All aboard the Mugo train!

Vance Wood · Jul 9, 2016

You have chosen wisely. You should have no problems finding decent Mugos in the Bay Area. I used to live in the San Rafael area in the late 50's early 60's. The family had just moved there from Salt Lake City Utah, I was around 15 and had become very interested in bonsai around 11, an interest I picked up from my brother. The first Pine tree I ever put my hands on was a Mugo Pine. I promptly managed to kill the poor thing. Point being they are available there and should do very well.

accemn · Jul 10, 2016

I just picked up what looks like a cool mugo. I have never looked into them much so it's a good time to start. Please let me know what you think. Trunk is about 2.5".

Currently it is in a large 18" container. Foliage seems a little dull. It had an old 60% off tag so I got it at a decent price.

Thanks!

Vance Wood · Jul 10, 2016

Could be a good tree but I would check it for spider mites. That kind of coloration is what you get with a Spider Mite infestation.

accemn · Jul 10, 2016

It is currently in my quarantine zone. I just moved from TX and have yet to find my box with scope but with paper test haven't found any.

sorce · Jul 11, 2016

accemn said:
It is currently in my quarantine zone. I just moved from TX and have yet to find my box with scope but with paper test haven't found any.

If you found your hose....I'd give it a good blast just in case.
Mine had some other bugs last year, and with dense ass foliage like that, they don't always fall through....

Please remove that blue tag!

Sorce

accemn · Jul 11, 2016

Working on getting all these old dead needles out of the way. It was pretty neglected shoved to a corner of the nursery. Any suggested coarse of action? I hosed it down and sprayed some insecticidal soap as a precaution. I will get the pot opened up and take some better pics in better light.

Vance Wood · Jul 11, 2016

accemn said:
Working on getting all these old dead needles out of the way. It was pretty neglected shoved to a corner of the nursery. Any suggested coarse of action? I hosed it down and sprayed some insecticidal soap as a precaution. I will get the pot opened up and take some better pics in better light.

If it were up to me I would be interested in putting it into a pond basket or colander. Yes you can do this tnis time of year.

Maloghurst · Jul 11, 2016

Vance Wood said:
If it were up to me I would be interested in putting it into a pond basket or colander. Yes you can do this tnis time of year.

Hey Vance would full grown "yard mugo", say about 4-5' tall and 4-5, wide be worth messing with? Like foliage at the ends of long branches etc? Thank you

Maloghurst · Jul 11, 2016

I have access to 5 pretty big landscape Mugos not very far from my house in Seattle. Was wondering if you thought it was worth the trouble. They want $25.00 each. I would need to chop it back some just to transport them and the transplant would happen during the summer or fall. Sound like a waste of money and sweat. Are they likely not to survive?

Alain · Jul 11, 2016

Hi there,

I told you I needed another mugo, so today I got this one

The roots were nice but no good mushrooms and aside 3 dead spots like the one on the bottom left the tree looked healthy with a lot of new shots.

Last July I did the 1st repot and structural pruning of my 2 mugos following @Vance Wood advises and my trees recovered wonderfully so I tried to reproduce the same kind of work, hopefully the tree will take it the same way:

I had a problem while doing it: when I bought it I felt the base of the trunk and the start of the middle branch that sounded like a nice start for the trunk's line.
Turned out it stunk!

So instead of trying to do something with it I got rid of it and now there are 4 branches remaining to take the lead

I kept this one for different reason:

1) the tiny in the back it's because I like the 5 little starts of branches:

2) the higher one on the right it's because I like the movement and also the pad at the end which is already very dense:

3) the bottom one on the right I like the movement also and the starts of the pad:

4) and the one one the left because it may become the new trunk line actually:

But first of all it has to survive

Vance Wood · Jul 12, 2016

Maloghurst said:
I have access to 5 pretty big landscape Mugos not very far from my house in Seattle. Was wondering if you thought it was worth the trouble. They want $25.00 each. I would need to chop it back some just to transport them and the transplant would happen during the summer or fall. Sound like a waste of money and sweat. Are they likely not to survive?

If you can get the help to dig them out they could be a good deal. The most important feature is the nature of the trunks. If the trunks are good you can work with the rest of the tree. However I see so often the practice of removing so much that the survival of the tree is questionable.

Vance Wood · Jul 12, 2016

Alain said:
Hi there,

I told you I needed another mugo, so today I got this one

View attachment 110691

The roots were nice but no good mushrooms and aside 3 dead spots like the one on the bottom left the tree looked healthy with a lot of new shots.

Last July I did the 1st repot and structural pruning of my 2 mugos following @Vance Wood advises and my trees recovered wonderfully so I tried to reproduce the same kind of work, hopefully the tree will take it the same way:

View attachment 110692

I had a problem while doing it: when I bought it I felt the base of the trunk and the start of the middle branch that sounded like a nice start for the trunk's line.
Turned out it stunk!

