2021 Collected Utahs

Housguy · Dec 19, 2021

I wanted share and document some of our collected Utah junipers for 2021.

PonderingSage: · Dec 20, 2021

I notice you got them all in pots. Were these dug out of soil? As opposed to cracks.
They look like they will be projects.

Housguy · Dec 20, 2021

Yes, out of the ground and that is how most trees are collected in the wild anyways, the ones out of a crack or wedged between huge rocks are more rarely collected. If I did get one from that scenario, it would still be in one of those nursery cans for the collection process the next 3 to 5 years. Every tree is a project in its own right, that what makes it fun right

Thanks.

thomas22 · Dec 23, 2021

Nice trees. That last one is killer. I got two Utah's myself a few weeks ago. A week before all the snow hit so I feel lucky about that.

Housguy · Dec 25, 2021

Here are the rest of the 2021 collected Utah's that made it.

Colorado · Dec 25, 2021

Nice junipers. There are some awesome Utah’s out on the Western Slope on some BLM land where I mountain bike, this thread reminds me that I need to work on getting a permit(s) for next spring

Housguy · Dec 25, 2021

Thanks! Great, definitely get the permit as soon as you can, so worth it! Do you have any in your collection now?

Leo in N E Illinois · Dec 25, 2021

Nice junipers. Really nice. some will be great.

Housguy · Dec 25, 2021

Thanks Leo! Appreciate that, some I keep, and most will be for sale after the collection process, so I know they are stable.

Crazy Diamond · Dec 25, 2021

Housguy said:
Here are the rest of the 2021 collected Utah's that made it.

What percentage of survivors you have? you usually keep them with original foliage or graft with itoigawa?

Wires_Guy_wires · Dec 25, 2021

Arnold here asking the questions I didn't dare to ask. Give us a number crunch!

Sweet trees man!

Housguy · Dec 25, 2021

Arnold said:
What percentage of survivors you have? you usually keep them with original foliage or graft with itoigawa?

For 2021, so far I am between 75 and 80 percent, because I am still not to far out from my last collected bunch, the numbers might change slightly in the end, but they do look healthy and I feel good about them all making it.

total # of trees for 2021 = 23
Alive and healthy = 18
Ones with the bonsai gods = 5

No grafting yet, I am going on my fourth season and haven't even worked on any that I am keeping personally yet.

Only trimmed up and down potted a few so far, but nothing to serious on styling yet, hopefully next year will be the year I can get into it a little bit more.

Bonsai Nut · Dec 26, 2021

I appreciate how hard it is to find trees that are small enough to be collected, but large enough to have character. Once cleaned up these trees will really shine!

Housguy · Dec 26, 2021

Bonsai Nut said:
I appreciate how hard it is to find trees that are small enough to be collected, but large enough to have character. Once cleaned up these trees will really shine!

The fun of the hunt is to try and find trees with movement, but you are right Mr. Nut, most of the little ones we do come across are like Christmas trees, straight as an arrow, which makes it exciting you can say when you do come across a really nice tree after looking for over an hour

chicago1980 · Jan 23, 2022

Nice thread, I'm going out best for a collection trip in May 2022.

Any advice for my first west coast collection trip?

My only experience is in Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota.

Huggz13 · Jan 23, 2022

Nice haul !

Housguy · Jan 23, 2022

chicago1980 said:
Nice thread, I'm going out best for a collection trip in May 2022.

Any advice for my first west coast collection trip?

My only experience is in Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota.

Are you going with a group? My best advice if you are going for Utah Junipers, is try your best to maintain a root ball with the dirt, if it crumbles away, maintain as main roots as you can and submerge it in water asap. Also, spray the foliage of your collected trees as much as you can until you can get them home and get them in some type of misting system.

chicago1980 · Jan 24, 2022

Housguy said:
Are you going with a group? My best advice if you are going for Utah Junipers, is try your best to maintain a root ball with the dirt, if it crumbles away, maintain as main roots as you can and submerge it in water asap. Also, spray the foliage of your collected trees as much as you can until you can get them home and get them in some type of misting system.

Yes I'm flying to Reno and meeting up with a bnut + some others.

Thanks for the advice about the misting and misting system.

I build a misting tent this year.