"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
brooklyn1 wrote:

I have blue rug junipers in my shrubery beds in front of my house. When I
first planted them they looked very puny, they were in 6"
pots. I planted six on each side. After four years they completly
covered the ground so that no weeds grow through. They began to get
lichens growing on the branches so I pruned away those parts. The
Junipers grew back so that it's time to prune again before the
lichens return.

Why is lichen bad? I don't know anything about these prostrate junipers
but in these parts nobody worries about lichen on trees, it is taken as a
sign the air is not polluted and generally left alone. I haven't seen any
indication that it harms trees.


I don't really know if it's "bad". On my blue rug juniper it was a question
of aesthetics, I didn't like the look of it. I knew severe pruning
wouldn't hurt because the deer chewed them down to nubs and they grew back,
in fact during winter the deer eat whatever parts grow through the fence and
during summer it all grows back and more. But I would assume that lichens,
moss, and fungi growing on live plants makes them parasitic, they must be
taking something from the plant and I assume they give nothing back so it's
not symbiotic. There are lichens covering the trunks of both my sapling
gingko trees, I'd like to get rid of the ugly things but obviously I can't
prune away the trunks without killing the trees... and I'm not willing to
risk applying even mild household products like vinegar. Meanwhile the
trees are growing, albiet slowly, I just tell myself that gingkos grow very
slowly.