So instead of trying to do something with it I got rid of it and now there are 4 branches remaining to take the lead
I kept this one for different reason:

1) the tiny in the back it's because I like the 5 little starts of branches:
View attachment 110694

2) the higher one on the right it's because I like the movement and also the pad at the end which is already very dense:
View attachment 110695
3) the bottom one on the right I like the movement also and the starts of the pad:
View attachment 110696
4) and the one one the left because it may become the new trunk line actually:
View attachment 110697

But first of all it has to survive

As the tree is now you should leave it alone for at least a year. You need to give it time and you need to take time to look at what's left and see what kinds of ideas revel themselves as the tree grows. Just remember; getting pissed off at a bad decision is almost never made better by doing something vindictive. Your words: So instead of trying to do something with it I got rid of it-------. That sounds to me like you got pissed off and decided to cut the thing off. Life is full of mistakes that sometimes, if given time, will give you something to work with. Trees are after all living organisms and have a will to survive. As they start to grow they can give you some choices you may not have seen in the beginning.

Vance Wood · Jul 12, 2016

accemn said:
I just picked up what looks like a cool mugo. I have never looked into them much so it's a good time to start. Please let me know what you think. Trunk is about 2.5".

Currently it is in a large 18" container. Foliage seems a little dull. It had an old 60% off tag so I got it at a decent price.

Thanks!

As a revisit I noticed I did not give you any definite advice. First of all the trunk is good. Pull the tree from the contained and with your fingers remove the lose crud, needles and dirt from the top of the soil mass. Sometimes it is surprising how much of that crap may be there. Next clean out all of the lose dead needles. When you get the tree cleaned up take another couple of photos and lets see what you have going on. Unless you have a real good idea for this tree please resist the urge to start hacking this tree up.

Alain · Jul 12, 2016

Vance Wood said:
As the tree is now you should leave it alone for at least a year. You need to give it time and you need to take time to look at what's left and see what kinds of ideas revel themselves as the tree grows. Just remember; getting pissed off at a bad decision is almost never made better by doing something vindictive. Your words: So instead of trying to do something with it I got rid of it-------. That sounds to me like you got pissed off and decided to cut the thing off. Life is full of mistakes that sometimes, if given time, will give you something to work with. Trees are after all living organisms and have a will to survive. As they start to grow they can give you some choices you may not have seen in the beginning.

Oh that was my plan definitively: let it be until at least next July.

For the 'get rid of the trunk line branch'
I wasn't really pissed, it's just that the fact that the branch was totally straight with segments between the 'nods' (where the secondary branches start) too long to make an harmonious taper I saw a much better option by cutting this branch and try to develop the other ones even if it means change their orientation in the future in order to make them (one at least) become the new trunk.
I just hope it will survive now!

Btw: I know that mugos love full sun and my 2 other ones are on my bench, facing West, and they love it.
However as I just did a bunch of work on this one for the moment I put it in my 'recovery room', at the shade of my neighbor's thuja hedge, facing N. So it gets full sun only early in the morning (around 9 am) and for a very little while.
Is it fine like that or should I put in on the bench like the other ones with full sun most of the afternoon?

sorce · Jul 12, 2016

I left mine in full sun after repot and it is fine!

Sorce

Alain · Jul 12, 2016

sorce said:
I left mine in full sun after repot and it is fine!

Sorce

Even right after its first big job? (i.e. cut of 1/3rd of the root-ball, repot and hard pruning)

accemn · Jul 12, 2016

Vance Wood said:
As a revisit I noticed I did not give you any definite advice. First of all the trunk is good. Pull the tree from the contained and with your fingers remove the lose crud, needles and dirt from the top of the soil mass. Sometimes it is surprising how much of that crap may be there. Next clean out all of the lose dead needles. When you get the tree cleaned up take another couple of photos and lets see what you have going on. Unless you have a real good idea for this tree please resist the urge to start hacking this tree up.

Here are some pics. I plan on getting it reported this afternoon into a 10x10 pond basket. Need to find my soil in storage. Here are some pics.

Cultivar labeled as "Tatry".

I like as a preliminary front

left

back

right

top

Giga · Jul 12, 2016

accemn said:
Here are some pics. I plan on getting it reported this afternoon into a 10x10 pond basket. Need to find my soil in storage. Here are some pics.

View attachment 110719 I like as a preliminary front

View attachment 110720 left

View attachment 110721 back

View attachment 110722 right

View attachment 110723 top

This could be a good one - make sure you have a good after care!

sorce · Jul 12, 2016

Alain said:
Even right after its first big job? (i.e. cut of 1/3rd of the root-ball, repot and hard pruning)

I did some root work...repot...then about a week later pulled some buds and cut some branches....

It hasn't showed much slow down.

Sorce

Paradox · Jul 12, 2016

Alain said:
But first of all it has to survive

I think you are taking way too much off. Taking 80% of the foliage off at one time won't help the tree survive.

All aboard the Mugo train!

Lord Mugo

Seedling

Attachments

Lord Mugo

Seedling

Nonsense Rascal

Seedling

Lord Mugo

Chumono

Chumono

Omono

Lord Mugo

Lord Mugo

Lord Mugo

Omono

Nonsense Rascal

Omono

Seedling

Masterpiece

Nonsense Rascal

Imperial Masterpiece

Similar threads