I have a nice steel blue juniper called "blue vase" it's just been a real nice plant and has several cones this year. I'd like to try to grow them but know they are real difficult to germinate. I've tried several other species with no luck. I now wildlife is the normal dispersal agent (birds raccoons whatever) I don't have sulfuric acid to soak them. What about scratching them a little then soaking in a milder acid like vinegar? Also, the only other junipers close by are some savin junipers across the street and the native ash juniper. Could the seed be hybrids? Our native is a winter pollinator.
'Blue Vase' is a cultivar of Juniperus chinensis, which can hybridise with Juniperus sabina (the hybrid being Juniperus × pfitzeriana), so any seedlings could be that. I'd doubt it will hybridise with J. ashei. Perhaps rather than vinegar, try some protease enzymes (maybe available as meat softener) to soak the seeds in after cleaning off as much of the cone pulp as possible. One other point to check: are the cones mature? With J. chinensis, they are only mature 18 months after pollination.
Not easy with junipers! The 6-month old cones are only a little smaller than the 18-month old mature ones. Immature ones also tend to be more strongly pale-bloomed, as the pale wax may partly wear off by maturity. The position of the shoots can also be useful; cones near the tips of shoots are immature, those further back down the shoots should be mature. Also, can you remember when you first noticed them? If just this spring, then they're likely immature! Any possibility of some photos?
Sure, Ill post some pics tommorrow If I get a chance. I saw on the conifers.org site that the female flowers are on the ends of last years shoots so I was going to go with the further down the shoot the better approach. This plant coned last year too, but I'm more impressed with it this year and it didn't occur to me to plant them last year.
