People prefer juniper every bit it offers many ornamental and functional options in the garden and landscape. Add to that the many juniper varieties out there. From Japanese juniper and blue star juniper to Wichita blueish juniper and Spartan juniper, each variety has its singled-out visual aspects. But as many as their benefits are, so are their problems.

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From fighting off diseases to choosing the correct companion plants and picking the juniper berries safely, in that location'southward a lot to worry nigh when information technology comes to growing a juniper in your garden. This guide walks you through the most common juniper issues and how to deal with each one safely and finer.

Juniper Twig Bane Disease

We starting time off with a very common juniper disease that affects the bulk of juniper varieties. It'southward the twig blight affliction and as the name implies it affects the twigs of junipers. Information technology starts early in the spring just around the time the first leaves and shoots sally.

Juniper twig bane is a fungal infection and an array of fungal spores are responsible for it. The most common iii fungi are Phomopsis, Scllerophoma pythiophila, and Kabatina. And they're more prevalent than previously idea. So if you have juniper bushes or juniper copse growing in your garden, chances are they'll get twig blight in the early spring.

The symptoms commencement with the tips of the new shoots and leaves turning light light-green then morphing into gray. Eventually, the infection swallows up the whole branch and kills all new growth on the juniper.

How to Fix it

Since the fungal spores are transmitted by insects equally much as contaminated gardening tools, then the first step to foreclose twig blight is to continue your garden clean. Insects are ofttimes attracted to rotten leaves and twigs on the garden flooring. Here are a few easy steps to assistance you manage and control this disease.

  • Remove all debris and fallen leaves which might harbor the fungal spores throughout the winter.
  • Apply clean and sterilized gardening tools. This especially applies to the pruning shears when pruning the juniper.
  • Remove whatsoever infected twigs and leaves with clean tools. Sterilize the tools subsequently you're done with them.
  • Spray the juniper in the early spring before the first signs of growth with a suitable fungicide.
  • Apply the fungicide throughout the growing season. For all-time results, you can spray the juniper once every four to 6 weeks.

Juniper Companion Plants

Although junipers are piece of cake to grow and care for, apart from the twig blight we only covered, many people are faced with the dilemma of pairing juniper with other plants. The good news is, it's like shooting fish in a barrel to find many companion plants for juniper considering that in that location are over 170 juniper species in apportionment.

But it's not but nearly finding plants that play overnice around juniper without competing over garden real manor and resources. You also need to friction match information technology with plants of the same height and color hues. And if you're growing junipers along hedges and boundaries, then the question is what type of tree will practise well among the juniper bushes.

Finally, you'd want to look for plants that abound in the aforementioned soil and flourish in the aforementioned growing conditions as juniper.

How to Fix it

To find the correct juniper companion plants, you starting time need to sympathize the specific requirements of juniper bushes in terms of soil and sunday. For starters, well-tuckered soil is a necessity that fits a whole litany of plant profiles as well. But since juniper is more drought-resistant, so you demand to observe specific plants that share this same quality as well. Otherwise, yous'll stress out the juniper with overly wet soil or put the companion plant through distress considering of the dry soil.

Most junipers volition do well and look even better when paired with plants with bluish hues or blue flowers. Bamboos are another option since they're almost every bit hardy as junipers and they blossom in the same growing conditions too. Equally long as the plant is a perennial and has a high tolerance for drought, it's a practiced candidate to grow alongside junipers.

Upright Juniper Pruning

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Of all the juniper care you'll practise throughout the perennial plant's life, pruning will probably take up almost of your fourth dimension. And if yous're growing upright junipers, then pruning can be more than a task. Information technology becomes a necessity. That's because you're not just managing the growth of the bush and keeping it under control. You're too designing the juniper equally you lot continue. Every trim has to fit within your design. If you trim the twigs and branches also much, the juniper will look awry. Cutting back if done with excess tin also impact the growth and health of the constitute. So when should you start pruning your upright juniper and what are the best times and frequency of this crucial maintenance procedure?

How to Fix information technology

Most experts recommend y'all start your pruning and preparation of the upright juniper equally early as possible. Not but will that requite you good practice, simply it will give the juniper its shape early on. This allows the found to grow and maintain that shape for many years. Compare that with trying to train a mature juniper and y'all can see why information technology pays to get-go early. And so how do y'all prune your upright juniper?

