/ micro nutrients)

I'll post some pics tonight, raining out now.

Hello Neil. Sounds to me like the trees have been weakened slightly before you bought them. The intenal yellowing and shedding is quite natural, especially if the trees are pushing out long extensions. You could halt the rapid extension growth for a more balanced all round growing regime. If they are Itoigawa, you will find they back bud extremely easily.

In Florida we don't change soil or repot except in the coolest month. That might not be an issue in Illinois most of the time, but with the heat wave you have been having it just might have been too hot to repot.

when you find a neglected juniper the foliage will be quite old and weak. as soon as you start to improve the conditions a great spurt of new growth leads to a lot of the old (now inner) growth yellowing and falling off. initially this is a good thing as the tree is naturally letting light and air into its branches, and it happens naturally anyway so you couldnt of stopped it. in the future years feeding, pinching and more importantly thinning out the dense areas of new shoots will cause plenty of buds to open on the older inner sections - as these develop you can cut off the outer parts of the branch and style from the new inner growth.

this pattern will never really stop - after a few years 'perfect' branches drop their older foliage and need to be regrown from the inner shoots. here in Cornwall, SW england the scale junipers drop in June/july - i just rub the foliage pads gently between the palms of both hands and all the yellow/brown bits fall off like rain drops - if you have lots falling put a cloth over the pot to stop them all getting in the soil although they do float off if you submerge the pot in a bath of water.