Ccaru
Seed
Hi All, first post here.
Back in March I took the plunge purchasing a 45 year old Mugo for my south facing front lawn. I've done a lot of research but I seem to only find conflicting views on when to candle, prune and fertilize.
This is my first year with this pine so I am not quite sure what to expect. My worry is that it's now (end of August) shed so many needles that it's looking a bit sparse now. It's still looking fine but i also understand that it's best to catch issues early, so I would like to prevent further issues. Here is what I did so far. I would really appreciate if somebody could point out what I did wrong/could do better.
Planted in March - it came with it's root ball wrapped in jute. We put down around 300L of Mediterranean style compost in the bottom and sides. No further feeding provided.
I installed drip style watering and water it around 1 or 2 times a week around 50L
Many candles formed late May/early June. I couldn't get the feel on when was the right time (and now i read that perhaps this was all wrong) to pinch the candles so I did it in stages.
Late August : while it generally looks rather healthy, it's lost a LOT of needles, and it's looking much sparser than it did when I initially planted it. I could literally plunge my hand into one of the pads and pick up a fist full of brown needles, so I cleaned it all up. I noticed an intricate network of dead branches (2-3mm thick, still flexible, but they lost all their needles) on the inside and underside of each pad. I pruned these back to the main branches, thinking it will aid circulation and help the needles fall to the ground rather than staying stuck into the pads. I'm not sure this was a good move either!
So my questions are this: I understand a Mugo is a single flush pine. In general, I would like it to retain it's shape, but I don't mind it growing larger. See attached picture for detail.
- Was the candle pinching a bad move - should I have left them grow and then pruned back in August
- Did I do well to remove the dead branches or should this have been done at another point during the year, perhaps in December?
- So far, due to the compost being new and already containing fertilizer (lasting 100 days it says on the sacks) I have not fertilized. Should I fertilize now to encourage growth, or is it already too late and I should wait until next spring?
Any other tips you could give me which will help me not kill my tree?
Thank you!
Claude
Back in March I took the plunge purchasing a 45 year old Mugo for my south facing front lawn. I've done a lot of research but I seem to only find conflicting views on when to candle, prune and fertilize.
This is my first year with this pine so I am not quite sure what to expect. My worry is that it's now (end of August) shed so many needles that it's looking a bit sparse now. It's still looking fine but i also understand that it's best to catch issues early, so I would like to prevent further issues. Here is what I did so far. I would really appreciate if somebody could point out what I did wrong/could do better.
Planted in March - it came with it's root ball wrapped in jute. We put down around 300L of Mediterranean style compost in the bottom and sides. No further feeding provided.
I installed drip style watering and water it around 1 or 2 times a week around 50L
Many candles formed late May/early June. I couldn't get the feel on when was the right time (and now i read that perhaps this was all wrong) to pinch the candles so I did it in stages.
Late August : while it generally looks rather healthy, it's lost a LOT of needles, and it's looking much sparser than it did when I initially planted it. I could literally plunge my hand into one of the pads and pick up a fist full of brown needles, so I cleaned it all up. I noticed an intricate network of dead branches (2-3mm thick, still flexible, but they lost all their needles) on the inside and underside of each pad. I pruned these back to the main branches, thinking it will aid circulation and help the needles fall to the ground rather than staying stuck into the pads. I'm not sure this was a good move either!
So my questions are this: I understand a Mugo is a single flush pine. In general, I would like it to retain it's shape, but I don't mind it growing larger. See attached picture for detail.
- Was the candle pinching a bad move - should I have left them grow and then pruned back in August
- Did I do well to remove the dead branches or should this have been done at another point during the year, perhaps in December?
- So far, due to the compost being new and already containing fertilizer (lasting 100 days it says on the sacks) I have not fertilized. Should I fertilize now to encourage growth, or is it already too late and I should wait until next spring?
Any other tips you could give me which will help me not kill my tree?
Thank you!
Claude