As with other perennials, you demand to get rid of dead or damaged branches. Entwined twigs can spell problem downward the line, and so you need to untangle them. Side by side, take a closer look at the interior branches of the juniper. They spend most of the time in the shade and that can promote diseases. So thin them out considerably to better the air circulation effectually and within the juniper. Finally, give the juniper a few snips hither and at that place to maintain the pattern and shape you have trained it to.

Juniper Berry Harvest

If you're new to junipers of all varieties, y'all might be wondering what is there to harvest from these perennials. But the truth is, junipers produce berries which you can collect when they're mature. And the operative give-and-take here is maturity. While juniper berries are relatively piece of cake to pick, information technology can exist tricky to know when exactly the harvesting fourth dimension is.

First off, not all juniper berries are safe for consumption (more on that later). Out of the 170 juniper species you can abound in your garden, but 40 junipers produce edible berries. That said, make sure that your specific juniper variety falls under that safe to eat juniper category. Now, how exercise yous know that the juniper berries are ripe and ready to harvest?

How to Fix information technology

The chief affair you need to know well-nigh juniper berries is that the unripe ones are biting and quite inedible. Luckily, the mature berry has many telltale signs that bespeak its level of ripeness. Ripe berries are commonly blue and the skin is covered with a powdery substance. In that way, they're similar to blueberries. But unlike blueberries, the skin of the juniper drupe volition exist a little wrinkled and soft to the touch on.

The berries all become ripe near together in the fall. Y'all'll need to act fast and harvest them before birds have their manner with them. But that's not the only hurdle you take to contend with. The leaves of juniper have notoriously precipitous edges and when they make contact with the blank skin, scratches and rashes are a common occurrence. So use thick gloves to protect your hands and arms when picking the ripe juniper berries.

Juniper Berry Safety

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Earlier we consider juniper berry safe, information technology's worth noting that these conifer berries have been the chief flavoring of gin since the 17th century. And then if you lot had a gin and tonic before, then yous've consumed juniper berries. And you go Dutch gin makers to thank for that since they were the start to use it to distill gin. Juniper berry is a popular flavoring of many wines and even mead.

That bated, the question remains, how safe are the juniper berries you meet glowing purplish on your juniper bushes and trees?

How to Fix it

As we mentioned, merely 40 juniper berries are rubber to swallow. This safe juniper list includes Juniperus deppeana, Juniperus drupacea, Juniperus californica, and Juniperus phoenicea. And to be on the safe side, you lot should grow the Juniperus communis variety since information technology'due south been used as liquor and wine flavoring for centuries.

Only even if your juniper is one of those species, y'all still cannot only pick a scattering of ripe berries and swallow them on the spot. For one thing, the juniper berries are non that sugariness. They have a gritty and almost spicy sense of taste and then a few berries at a time are the recommended dosage.

If yous're out in the forest foraging, recall twice before you put a few ripe juniper berries in your mouth. Even if they vest to the safe list, the berries might be contaminated with chemicals which renders them unsafe to consume.

Juniper Pollen Hazards

I concluding juniper problem that many people have to contend with is the pollen adventure. This problem is near apparent if you're growing Juniperus ashei otherwise known as mountain cedar. As an evergreen perennial, the stunted juniper serves both equally a bush or a tree depending on how you look at it.

Juniper pollen allergy is a serious problem and it can cause all kinds of health hazards from difficulty breathing to critical respiratory conditions. Cedar fever is the mutual name for the various allergies that juniper pollen causes. In some cases, people have to seek immediate medical help and are told to avoid areas where cedar mountains abound. Only since the pollen is carried by the current of air, it's not always like shooting fish in a barrel to follow that advice.

How to Gear up it

Cedar mountains come in two genders, male and female. While the female junipers produce berries, the male variety produces pollen that fertilizes the female flowers. And so the easiest way to prevent juniper pollen from filling the air in your garden is to found female junipers.

But what happens if you lot detect a male person juniper tree a few houses downward the street? Again yous don't take to worry nigh it, except during rainy seasons. That's when the pinnacle of the cedar mount trees shed their pollen in abundance. The pollen cones usually appear in the mid-winter and wait for the current of air to carry them everywhere. So that'south the best time to take precautions until the pollen has cleared the area.