A quick mugo pine question

[DreRega]

I have a young mugo I trained a bit last year. It has a nice thick branch that sits just above the the soil. Would it be possible to stick the end of the branch into the soil and turn it into a root.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I have a young mugo I trained a bit last year. It has a nice thick branch that sits just above the the soil. Would it be possible to stick the end of the branch into the soil and turn it into a root.

You're not going to turn a branch into a root. It is possible to get a branch to produce roots if you bury it, as I interpret your question. This is called ground-layering, and isn't as easily achieved with pines as with some species.

 

[DreRega]

You're not going to turn a branch into a root. It is possible to get a branch to produce roots if you bury it, as I interpret your question. This is called ground-layering, and isn't as easily achieved with pines as with some species.

Thank you for the reply. I guess I could try to air layer it.

 

[dick benbow]

I thnk the real opportunity for now anyway with a low branch down the trunk is enabling it to contribute to the increasing diameter of the base....

 

[DreRega]

Well it is right on the suface of the soil that's why I was thinkink of trying to get it to root. We will see I guess. No matter what its going to stay in place for a few years. Thanks for your help

 

[garywood]

Well it is right on the suface of the soil that's why I was thinkink of trying to get it to root. We will see I guess. No matter what its going to stay in place for a few years. Thanks for your help

Dre, is it possible to incorporate the branch into the design? Cascade or directional?

 

[DreRega]

Dre, is it possible to incorporate the branch into the design? Cascade or directional?

Not really Gary. The base of the trunk had a "Y" basically. I used the longer more viable branch to create a semi cascade. The other branch is very short maybe 3" but nice and thick. It is actually on the backside of the tree. I just fugured it would make a nice nebari. That's what I actually thought it was when I first purchased the tree at the nursery. I will try to snap a picture of the tree. However it is in very very early stages of its beginning as a bonsai. I'll see what I can get.

 

[DreRega]

Here is the young tree


Here is the branch

 

[sorce]

Do you know how far down the nebari is?

I just got a mugo in a nursery pot like that. When digging for nebari I stopped about 2 inches down with no nebari in sight yet.....

Could be a ways down. ?

Sorce

 

[Vance Wood]

Do you know how far down the nebari is?

I just got a mugo in a nursery pot like that. When digging for nebari I stopped about 2 inches down with no nebari in sight yet.....

Could be a ways down. ?

Sorce

That was my thought. It is possible that the base of the tree is two or three inches below that first branch. Easy enough to find out. Pull the tree out of the nursery container and using only your fingers remove the soil from the top of the soil mass until you encounter the major roots growing from the trunk. Sometimes it is surprising how much soil the nursery has heaped into the pot on top of the surface roots. The attached image is an exapmple of a Mugo where the entire trunk below the joint was buried beneath the soil in the pot.