All aboard the Mugo train!
- Thread starter M. Frary
- Start date
Hey guys,
Until now I only had 1 baby mugo (already on board of the train). I am very skilled in killing conifers quite quickly, but could not resist picking up this little fella in a garden center near the French border.
So my second passenger aboard this mugo train would be this Pinus Mugo 'Heideperle'.
My questions:
- any potential?
- repotting should be done in august?
- when can/should I intervene in branch structure and what are your suggestions? Am I correct in assuming that only 1 branch should sprout on the same location? My main concern is the first two-tree, quite thick, branches sprouting from the same place and thus possibly resulting in inverse taper.
- when can I work on the canopy and what should I do first?
- Is Vance still around for expert feedback?
Thanks in advance!
Until now I only had 1 baby mugo (already on board of the train). I am very skilled in killing conifers quite quickly, but could not resist picking up this little fella in a garden center near the French border.
So my second passenger aboard this mugo train would be this Pinus Mugo 'Heideperle'.
My questions:
- any potential?
- repotting should be done in august?
- when can/should I intervene in branch structure and what are your suggestions? Am I correct in assuming that only 1 branch should sprout on the same location? My main concern is the first two-tree, quite thick, branches sprouting from the same place and thus possibly resulting in inverse taper.
- when can I work on the canopy and what should I do first?
- Is Vance still around for expert feedback?
Thanks in advance!
FinnLakk
Yamadori
Can't offer specific advice but I have found this very helpful:
Tutorial - Compiled Vance Wood on Mugo Pines
Compiled Posts by Vance Wood on Mugo Pines UPDATED 5/20/2018 Vance, I have gathered posts you made on B-Nut over the years from the archives. I have consolidated this info below. I appreciate your sharing your years of experience with this...
Backwardsvg
Shohin
Ok I need some help! I got a Mugo that has some crazy twisted roots and has created this mass of roots to the right. I am wondering if there is a way to deal with this? Can you slowly reduce it over years or can you just chop it? It is very healthy just has been rootbound and spun around itself it looks like
Taste
Mame
Shohin mugo I’m working on. Freshly wet.
Japonicus
Masterpiece
Good picture of the question at hand, but would love to see the tree as a whole.
@Vance Wood has been out quite a while but still ventures in the shallow end of the pool now and then.
He refers to the symbiotic relationship between the roots and branches. Remove one directly related
to the other, and it may have an adverse affect on the other if not kill it.
If it were mine since they're so congested there, I would not remove them all in one go of it.
I would create a shari, a small shari given the size of the roots, on 3 or 4 of them.
Where one forks, sever one of the forks, not all the forks, but I see a few you could work on.
If root appears singular above ground, shari it. That will slow the flow through the root.
Increase this shari annually until you are satisfied that any associated branches are drawing flow
by means of other roots, or are not related and safe to remove entirely.
Either top dressed or repotted recently. Which is it?
Repotting should not occur in your area before 1st week of July.
Backwardsvg
Shohin
@Japonicus i did do a slip pot today just teasing bottom roots, No root pruning. Probably should have waited but roots were coming out of the bottom holes like crazy and I saw this massive twist and didn’t want it to choke itself (maybe the wrong call). Here is the whole tree. Thank you for the help that is a great idea I will probably start that next summer I would suppose to make sure it doesn’t stress the tree after my slip pot.
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Japonicus
Masterpiece
How about a 5 year plan deciding if the right side goes or stays? The movement in that left trunk is killer
EDIT: the next reduction is after it gets potted up in bonsai soil and has recovered a couple years.
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
Officially, "Bloooodoooodooodooodooo" roots!
In order of importance and use....ish.
Avoid them at all costs.
Go full Ham on a Repot straight away. 75% success rate in summer with healthy plants.
Cut one....ish a season till they're gone, don't yoink em out, let em rot.
Sorce
Backwardsvg
Shohin
FinnLakk
Yamadori
Went away for the weekend to come back to my mugos (and the yew) strewn all across the garden thanks to there being nothing better for the youth to do in my town...
So they got an early repot into their pond baskets, was hoping to have more bigger ones on hand for the big boy, but then I also wasn't planning a repot til summer...
Excuse the Scots pine in the corner. I'm in denial.
So they got an early repot into their pond baskets, was hoping to have more bigger ones on hand for the big boy, but then I also wasn't planning a repot til summer...
Excuse the Scots pine in the corner. I'm in denial.
Kingpoutine
Sapling
Elihatt
Sapling
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Looks good. Assuming that you are looking for advise I would suggest that you leave the tree alone for another year. Mugos are somewhat sensitive to drastic reduction of the top and another year wont hurt the tree. It is of course possible to work on the tree again even repotting it, this summer after the Solstice if you are looking for a date. I have done this many times successfully.
Pine_nut
Mame
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
Have you pulled it out to see the roots?
I'm guessing the green balls of death popped in the heat and killed the roots.
Sorce
drhughes
Seed
I decided that my first bonsai in 35 years would be a Mugo pine that I found the other day at Lowes. I perused the summaries here, and decided to post a few pix and ask a couple of questions for clarification. I learned that summer is better for root pruning and foliage removal (removing up to half of each). Can I do both of those at the same time? For removing branches, do I leave a stump for later removal in a year or two? The trunk’s diameter is nearly 2 inches, and to me the appears to have potential. The variety is Pumilio. Any thoughts on this??
Attachments
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
It could be the natural trait of the cultivar, pendulos or weeping. If you have the original tag post a picture of it. Many times things can be explained by the tags from a nursery.
BonjourBonsai
Chumono
Depending on where you are (hint: out your location in your bio information) and the health and age of the tree, I would wait until August to root prune up to one half of the root ball. I would not touch the foliage or branches this year. Check out @Vance Wood 's tutorial on how to develop nursery mugos. You'll find excellent advice there.
Good luck. It looks like a nice little tree!
Pine_nut
Mame
I don’t remember what the tag said but I believe it just said dwarf Mugo. I’ve had it since the fall and the candles are normally standing up. They only started dropping in the last few days.
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