All aboard the Mugo train!

Vance Wood

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ok thnx vance :D
If you have gone through my writings on the Mugo Pine you will find they tend to be controversial, and on the point of stimulating the roots to function by cutting the top is one of them. I told you I was hesitant to tell you this because there are no promises, but on the other point I think the trees are at serious risk without a top reduction.
 

defra

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i pruned both The trees all big branches down to The fork below i guess its about 1/3 placed both The trees in The recovery room all i can do is wait now i guess
 

defra

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I was at noelanders trophy this weekend
The stand of kaizen bonsai was there with graham potter i asked him if he had something to stimulate The root growth on these hè told me this was going to help some thing called superthrive i gave it today hopeing it helps!
 

Vance Wood

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Great potential all it needs is time. As you aggressively go after the most vigorous portions of the tree you will start to see better results. This tree is worth taking time with. If you try to rush it you are going to kill it. You have to give these guys time. This tree has not even been out of the ground a year yet. You have to give them three growing seasons at least . If the tree were mine I would start back on that mass of growth you have growing out of the left side of the picture. Eventually you are probably going to lose that entire portion of the tree, but you have to do it over a few years. As you cut back you will get back budding but then you have to give the back buds time to gain strength and dominance.
 
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As you aggressively go after the most vigorous portions of the tree you will start to see better results. This tree is worth taking time with
Thanks for the help, just the guy I was looking for ;). Ok, so far I have not touched it at all and it looks very healthy. I have no problem waiting, I find that now that I have a lot of trees waiting for work, some ready and some not, it is much easier to wait if needed. Ive also noticed not rushing things helps accomplish goals faster. When do you recommend I start cutting back the head of it to encourage back budding? I was thinking maybe spring 2018 if everything goes well in 17'?
 

Vance Wood

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You could start teasing it back sometime in July depending on how vigorous the tree is growing. If this was my tree I would be aiming for a tree as tall as the dead branches/cut off branches that you have now. This tree is a masterpiece project so try not to think of it in the terms of first branch, second branch, back branch and apex. I am lousy at virtuals or I would do one for you, but you are going to have to learn about dealing with dead wood, wraping with raffia and bending large portions of this tree with heavy wire and turn buckles. Find all of the Ghram Potter videos, Bjorn Bjornholm videos and Ryan Neil videos on the Net and watch them over and over. They are good for you artistically and will reveal to you some of the things you are going to have to do once you start getting some lower growth. Many times really good trees are made by reducing down much larger pieces of raw material drastically, that will be the case with this one.
 
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Find all of the Ghram Potter videos, Bjorn Bjornholm videos and Ryan Neil videos on the Net and watch them over and over.
been there done that :) plus many others. I know pines can be much more drastically bent than other species. Thanks for your tips. I imagine this tree will take many years but It will be fun to play with.
 

Vance Wood

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I would also like to see more pictures of the tree where the detail of the trunk is illuminate enough I can tell which branches belong to who. I am currently thinking that entire, or at least 90%, of that large mass of growth is going to be eliminated. the mass on the right is going to be bent down and the entire tree regrown form the top of this grouping. Basically this mass of growth will be kind of sitting at the top of what is left from the branches you cut off earlier. The branches you removed earlier will be jinned so do not remove them, don't do anything to them until later.

If you could bring this tree down to the Rochester area this summer I would be more than happy to get it started for you, provided you furnish the wire.

This tree is really beautiful and it gets better and better the more I look at it.
 
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If you could bring this tree down to the Rochester area this summer I would be more than happy to get it started for you, provided you furnish the wire
Thanks Vance, I definietly may take you up on that although for the tree maybe best to wait until 18' for that. I can chat with you at the spring GR show as well or maybe bring the tree then if you want this year or next.

This tree has many faults actually that will need to be corrected. One thing you can't tell from the picture is that the trunk goes away from the viewer and then back again when the foliage starts. Its encouraging to hear that most of the foliage that is currently on the tree could possibly be gone in the future because the tree will be much better if I am able to get the foliage alot closer to the taper. There is also a long straight section under the foliage that I would like to at least partially eliminate. Thanks again Vance!
 

Vance Wood

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I think that the faults can be dealt with so don't do anything.
 

