All aboard the Mugo train!

[KingJades]

Does anyone have a primer on how to do the collander thing? I bought a Mugo a few weeks back at Home Depot and after some mild hard pruning, am still leaving it in the 3gal nursery pot. Should I be pushing for a root prune and to get it into a collander or a basket?

The buds that are starting to turn green and into needles. Not sure why that's still happening in mid July.

 

[sorce]

Mine pushed around now last year and is again this year....

I bought mine in spring last year and chopped stuff off, so I didn't repot till now.

You can see it here...
http://www.bonsainut.com/threads/pugo-mine.19271/
But read the root talk back and forth I had with Vance, and show him some pictures before you go doing what I did.

Pics pics!

Sorce

 

[Vance Wood]

@sorce: That's a good thing to do, something I have done for years. It seems needle cast only strikes around here once in every three years or so.

 

[KingJades]

People requested to see my Mugo, but it's not nearly as good as the gorgeous ones I see on here.

It has a lot of growing to do! The bottom trunk is probably 1.5-2" thick right now. I'm not really worried about too much styling right now, but I do want to work on getting it to be healthier and encourage growth along the "good" lines that are developing. I like the twin trunks, but the vertical trunk is maybe a bit too vertical. At the right angle, the viewer can see the curved one is somewhat helical and spirals back.

Lightly brushing the dirt away with my hands exposed these thinner roots you can see in the photo. Should I re-cover them, leave them exposed, or remove them?

 

[accemn]

Potential front 1

Potential front up close

Potential front 2

Potential front 2 upclose

I ended up not cutting a lot of roots. Most was an impenetrable block of clay.

 

[Vance Wood]

@GoldenEagle: It seems alright. I am not sure what to do at the present other than tell you to start opening up the top poretion of the tree so you can see your branch structure.

 

[Vance Wood]

View attachment 110946 Potential front 1

View attachment 110950 Potential front up close

View attachment 110952 Potential front 2

View attachment 110953 Potential front 2 upclose

I ended up not cutting a lot of roots. Most was an impenetrable block of clay.

You are saying the tree is planted in clay? This means that the tree was probably a tree that was balled in burlap before it was put in the container you have it now. They use clay as a planting medium because in that type of planting (balled in burlap) the clay helps hold the soil mass together. At some point you are going to have to deal with this.

 

[Paradox]

View attachment 110946 Potential front 1

View attachment 110950 Potential front up close

View attachment 110952 Potential front 2

View attachment 110953 Potential front 2 upclose

I ended up not cutting a lot of roots. Most was an impenetrable block of clay.

No 1 is the front or if you turn pic 2 to the right a bit might be a good front. No 2 isnt a good front because the tree is leaning/growing away from the viewer.

 

[Vance Wood]

View attachment 110946 Potential front 1

View attachment 110950 Potential front up close

I think you can see from this angle the movement in the trunk that can be accentuated by the removal of one of the large "V" branches at some point.

View attachment 110952 Potential front 2

Removal of the left branch/trunk "V" would be a good idea here and probably more of the larger branches we cannot make out yet

View attachment 110953 Potential front 2 upclose

I think this view seems to confirm that choice but you are in a far better position to determine that.

I ended up not cutting a lot of roots. Most was an impenetrable block of clay.

Expand your quoted post at the bottom of the above window, you may like to see what I inserted.

 

[accemn]

Expand your quoted post at the bottom of the above window, you may like to see what I inserted.

Thanks for the Suggestions! Just to make sure I am following. I like the movement in the first pic and my assumption on the branch to go. I am still fairly green with a few trees in various stages.

You have some impressive mugo's so I am all ears!

I like the trunk movement here. I would like to keep this trunk line unless something is escaping me.

Here is the same branch from the opposite end

And again a little closer.

 

[Vance Wood]

We're basically on the same page. Remember; when it goes to removing that trunk, understanding that it is probably 50% of your tree, you should do it in stages or the consequences in doing it all at once could be not what you want.

 

[accemn]

We're basically on the same page. Remember; when it goes to removing that trunk, understanding that it is probably 50% of your tree, you should do it in stages or the consequences in doing it all at once could be not what you want.

