Collecting j. Horozontalis?

[Tycoss]

Does anyone on this forum have any experience collecting or growing j. Horizontalis from semi arid areas. I live in the prairies if southern Alberta, and have seen a lot of small, weathered juniper horozontalis in uncultivated areas. I want to know if anyone has collected this species or if these are even worth attempting. I have collected wild conifers before, but never from such a dry, sandy environment. I could also air layer these, but would prefer to move them with their original roots.

 

[Tycoss]

Another couple of examples:

 

[Cypress187]

I saw some (collecting)youtube video, and they explicitly told that getting plants removed from (big) rocks is very tricky. Good luck man.

 

[just.wing.it]

Good luck indeed, good finds!
Wish I could help.

 

[mattspinniken]

Although I don't have any personal experience my guess is that if you can find a tree with most of its root system collectable inside a rock pocket you will have a good chance, others you may want to pass on. Planting in a good well draining substrate and misting foliage will be important after collection also make sure not to bare root them after collection or cut too much foliage.

All your example look like beauties! I especially like the last one.

 

[sorce]

If you have constant access....

I would feed em and water em for a year, try to boost your odds....

These are friggin dope!

Sorce

 

[Tycoss]

there are some with trapped roots over rock. I've had success collecting white spruce in similar situations. I might try a couple of those. There is lots of information about collecting Rocky Mountain junipers. These are closely related, so I may just try to treat them similarly.

 

[crust]

Extraordinary material in probably extraordinarily difficult environs. Much of the potential success in collecting junipers in this situation is finding an amazing tree with a collectable root system (probably rock pocket). There is no sense in collecting anything but really good stuff due to the level of effort to get them to survive. Timing with arid-growing trees is important and all relative to your following husbandry. Collecting will require a decent head of green, a roots system, pumice or perlite, bottom heat, mist and controlled foliar fert. Consider not allowing to freeze the first winter but avoid keeping the roots wet-keep the top humid but don't let the foliage mould in storage. The following year is nearly as critical--one must invigorate it then stabilize before winter. I have been collecting horizontolis for some time but it is from a hard-rocked moist shore so I don't need to do much of these things. Finding gems worth collecting is the challenge for me.

 

[Tycoss]

Extraordinary material in probably extraordinarily difficult environs. Much of the potential success in collecting junipers in this situation is finding an amazing tree with a collectable root system (probably rock pocket). There is no sense in collecting anything but really good stuff due to the level of effort to get them to survive. Timing with arid-growing trees is important and all relative to your following husbandry. Collecting will require a decent head of green, a roots system, pumice or perlite, bottom heat, mist and controlled foliar fert. Consider not allowing to freeze the first winter but avoid keeping the roots wet-keep the top humid but don't let the foliage mould in storage. The following year is nearly as critical--one must invigorate it then stabilize before winter. I have been collecting horizontolis for some time but it is from a hard-rocked moist shore so I don't need to do much of these things. Finding gems worth collecting is the challenge for me.

Thanks for the info. I'd love to see your collected horozontalis if you have some pictures. I won't be attempting any collecting until at least next spring, and won't be styling it until about 2 years after that, but would still like to have some ideas about how to go about it.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I adapted a collecting method from Dan Robinson, shared by @grouper52 when collecting rmj. It has been very successful; with even a smaller amount of roots, I have managed to keep all rmj I have collected alive. My collecting buddy has dug 3x more rmj than I, and also has a 90%+ success rate. You can find the method and photos here.

The follow-up post showing repotting after 2 years is here.

 

[aml1014]

I adapted a collecting method from Dan Robinson, shared by @grouper52 when collecting rmj. It has been very successful; with even a smaller amount of roots, I have managed to keep all rmj I have collected alive. My collecting buddy has dug 3x more rmj than I, and also has a 90%+ success rate. You can find the method and photos here.

The follow-up post showing repotting after 2 years is here.

I like the idea behind this method and it should come in handy for me being in the desert southwest.

Thanks
Aaron

 

[wireme]

there are some with trapped roots over rock. I've had success collecting white spruce in similar situations. I might try a couple of those. There is lots of information about collecting Rocky Mountain junipers. These are closely related, so I may just try to treat them similarly.

This guy is a hybrid of RMJ and horizontalis. Collected somewhere close to the BC/Alberta border. Doesn't look all that hot in the pic but it's doing fairly well. Collected spring of 2013 or 2014. I'd say follow the best advice you can find for RMJ and listen to Crust. Brian's method certainly worth a try, haven't done it that way myself but may try it out someday.
Good luck, there is some good horizontalis material out there for sure.

 

[crust]

Thanks for the info. I'd love to see your collected horozontalis if you have some pictures. I won't be attempting any collecting until at least next spring, and won't be styling it until about 2 years after that, but would still like to have some ideas about how to go about it.

As I soon put trees to bed will see about getting pics. The variety that is available to me is a glaucous variety, essentially a wild blue rug juniper.

 

[Tycoss]

As I soon put trees to bed will see about getting pics. The variety that is available to me is a glaucous variety, essentially a wild blue rug juniper.

Still keen on seeing those pics if you have them.

 

[crust]

Still keen on seeing those pics if you have them.

Sorry, Fall is intense work time for me and being poor and a single provider, I leave in the dark and get home in the dark. My wife actually waters and checks on the trees. The pics you have shown are very nice--getting a root system will be the challenge I bet.

 

[Tycoss]

No worries. I'm a teacher with six kids and I wife who works full time as a nurse. I can relate to busy

 

[Vin]

Wicked material! I can't help but good luck collecting.

 

[crust]

Here are a few bad pics of a few collected juniper horizontalis I promised .

 

[Random User]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that your situation is probably a lot like mine, in that the competition to collect anything is very limited at best... here the competition is zero. So, before doing anything, I'd water that thing (them) periodically for a year or two just to get them to the very best health possible. Then, I'd "take a peek" at what you have for a root system and sever anything that you don't want to keep before taking it from the ground, then water for another season to further establish roots within your desired rootball. Lastly, I'd take a wide variety of grow boxes along with when going to remove it from the ground and place it in the best box right at the site. My thinking is, that if it's just going to sit in a grow box "under foot", it might just as well be developing right where it sits now. The worst thing that could happen is that I drop dead and no one knows that I've been preparing it for collection, and in that case, it's highly likely that it is WAY better off where it currently sits anyway.

I know this hasn't really answered your question specifically, but it might be food for thought.

Personally, I have also found that I can at times get "buck fever" and want to take something right away... I have begun to leave more and more stuff that I think will work, but return 3 or 4 times before I actually do anything with it. The knock against this attack is that I often forget where it is, or that I even found something, lol... but thats ok too.

 

[Random User]

AND, you probably want to make sure that you take along the proper tool(s)... like a D-11 T, but @ $2,000,000.00 a pop, one of these dirty bastards might not be in the budget... in that case, 3 or 4 crow bars and a LOT of drinkin' water should get the job done!