Help or advice collecting Ashe Juniper this spring.

[Big Country Bonsai]

So I was able to get permission to potentially collect trees from a pretty large piece of property near Abilene. I scouted the land for about 30 min today and was able to find some nice trees in that short time. I understand that Ashe juniper can be fussy trees during collection so I want to do the trees justice and take the proper steps to collect the trees as safely as possible. There’s also oak and mesquite on the land. If anyone is able to offer advice/help I look forward to hearing from you. Following are a couple of pics from today.

 

[Woocash]

Sorry no advice, but good luck. The hunt is exciting, but knowing you have permission to collect it when you find it is even better.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I have only collected junipers from backyards, but what I know from observing them in the wild is that they can have pretty long roots below the surface, possibly as thick as the trunk.
This seems to be the case in sandy soils. Not sure about these rocky soils though. So one tip in general would be to check for the rootbase before you start digging. If there are giant woody structures going away from the actual base, you might want to pass up on it. The one on the hillside (picture 4) seems to be one like that.
Last year I found a cool juniper in some dunes, but when I started looking around for the base, I found a 6ft tall trunk horizontally buried beneath the sand.
Scout your material well, and don't be afraid to admit that sometimes a tree is just impossible to collect. That's a hard thing to do sometimes.

Other than that: don't use large amounts of bark in your soil. I did that, and the water retention levels are just too high for my collected junipers to recover well.

 

[just.wing.it]

Dude....that thing looks huge!
Good luck indeed!

 

[Big Country Bonsai]

I have only collected junipers from backyards, but what I know from observing them in the wild is that they can have pretty long roots below the surface, possibly as thick as the trunk.
This seems to be the case in sandy soils. Not sure about these rocky soils though. So one tip in general would be to check for the rootbase before you start digging. If there are giant woody structures going away from the actual base, you might want to pass up on it. The one on the hillside (picture 4) seems to be one like that.
Last year I found a cool juniper in some dunes, but when I started looking around for the base, I found a 6ft tall trunk horizontally buried beneath the sand.
Scout your material well, and don't be afraid to admit that sometimes a tree is just impossible to collect. That's a hard thing to do sometimes.

Other than that: don't use large amounts of bark in your soil. I did that, and the water retention levels are just too high for my collected junipers to recover well.

Yes sir, I’ll make sure I properly evaluate the tree before attempting to collect. I was short on time so I was really just browsing around for fun yesterday. Hopefully I can get a couple out with a rootball intact.

 

[Big Country Bonsai]

@arcina i know you have experience with junipers. Care to offer advice to a newbie looking to learn.

 

[arcina]

@arcina i know you have experience with junipers. Care to offer advice to a newbie looking to learn.

it looks difficult to collect. The main issue with junipers is to get some feeder roots. The aftercare is super important. The best success after collecting is to keep it from wind and in under mist.