Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
What on earth are you referring to?
All aboard the Mugo train!
- Thread starter M. Frary
- Start date
BuckeyeOne
Chumono
Hartinez
Masterpiece
Chuga Chuga! Found this guy at a Santa Fe nursery. Mugo Pine “Winchester”. Hadn’t seen this variety but the foliage is so tight and compact. I’ll need some back bidding for sure, but I think with @Vance Wood guidance, it’ll be a bullet train in no time! 
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Have not seen this cultivar but you are correct, the tightness of the foliage interests me, I look forward to its development. I would love to see a profile of the entire tree.
Hartinez
Masterpiece
Can do Vance. I’ll take a few better shots tomorrow. They had 6 or 7 of them. They weren’t cheap, but I treated myself today for Father’s Day.
On a side note. For Father’s Day, I gave my dad a nursery Mugo with a print out of the comprehensive Vance Wood resource on Mugos lazy lightning put together.
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Your father is into bonsai as well? That's good, who got who started?
Hartinez
Masterpiece
He got me into gardening and plants years ago. He dabbled with Bonsai a bit in his greenhouse, but never seriously. He bought me a small leaf jade when I was 12, but I proceeded to kill it almost immediately. When I got back in to it 7 years ago he, again, just dabbled and still does. He quit smoking after a massive health scare at the beginning of this year and is 97 days without a cigarette after 45 years. So I keep bringing him trees to keep him busy and not thinking about cigarettes.
Hartinez
Masterpiece
@Vance Wood as promised. I think with proper time and care, this tree has some serious potential. Great flare at the base with what seems to be a pretty clear trunk line right off the bat. The trick, I’m thinking, will be to chase those small needles closer to the trunk. Let me know what you think Vance. All I’ve done so far is remove all the duff and crud from the top of the root ball. 
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
I would be cleaning out the brown needles and cutting out the crotch growing shoots, any thing that grows straight up off of a branch and any thing that grows straight down off a branch. Little branches that appear to have no meaning or future. Remember; light promotes growth especially on older wood. Sometimes the problem with Mugos is we are afraid to remove much of this beautiful growth you don't find on other Pines.
Hartinez
Masterpiece
Got after it yesterday. Raked out and cut, long thick roots. Reducing by about 1/3. And removed about 30-40% of the foliage. Also removed dead or weak branches and crotch growth. I’ve still got branches in question that I don’t envision to be utilized. I just don’t want to remove too much. It’s in dappled shade all day and will be for a few weeks when I will then gradually bring in to full sun and start fertilizing. Sound about right @Vance Wood
Lazylightningny
Masterpiece
Here is a mugo I picked up at a local HD. I cleaned up all the dead needles, removed extraneous branches, reduced all bifurcations to two branches, and removed all single terminal buds. Removed all crotch growth and small, young twigs that won’t have any possibility of being used in the future. Reduced some soil from the bottom of the root ball but did not prune any roots. Removed some extraneous soil from the top of the root ball- the part above baseline. Buried back in the ground for work next summer. In all, I removed around 50% of the foliage.
The plan for this one is to reduce the roots by half next summer, possibly remove some more branches, and put it in a pond basket. I'll deal with the big crossing root at some point in the future.
Before...
And after...
The plan for this one is to reduce the roots by half next summer, possibly remove some more branches, and put it in a pond basket. I'll deal with the big crossing root at some point in the future.
Before...
And after...
Japonicus
Masterpiece
Thought I didn't need a before picture, and could just archive this one, but now I see it had really filled out this Spring
and I really should've taken a before. Nonetheless here's this past mid-Winter early Feb. 2019.
In the meantime the foliage had extended and tightened up at all the terminals and looked very healthy more bushy than 1st pic.
It was shipped to me in a plastic bag no pot, last of January.
This is probably all I will do this year. There's one bar branch, 2nd branch up I believe, that crosses the trunk.
If I do anything else this year I will wire this out of the way and jin it another time. Potted nearly 5 months ago, time out.
next 2 pics are todays 1st pruning
p. mugo Congesta grafted to Scotts pine
and I really should've taken a before. Nonetheless here's this past mid-Winter early Feb. 2019.