As far as stages. A little a year till it's gone over a few years or half through the season and the rest next?

 

[Vance Wood]

As far as stages. A little a year till it's gone over a few years or half through the season and the rest next?

A portion of trunk this size would take about three seasons to reduce down and jin the rest to keep the tree from having a trunk die all the way down to the ground. I have one like that. I think I can deal with it but it's one of those issues I have to deal with out of necessity not choice, but; I am still learning too.

 

[accemn]

A portion of trunk this size would take about three seasons to reduce down and jin the rest to keep the tree from having a trunk die all the way down to the ground. I have one like that. I think I can deal with it but it's one of those issues I have to deal with out of necessity not choice, but; I am still learning too.

I would say from the blue line it's about 30% the foliage.

 

[Vance Wood]

There is nothing of any significance growing below that point so if you take it out you could lose every thing all the way to the ground and beyond down taking out the root associated with it. For that reason you cut off as much of the really large growth and leave some of the little stuff to give the roots something to do and keep that portion of the trunk alive. Latter on you can cut it flush but I advise converting into a Jin.

 

[KingJades]

You guys have been so helpful with getting me started, but I have another noob question.

I was reading "Bonsai Master Class" and came across a photo of needle cast. When I saw the photo I remembered that I have yellow/brown needles on my mugo, but not sure if it's the same thing. I purchased the tree with that but didn't think much of it. I assumed it was a little sun damage or something on those needles. After examining more closely, it appears to be the oldest needles on the branches.

If it's not needle cast or something else obviously fungal, what's the best way to address? Pluck the needle?

 

[Paradox]

As far as stages. A little a year till it's gone over a few years or half through the season and the rest next?

Here is an example of a mugo undergoing a trunk reduction

This is the tree as purchased in the spring of 2015:


In July or August of 2015. I cut the left most branch of the left trunk (leaving a 1-2 inch stump) and gave the right side a styling:
You cant see where I cut the branch in this picture because I have covered that side up and turned the tree to show what we think is the front


In the next 2 weeks to a month, the tree will get repotted and the right branch of the left trunk above will probably get cut.

Each reduction is about 20%-25% or so of the total foliage.

 

[Vance Wood]

You guys have been so helpful with getting me started, but I have another noob question.

I was reading "Bonsai Master Class" and came across a photo of needle cast. When I saw the photo I remembered that I have yellow/brown needles on my mugo, but not sure if it's the same thing. I purchased the tree with that but didn't think much of it. I assumed it was a little sun damage or something on those needles. After examining more closely, it appears to be the oldest needles on the branches.

If it's not needle cast or something else obviously fungal, what's the best way to address? Pluck the needle?

This seems to be a common afliction to Mugos. Unless it spreads to the entire tree it is not a problem. I think it is nothing more than the ageing of the old needles.

 

[Vance Wood]

Here is an example of a mugo undergoing a trunk reduction

This is the tree as purchased in the spring of 2015:
View attachment 111083

In July or August of 2015. I cut the left most branch of the left trunk (leaving a 1-2 inch stump) and gave the right side a styling:
You cant see where I cut the branch in this picture because I have covered that side up and turned the tree to show what we think is the front
View attachment 111084

In the next 2 weeks to a month, the tree will get repotted and the right branch of the left trunk above will probably get cut.

Each reduction is about 20%-25% or so of the total foliage.

This really has developed into a nice tree. I really like the tree. You have taken this tree down the road I was hoping to see traveled by more people.

 

[Vance Wood]

You guys have been so helpful with getting me started, but I have another noob question.

I was reading "Bonsai Master Class" and came across a photo of needle cast. When I saw the photo I remembered that I have yellow/brown needles on my mugo, but not sure if it's the same thing. I purchased the tree with that but didn't think much of it. I assumed it was a little sun damage or something on those needles. After examining more closely, it appears to be the oldest needles on the branches.

If it's not needle cast or something else obviously fungal, what's the best way to address? Pluck the needle?

Pluck out the affected needles.