Green Sargent Junipers

[rrandjan]

I have a hillside that is at about a 45 degree slope where I have planted about 200 junipers.

The base soil is Alabama clay. I water about once a week.

I hired someone to do the planting, the top of the root ball is exposed at ground level. They have been in the ground about 8 months.

About 10 are dying in my opinion, several have light brown needles over most the sprig with only a little green left on the tip. Others are dark brown with no green, expect these are dead.

I checked for spider mites and sprayed Bifren, spider mite indication was gone but they still don't look healthy. I'm not an expert on plants, they look dead to me but was told they could be in hybernation?

Questions:

Can I over treat with Bifren, have been applying 1/2 ounce per gallon but haven't used lately. The last time I checked for spider mites I got no indication they were present.

I was told to apply a handful of 13-13-13 to each plant in the center of the exposed root ball and to water thoroughly - I don't want to burn the plants so is this a good idea or is their a better fertilizer - timed release for example. How often should one fertilize?

Anyone have similar issues, I was told these are maintenance free plants but I am starting to wonder.

Thanks in advance

[bullthistle]

I am sorry your plants are dying but I hope you just didn't have anyone plant them. You could have problems with bugs or whatever but more then likely they were not planted correctly and considering if it has been a dry summer they aren't getting enough water if they are on a slope. You should probably root water with a root feeder. You say the top of the ball is at ground level but do you know for a fact that when they backfilled that the soil was tamped down around the ball. If not bugs then you could have air pockets in the soil which is causing the plants to dry out. You might want to tamp the soil down, with the end of a long handled shovel, around the ball after you water the plants that are still green. You can always take some cuttings to county cooperative extension to see what they find.