after transplant.. i wouldnt be surprised that it doesnt cone for a year .. or two .. or three ...

or maybe it will ...

research the full latin name.. and you will be on your way to finding other plants within its 'family' ....

good luck

ken

Hi,

Thanks for the help but that doesn't answer whether it is self pollinating. Does it need another, regardless of how many years after I bought it at the nursery and took it home?
If someone could let me know I'd be most grateful as I need to get to the nursery fast if I should buy a friend for it.

Thanks!

Maybe I should phrase my question a little better:

Do I need another arborvitae to pollinate the Arborvitae Berkman, and if so, can it be another like it or should it be of another type. If another type, will my two emerald green arborvitae suffice?

Thanks.

Hi Ken,

I've spent hours looking for information about cross pollinating (or pollinating) Thuja Berkman but cannot find it in GardenWeb. I do see that your name comes up time and time again as the expert. Could you please give me a little more help in figuring out what I need to do to pollinate my brand new Berkman in coming years? Another Berkamn, another type of Thuja, no others?

Thanks in advance.

If it needs a buddy I need to get it in the ground pronto.

I believe the plant you have is Thuja orientalis 'Berkman's Gold'.

The plant should produce cones without being pollinated, but there won't be viable seed inside the cones once the cones mature.

Thuja may be self-fertile, so you may not need to get another Thuja orientalis or cultivar thereof in order to get viable seed or cones. If the plant is not self-fertile, getting another T. o. 'Berkman's Gold' won't do any good since this plant is a cultivar and all of the 'Berkman's Golds' are the exact same plant and so won't pollinate each other.

As Ken says, it could be a year or two before you see cones being produced again by this plant.
Mike

I don't think the entire Genus of Thuja needs a pollinator.
I say so because I believe it is a matter of age before it produces its cones.

I have several cuttings that I rooted and one in particular from an old specimen and only inches tall, has cones while others of the same size, do not.

So "no" a pollinator is not needed.

Dax

Dax is correct, although it seems odd to me that this question wasn't answered in a single post. Any good reference should indicate that Thjuas are monoecious, with both male and female 'flowers' appearing on the same plant. In fact, virtually ALL modern conifers are monoecious, with only a few notable exceptions, like ginkgos, yews and certain junipers.

Thanks for all the help and sorry if I asked a dumb question. I have been lurking for a while before I posted but please let me know if we are supposed to do the research ourselves (besides searching the forums before asking which I did) before asking in the conifer forum.

turtle, the only "dumb" questions are the ones NOT asked :-) I merely made that statement because this site is frequented by a lot of conifer afficionados, many of which are extremely knowledgeable, and the question - to them - I would have thought to have been quite basic. Of course you don't have to DO research before posting here, although some do. Asking here is, for a good many, a form of research in itself.

Now, almost a year later...the Berkman got cones this year and is thriving. Just got a VanderWolf Pine, a sitka spruce 'Papoose', and a baby blue eyes spruce to add to my conifer collection. I wish I had more sunny land to collect even more conifers!