From a juniper tree shrub...how do i go about collecting seeds.Dont know what to look for? Is it berry?

I read that juniper seeds have a male and female system of pollination.But what are the differences in the sex? What do the seeds look like? Also can you cut part of juniper tree/shrub ? (Like a sucker and replant it?) If so where do you cut?

From a juniper tree shrub...how do i go about collecting seeds.Dont know what to look for? Is it berry?
Hi,





Yes, the seed is the berry and is usually best distributed/replanted by birds. It has a long germination rate in most species otherwise. Juniper is a shrub that is either male or female so for the production of fertile seed, both sexes need to be present. The seeds (berries) look like small blue berries.





Juniper is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the cypress, or Cupressaceae, family. It is slow-growing and few specimens are taller than 5 metres, although heights of up to 10 metres have been recorded elsewhere in its range. It displays several different growth forms, which vary from erect and columnar to bushy, spreading or mat-forming and shrublike. Juniper is unusual in being able to grow on both acid and alkaline soils.





The foliage consists of small blue-green needles which are up to 1 cm. long and have a broad white stripe, or stomatal band, on their inside surface. The needles grow in alternating whorls of three on the twigs, and are prickly to the touch. The bark is brown on young plants, but turns grey as it gets older, and is shed in thin strips.





Juniper is dioecious, which means that individual plants are either male or female, unlike most tree species, where both male and female flowers occur on the same tree. Male flowers appear as yellow blossoms near the ends of the twigs in spring and release pollen, which is wind-dispersed. Female flowers are in the form of very small clusters of scales, and after pollination by the wind, these grow on to become berry-like cones. Shaped like irregularly-sided spheres, the berries are green at first, but ripen after 18 months to a dark, blue-purple colour and are 0.6 cm. in diameter. Each berry contains 3 - 6 seeds, although some of these are often infertile, due to insect infestations. The seeds are triangular, hard and black, and are dispersed by birds which eat the berries.





Because of their long ripening period, berries occur on juniper throughout the year, and it is usually possible to see them at different stages of development on the same plant. The seeds are slow to germinate and normally require two winters of dormancy before they will sprout and begin growing. Juniper is a slow-growing species. In good growing conditions, it can grow up to 28 cm. in a year, and flowering and seed production begins when the plants are 7-10 years old. Bushes live on average for about 100-120 years.





Juniper can also reproduce vegetatively, with this typically occurring more in old, dying stands. Old bushes sometimes collapse, and where their branches touch the ground, they will form roots and produce new growth, so that a circular pattern of plants forms around the original bush. As a shade-intolerant species, juniper is found in more open types of woodland, typically birch woods or pine woods.


Here are some links for you to follow:


http://www.colostate.edu/depts/CSFS/grow...


http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/p...
Reply:The seeds are inside the little blue berries, just crush them, and the seeds fall apart kind of like the segments of an orange. As far as taking cuttings for transplant, I'd call a local college or extention office; they can really be an amateur horticulturist's best friend.

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