In the meantime the foliage had extended and tightened up at all the terminals and looked very healthy more bushy than 1st pic.
It was shipped to me in a plastic bag no pot, last of January.
This is probably all I will do this year. There's one bar branch, 2nd branch up I believe, that crosses the trunk.
If I do anything else this year I will wire this out of the way and jin it another time. Potted nearly 5 months ago, time out.
next 2 pics are todays 1st pruning
p. mugo Congesta grafted to Scotts pine
James W.
Chumono
I like it! Great find, good potential.
You might consider starting a progression thread for this tree?
Hartinez
Masterpiece
I’m going to give it a year. I feel like when I start a thread too soon on a tree, I inadvertently sign its death warrant!
I’m going to see how it handles the work done so far before I do so.
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
It is better to error on the side of caution and/or ignorance in not knowing for sure what you are doing than to think you have your crap together in one pile and jump into the middle of it killing the tree. In the end you kill the tree but don't have a clue which of your "Too Much Too Soons" was responsible for the failure.
Hartinez
Masterpiece
Agreed. I hope, based on what your seeing from my above images, you don’t feel I jumped a bit too far.
Hartinez
Masterpiece
I did however buy multiple other big box store Mugos (5 total) and did varying amounts of work to each.
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
I think you're OK with what you have done, but it terrifies me to hand out information knowing that sometimes people don't understand things the way I have set it in print.
I know these are not the best photos, the weather has not cooperated and I will get bette later. This Mugo is the Pinus Mugo Montana (Enchinata) that I received as a gift from my Father in 1972. I am in the process of redesigning it for a third time finally coming to a good design choice. Photos to follow as the work continues. This photo was taken an hour ago, the tree was repotted yesterday and already looks better.
I know these are not the best photos, the weather has not cooperated and I will get bette later. This Mugo is the Pinus Mugo Montana (Enchinata) that I received as a gift from my Father in 1972. I am in the process of redesigning it for a third time finally coming to a good design choice. Photos to follow as the work continues. This photo was taken an hour ago, the tree was repotted yesterday and already looks better.
Last edited:
Hartinez
Masterpiece
I can appreciate that. I do understand what your saying, but I think some of what’s in print ends up being an experienced judgement call and comes from having a MUCH better understanding of the way the tree will respond. I started several Mugos so as to try and understand what’s in print better. As they respond from the work, I SHOULD be able to begin to form some of my own understandings of the species.l based on your advice. It’s awesome though, that this species is being cultivated at the numbers it is. Kudos to you and your efforts for that.
parhamr
Omono
I just repotted my one dwarf mugo.
This is an oxide-wash Vicki Chamberlain pot. The soil is a small, homemade mix of the standard A-P-L, but I think this was a little heavy on the akadama. Screened sphagnum and green moss are the top dressing.
This tree has been a slow process… I’ve had it five years! You can see some recent years’ growth was a bit leggy and this year I’ve been overwatering it (long, wavy needles). Its current position in my yard and this pot both feel promising.
There’s still a lot of work to do. I’d like to get some well-placed buds along those leggy sections with which to shrink the canopy, but I also want it to thicken up a bit. I’ll just have to feed it well and let it run for a bit
2016:
Before root reduction: (ugh, this is a slightly better front position, about 5 degrees counterclockwise)
The current backside would also be a good front:
I didn’t want to do a cascade:
It’s now back on my hardy conifer bench:
This is an oxide-wash Vicki Chamberlain pot. The soil is a small, homemade mix of the standard A-P-L, but I think this was a little heavy on the akadama. Screened sphagnum and green moss are the top dressing.
This tree has been a slow process… I’ve had it five years! You can see some recent years’ growth was a bit leggy and this year I’ve been overwatering it (long, wavy needles). Its current position in my yard and this pot both feel promising.
There’s still a lot of work to do. I’d like to get some well-placed buds along those leggy sections with which to shrink the canopy, but I also want it to thicken up a bit. I’ll just have to feed it well and let it run for a bit
2016:
Before root reduction: (ugh, this is a slightly better front position, about 5 degrees counterclockwise)
The current backside would also be a good front:
I didn’t want to do a cascade:
It’s now back on my hardy conifer bench:
Similar threads