Vance Wood

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Thanks Vance, I definietly may take you up on that although for the tree maybe best to wait until 18' for that. I can chat with you at the spring GR show as well or maybe bring the tree then if you want this year or next.

This tree has many faults actually that will need to be corrected. One thing you can't tell from the picture is that the trunk goes away from the viewer and then back again when the foliage starts. Its encouraging to hear that most of the foliage that is currently on the tree could possibly be gone in the future because the tree will be much better if I am able to get the foliage alot closer to the taper. There is also a long straight section under the foliage that I would like to at least partially eliminate. Thanks again Vance!
You wrote: There is also a long straight section under the foliage that I would like to at least partially eliminate. Leave this alone as well until we decide whether or not this can be bent to your will. I hate it when something is removed that we could have made excellent use of.
 

LeonardB

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Im worried I won't be able to get the foliage close in enough to the trunk to make this tree work. I collected this spring 16' already starting to back bud but just a few inches down the branch not 12-18''. Maybe some crazy rafia work would do it.View attachment 131097
Matt,
Would I love material like that to work with. You say you collected it. Any more were that came from? Would you collect for a fee? Just asking because nothing comes close to that down here in Ferndale ( near Detroit ). Any nursery stock with any potential at all is priced sky high ( $250+ ). My financial planner ( wife ) says "no way bushrod!", so I have to think up alternative plans.
Vance,
Do you have any raw material like this ( Mugo) that could be trained ( by you teaching me? ) over the next 5 to 10?
Thanx,
Leonard
 
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Matt,
Would I love material like that to work with. You say you collected it. Any more were that came from? Would you collect for a fee? Just asking because nothing comes close to that down here in Ferndale ( near Detroit ). Any nursery stock with any potential at all is priced sky high ( $250+ ). My financial planner ( wife ) says "no way bushrod!", so I have to think up alternative plans.
Thanks for the questions. This tree actually has a lot of faults that need to be corrected but I am excited about the challenge. I am in the lucky position of being a landscaper with over 400 clients, so I get to see in detail alot of landscapes. Some landscapes are pretty old. Anyway, this tree was growing in an odd position on a property and I asked my customer if they would like a different plant there for no charge :). I don't know how long it was growing there but my guess is that it was planted in the 80's from nursery stock. I bet there are a ton of good yardadori in the Detroit area, the best species for bonsai in landscapes in Michigan seem to be Mugo, Scots, and Yew. Although there are plenty of others those are the ones that most interest me. Just knock on a few doors and get ready to get some weird looks.

I plan to sell just a few trees in the future to make room for others. If I do sell any collected trees I will post them up on here, thanks for asking.
 

LeonardB

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Thanks for the questions. This tree actually has a lot of faults that need to be corrected but I am excited about the challenge. I am in the lucky position of being a landscaper with over 400 clients, so I get to see in detail alot of landscapes. Some landscapes are pretty old. Anyway, this tree was growing in an odd position on a property and I asked my customer if they would like a different plant there for no charge :). I don't know how long it was growing there but my guess is that it was planted in the 80's from nursery stock. I bet there are a ton of good yardadori in the Detroit area, the best species for bonsai in landscapes in Michigan seem to be Mugo, Scots, and Yew. Although there are plenty of others those are the ones that most interest me. Just knock on a few doors and get ready to get some weird looks.

I plan to sell just a few trees in the future to make room for others. If I do sell any collected trees I will post them up on here, thanks for asking.
Thanks Matt,
If you had time for some photo's before that time that would be great ( and maybe if I see something, I can add incentive coinage to the mix ). How often do you get down to this area?
 

Vance Wood

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I have been trying to get at my"for sale" Mugos but it has either been too cold and frozen to the ground or too wet to get out there and look at them.. It's supposed to be warmeropver the next few days and maybe we can take a look at some of the ones I have.
 
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sorce

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alternative plans.

I was just looking through some photos of Detroit. Abandoned Detroit.

It's a frigging Urban Collecting Paradise.

I still say any tree growing through a house is fair game.

But legally, I would write a letter to an Alderman, or a Mayor or whatever....

Ask them if you can dig trees in exchange for litter pickup.

It worked for me.

I sent an email to the Head of the Park district and got free reign on a 4 block section of fence line that gets trimmed and sprayed every year.

Sorce
 
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