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growing juniper


Les Trois Clocher

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I'm thinking of growing a couple of bushes as a test run this summer to see. I was wondering if any of you had any good sources/information for growing commercial juniper in north america for the berries (climat zone 4-5 ish preferably) all I seem to find is information on decorative juniper bushes and well they don't care about the harvest...

apparently it takes like 3 years between flowering and harvest... is there a rotation of flowering/a possible harvest every year or is there only berries every three years

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I don't know about where to buy them in Canada. There are occasionally local native plant nurseries that will grow it and sell it, but once sold, might not have it again for a few years. There is a nursery in Wisconsin that had some last season. Are you looking for a local phenotype? Then you will have to find someone in your area. You can mail order, but the bushes raised in very different environments often don't do well in different climate (ie, Italian planted in northern midwest). 3 years minimal, unless bush is already large and flowering. 1 year to flower, 2 years to ripen berries.

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be careful with that. Out here in Oregon, in certain places, Juniper is considered noxious and a big issue.

http://oregonexplore...landRestoration

I think Western Juniper (juniperus occidentals) is a much more aggressive plant than Common Juniper (juniperus communis). The latter is extremely slow growing, especially in North America.

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I've found some local nurseries that have verities that grow well (in theory) here... I think they are mostly sub species or strains of juniperus communis, they sell them mostly for decoration so I'm gonig to have to do my homework on which one avaialable can be a decent berrie producer. I don't think I could buy from the states anyways since importing plants across borders is frowned upon (I'm in Quebec, Canada)

I am mostly looking for tricks in commercial production. Since the bush is low to the ground and wide with relatively small berries I imagine harvest must be hard and long. I truly have a hard time imagining how you organize a field of this to ease production. Any stats on how much can be obtained per ha cultivated and fertilization needs would be amazing.

So is it a harvest every 2-3 years or is there a rotation of flowering that allows for a yearly harvest once you get going?

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You don't want specially bred decorative varieties. You want the native plant. It is lowish growing, sprawling bush. Bred varieties can have various forms. It is a real pain to harvest, literally.

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