All aboard the Mugo train!

VAFisher

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Did you bare root this one in 2016, or does it just look that way in the photo? Original root ball in the pond basket back filled with bonsai soil?


Originally, it arrived in a broken nursery pot, so it was slipped into the basket and backfilled with my soil. It was never bare rooted but I did work the roots 2 years in a row, so I won't touch them again for several years. I fully realize that I was pushing it but the tree seemed healthy and vigorous enough to handle it.
 

Japonicus

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Those happened in a place called Ironwood. It's in the Upper Penninsula.
Way far north of me and farther for Vance. .Thankfully.
Thank you for your concern though.
I love the UP hate the black flies!
Mackinac Is. is a romantic getaway, but after 3 trips there, 3 more would be enough for me.
I can order their fudge online anyhow :) I've had 3 canvas prints made from this photo I took on my last trip there.
Mackinac gazebo copy.jpg
 

M. Frary

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These are the longest needles I ever seen on a pine EVER!
I got some Scots out there with needl
Mackinac Is.
They just had their annual lilac festival.
Its gorgeous when they're in bloom.
But yeah the black flies in the U.P. make you wish for good old mosquitoes.
 

Soldano666

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3rd summer in this pond basket, 3 summers of shoot trimming, and finnaly filling in nicely, most of the growth seen has been built with back buds. All original growth as purchased is gone. some wire soon, some minor cut back of the apex and I reckon a nice unglazed, Dirty, rugged, torn lip pot by next summer. @Vance Wood what should i expect for roots and how hard can i I be on them at this proposed repot? Id imagine I have a dense mat of feeders in there if its anything like the deciduous trees I had in baskets for only 2 years. I barely could rake them out with out tearing them.IMG_20180615_101247_268.jpg
 

silvertab

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Ok, after reading 144 pages of mugo-related posts (I wish I was kidding), I have determined that the course of action for my tiny mugo is going to be this: Put it in a colander in good, free draining soil, without bare-rooting it, and wait!

The amount of info in this thread is simply astonishing... mind: blown! The urge to acquire more mugos is real.
 

Cosmos

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Does it count if my Mugo is only ~6" tall? Can I still hop on the train?! Are shohin mugo a thing?

View attachment 197673

Would you mind posting a picture where we can see the trunk better, where it's not shaded?

Sounds like you found a real good small one, in my last nursery run no mugo in containers smaller than 3 gal. were of any interest.
 

silvertab

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Would you mind posting a picture where we can see the trunk better, where it's not shaded?

Sounds like you found a real good small one, in my last nursery run no mugo in containers smaller than 3 gal. were of any interest.

Here you go! There really wasn't many small ones to chose from (like 3 or 4), but this one had the most interesting trunk.

IMG_2534.jpg
 

Vance Wood

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3rd summer in this pond basket, 3 summers of shoot trimming, and finnaly filling in nicely, most of the growth seen has been built with back buds. All original growth as purchased is gone. some wire soon, some minor cut back of the apex and I reckon a nice unglazed, Dirty, rugged, torn lip pot by next summer. @Vance Wood what should i expect for roots and how hard can i I be on them at this proposed repot? Id imagine I have a dense mat of feeders in there if its anything like the deciduous trees I had in baskets for only 2 years. I barely could rake them out with out tearing them.View attachment 197562

Could you post more detailed shots of the base of the trunk before you go at the roots? I see something here you may not yet see.
 
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Cosmos

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@Vance Wood

I need some guide for container selection for my upcoming repot, but this might be of public interest. Attached are the two options I have at hand: I feel the black pond basket may be a bit too small in terms of width (I would have to shake loose maybe an inch all around the rootball to get some draining soil in there), and the red colander maybe too wide? Something to note, the rootball in my mugo doesn't seem as dense as those of seen in your videos.

In other words, for that first repot, is the goal mostly to get bonsai soil under the remaining rootball (after it's been sawed), or is it important to get as much bonsai soil around the rootball too?

I could keep looking for a colander in a size somewhere between these two. Or drill holes in a black nursery container that I have.
 

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M. Frary

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@Vance Wood

I need some guide for container selection for my upcoming repot, but this might be of public interest. Attached are the two options I have at hand: I feel the black pond basket may be a bit too small in terms of width (I would have to shake loose maybe an inch all around the rootball to get some draining soil in there), and the red colander maybe too wide? Something to note, the rootball in my mugo doesn't seem as dense as those of seen in your videos.

