While many of the brown trees can be attributed to winter injury, we need to be careful not to lump every brown evergreen into the winter injury group. Last year's growth starts to brown and die just as everything else greens up. If twig blight symptoms are evident in the spring on junipers that appeared healthy in the fall, Kabatina is probably the culprit. Phomopsis tip blight also attacks new growth, but it is able to spread anytime during the growing season when new growth occurs. To check your junipers for tip blight, inspect dead or dying shoots for symptoms.
Affected foliage is initially red or brown but turns ash gray and drops from the plant.
Look for small gray lesions at the base of the discolored tissue. Small black specks should be evident in the gray areas. These specks may be viewed easier with a hand lens. Alternatively, the Plant Disease Clinic can check for tip blights for you. Control For appropriate control, it is important to identify which tip blight you have.