Juniperus virginiana pollination question

[Leprous Garden]

Not a bonsai question but this seemed like the best place.

I'm trying to get some info about Juniperus virginiana pollination and fruit production. Long story short here in Maine J. virginiana does not grow naturally. I work at a nursery and have a customer interested in the plant, in particular for its "berries". My research has shown me that the trees are usually dioecious and that a single female individual will probably not produce fruit. The problem is we do not have access to male individuals/cultivars in order to ensure pollination.

So I'm wondering if anyone has any information or insight about this. In more southerly locales I think pollination would happen naturally. Maybe there's another Juniperus that could pollinate the tree? Any thoughts are welcome.

 

[rockm]

Not a bonsai question but this seemed like the best place.

I'm trying to get some info about Juniperus virginiana pollination and fruit production. Long story short here in Maine J. virginiana does not grow naturally. I work at a nursery and have a customer interested in the plant, in particular for its "berries". My research has shown me that the trees are usually dioecious and that a single female individual will probably not produce fruit. The problem is we do not have access to male individuals/cultivars in order to ensure pollination.

So I'm wondering if anyone has any information or insight about this. In more southerly locales I think pollination would happen naturally. Maybe there's another Juniperus that could pollinate the tree? Any thoughts are welcome.

Why would they want red cedar berries specifically? Fruit production on them is sparse, mostly, from what I've seen around here for the last 50 years. If you've got a single fruit bearing sapling sized tree, it's hardly worth the effort.

Regular old juniperus communis (which are used to make gin), from what I've seen, vastly outproduces red cedar for berries. I'd think hybridization between the two is possible.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Why would they want red cedar berries specifically? Fruit production on them is sparse, mostly, from what I've seen around here for the last 50 years. If you've got a single fruit bearing sapling sized tree, it's hardly worth the effort.

Regular old juniperus communis (which are used to make gin), from what I've seen, vastly outproduces red cedar for berries. I'd think hybridization between the two is possible.

Agreed.. healthy communis in the wild and even the ground cover junis that take over .5 acres at a time (probably an exaggeration) produce MAAANY berries compared to JuniVinni. ()

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

So I'm wondering if anyone has any information or insight about this. In more southerly locales I think pollination would happen naturally. Maybe there's another Juniperus that could pollinate the tree? Any thoughts are welcome.

One key feature of virginia is that it hardly cross pollinates. Grey owl is known to be a decent berry producing cultivar of J. virginia, but you'd indeed need females and males (or graft one onto another).
It's true that berry production is the highest in communis junipers, but only when they're adults. And that can take.. A while. About 10-40 years to get them to produce a stable crop. They can also be very, very slow growers.
I don't know your local laws but juniperus phoenicea is easy to be obtained from Europe and to my knowledge produces as much berries as communis will, and earlier in life too (think 3-4 years). But the berries turn orange or brown at the end of their lifespan. They do get nice greens and reds in between.
Blaauw also produces a bunch of green and blue berries every couple years, and it can be cross pollinated by almost every chinensis and sabina hybrid (mostly used in regular garden plantings for regular people).

 

[Michael P]

Right now there ae about 3 pounds of J. virginiana pollen coating my car. I would be happy to send you some.

 

[Leprous Garden]

Thanks all. Again, it's for a customer and he wants a virginiana tree specifically. From what I've seen, specifically on cape cod, they can produce a ton of berries, so much so that the trees almost glow. Unfortunately obtaining a male individual is basically impossible, or at least guaranteeing a male individual.

 

[CapeCodBonsai]

Thanks all. Again, it's for a customer and he wants a virginiana tree specifically. From what I've seen, specifically on cape cod, they can produce a ton of berries, so much so that the trees almost glow. Unfortunately obtaining a male individual is basically impossible, or at least guaranteeing a male individual.

I was going to add my Cape Cod “two cents” to the conversation but, apparently you are already aware . . . our local trees produce berries with ease.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Been working around red cedar for decades. Yes, male and female plants. Assuming wild trees are roughly 50-50 male to female, females must not produce every year. I never seen anywhere near 1/2 of the big trees producing cones/berries. Probably closer to 10% with berries