In other words, for that first repot, is the goal mostly to get bonsai soil under the remaining rootball (after it's been sawed), or is it important to get as much bonsai soil around the rootball too?

I could keep looking for a colander in a size somewhere between these two. Or drill holes in a black nursery container that I have.
I would use the colander.
 

Soldano666

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Here we are @Vance Wood it has been very wet lately and mixed with my heavy fert regimine my moss is dead and black so disregard that aspect of it. It was planted alittle deep cause it lacked strong lateral roots, and apprently they haven't beefed up much since either....
 

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sorce

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@Vance Wood

I need some guide for container selection for my upcoming repot, but this might be of public interest. Attached are the two options I have at hand: I feel the black pond basket may be a bit too small in terms of width (I would have to shake loose maybe an inch all around the rootball to get some draining soil in there), and the red colander maybe too wide? Something to note, the rootball in my mugo doesn't seem as dense as those of seen in your videos.

In other words, for that first repot, is the goal mostly to get bonsai soil under the remaining rootball (after it's been sawed), or is it important to get as much bonsai soil around the rootball too?

I could keep looking for a colander in a size somewhere between these two. Or drill holes in a black nursery container that I have.

For me....you first must inspect the plant and old root Mass to determine what approach you will take to make it have a decent looking base and surface roots.

If it is a plant same as a thousand other Mugos you can get for $8.99, keep your receipt, and exchange next year if you fail...
Nothing special...
Eff root it and get it into something even more appropriate. Like half the pond basket.

Just thinking of the root Mass the colander will leave you, and the tendency for any bonsai pot to be more prone to holding water around the bottom seam...
The colander makes that the very place you won't have roots....which will lead to a lot of unused water there...blah blah...
Eff the colander.

Half the basket will make it pottable to a nice small round.

But....if the tree is special."quick"..a really nice trunk, good "bones"...

I would leave it in that pot for one more year ....
Cutting just a couple bloooodoooodooodooodooo circling roots this year...

And more slowly get the roots in order as Vance recommends...pie cuts, etc...

Sorce
 

Cosmos

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I would use the colander.

I would be happy to use it.

Only, there's a small part of my brain that wants to ask this question: if the goal is to get this tree in a smallish pot in the next, say 10 years, would it really be a good idea to double the size of the rootball first, which is what could happen in that colander (I think the picture makes it look a bit smaller than it really is compared to the nursery pot)?

For me....you first must inspect the plant and old root Mass to determine what approach you will take to make it have a decent looking base and surface roots.

If it is a plant same as a thousand other Mugos you can get for $8.99, keep your receipt, and exchange next year if you fail...
Nothing special...
Eff root it and get it into something even more appropriate. Like half the pond basket.

Just thinking of the root Mass the colander will leave you, and the tendency for any bonsai pot to be more prone to holding water around the bottom seam...
The colander makes that the very place you won't have roots....which will lead to a lot of unused water there...blah blah...
Eff the colander.

Half the basket will make it pottable to a nice small round.

But....if the tree is special."quick"..a really nice trunk, good "bones"...

I would leave it in that pot for one more year ....
Cutting just a couple bloooodoooodooodooodooo circling roots this year...

And more slowly get the roots in order as Vance recommends...pie cuts, etc...

Sorce

Well, sorce, the tree is here, you've seen it already: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/thick-trunk-nursery-mugo-reduction-tips.34091/. It cost me 90 CAD, so not a dirt cheap mugo, no, I would like to treat it well.

I lifted it up from the nursery container when I purcharsed it and don't remember much in the way of circling roots.

Thanks for your input, guys.
 

Vance Wood

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The advantage of the colander/pond basket/ training planter method is the production of an abundance of fine feeder roots and the discouragement of large wrap around roots. Please remember that most of the technology was pioneered by yours truly, I know what I am talking about. A lot of people now realize that I have been right for years and are quick to jump on board without knowing the finner points of the method and how to utilize it. I am not trying to be critical of people I truly like and enjoy but they are tending to post their points of view as oppoesed to actual experience or really knowing how the cow eats the cabage, as my father used to love to say. If you grow a tree in a colander etc. for two or three years you will get a very fine root system that you can reduce down by at least 50% to 70% without causing the tree to die. You don't have to comb out the roots just cut the soil off at the appropriate depth (within reason) and there you go.
 
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