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Juniperus (osteosperma)

Greg Fenchel
USDA NRCS - Los Lunas Plant Materials Center
1036 Miller Street, SW
Los Lunas, New Mexico 87031
(505) 865-4684
(505) 865-5163 (fax)
llunas@nmsu.edu
http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/nmpmc
Family Scientific Name: Cupressaceae
Family Common Name: Juniper family
Scientific Name: Juniperus osteosperma
Common Name: Utah Juniper
Species Code: JUNOST
General Distribution: Collected in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.
Propagation Goal: plants
Propagation Method: vegetative
ProductType: Container (plug)
Time To Grow: 0
Target Specifications: Stock Type: One-Gallon Tree Pot, 4"x4"x14". Root System: Consolidated root mass sufficient to prevent root ball disintegration during outplanting.
Pre-Planting Treatments: Seed Treatment: Have tried long warm stratification followed by long cold stratification with very little success. Presently examining scarification techniques that will be followed by warm stratification and then cold stratification.
Growing Area Preparation/
Annual Practices for Perennial Crops:		 Container Type and Volume: One-Gallon Tree Pot, 4"x4"x14".

Growing Media: Commercial nursery canning mix of aged screened softwood bark, pumice, and sphagnum peat moss.
Establishment Phase: Sowing/Planting Technique: The treepots are filled with media and dibbled with a Super Cell planting dibble. Controlled release fertilizer is topdressed at planting or soon thereafter. Osmocote Plus or Sierrablen CRF has been used. For pots transplanted in late spring, a 5 to 9 month release CRF is used. Seedlings transplanted later in the summer will receive 3 to 4 month release CRF. The treepots are supported in cages 36"x36"x8" constructed of 4" galvanized steel fence, which hold 81 pots.

Establishment Phase: Watering frequency in this phase in usually once or twice a week. Plants are grown without shade cloth or with (30% shade). The shade is not required to produce any of the species thus far.
Active Growth Phase: Rapid Growth Phase: Watering frequency can be as often as every day for large plants of certain species with substantial leaf areas. The most xeric species may only require once a week watering even in mid-summer.
Hardening Phase: Hardening Phase: The watering frequency is reduced in late September to early October to promote hardening-off. The treepot cages are surrounded by straw bales before winter to lessen temperature fluctuations and provide some insulation for the root systems.
Harvesting, Storage and Shipping: Total Time to Harvest: The fastest growing species can be ready in one year after transplanting, if transplanting occurs in May. The slowest growing species can take 3 or more years.
Other Comments: Very slow seedling growth, evergreen.

Citation:

Dreesen, Dave. 2003. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Juniperus osteosperma plants USDA NRCS - Los Lunas Plant Materials Center Los Lunas, New Mexico. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2025/04/21). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.