Back budding Mugo Mops

[Vance Wood]

For those of you who remember my brutalizing some Mops Mugo last summer here is the beginnings of a good deal of back budding on one of them. Obviously there is a lot more to be accomplished here. But for now this is a door opener just knowing the tree is going to respond as you have previously predicted and believed.

 

[just.wing.it]

View attachment 97834 View attachment 97835 View attachment 97836 View attachment 97837 View attachment 97838 For those of you who remember my brutalizing some Mops Mugo last summer here is the beginnings of a good deal of back budding on one of them. Obviously there is a lot more to be accomplished here. But for now this is a door opener just knowing the tree is going to respond as you have previously predicted and believed.

Nice!

 

[GrimLore]

But for now this is a door opener just knowing the tree is going to respond as you have previously predicted and believed.

Thank you! I plan on adding a couple this year, first time and appreciate the advance help! I plan to just do a cleanup after receipt and let them grow or die the first year - always willing to learn a new plant though.

Grimmy

 

[M. Frary]

Right about where a guy wants to see buds too.
Excellent!

 

[Vance Wood]

This ia the beginning of walking back the gorwth on a Mugo. You cut the growth back and open up the interior of the tree to light. This encourages the development of new little buds as you see. From here it is a matter of letting the new buds grow for a year or two and cutting them back hard down as far as the beginnings of the new growth. This will encourage more back budding down toward the base. In a few years you will have the baginnings of a pretty good bonsai. Between these events there are a lot of things that will need to be done but this is a good start for now.

 

[Alain]

Sweet!

I'll check mines as soon as I'm back home this evening

 

[Adair M]

Good job, Vance.

I've noticed over the years that if a pine is going to back bud, it seems to do it over the winter. Is that what you've seen?

 

[GGB]

I absolutely brutalized one of mine this spring. The other (conservative and slow) one has some good buds though

 

[Vance Wood]

Good job, Vance.

I've noticed over the years that if a pine is going to back bud, it seems to do it over the winter. Is that what you've seen?

That is a pretty typical response if you do your heavy pruning and candle removal, if that's what you call it, in July. Make note, and I think this applies accros the panoply of Pines, you do not mess with weak growth. I have found in some cases that this is where people lose it. Not knowing the difference between weak and strong often buds or candles are removed that should not have been.

You have to remember another thing about this process; the generation of an abundance of new buds like this does two things: First it promotes a lot of ramification. Secondly, the growth that is stimulated will be more compact and the needles will be shorter. This is especially prominent with Mugo Pines because the needles are smaller to begin wit. When this pine goes through this process the results can be quite prominent and striking.

 

[Vance Wood]

It does go to show you a bit about Pines. They never really shut down and stop growing. To a greater or lesser degree depending on the species, the tree is doing something all year. In Winter the Pine becomes introverted. It builds buds heals wounds, stores resources against the winter and gets ready for spring. It is also the reason I do most of my root work in the summer. I believe with Mugos that they respond better when the tree is in active growth. In the spring you are trying to do something to a depleted system.

 

[Adair M]

That is a pretty typical response if you do your heavy pruning and candle removal, if that's what you call it, in July. Make note, and I think this applies accros the panoply of Pines, you do not mess with weak growth. I have found in some cases that this is where people lose it. Not knowing the difference between weak and strong often buds or candles are removed that should not have been.

You have to remember another thing about this process; the generation of an abundance of new buds like this does two things: First it promotes a lot of ramification. Secondly, the growth that is stimulated will be more compact and the needles will be shorter. This is especially prominent with Mugo Pines because the needles are smaller to begin wit. When this pine goes through this process the results can be quite prominent and striking.

I remove spring candles in July. Heavy pruning in the fall, for the most part.

From the looks of those buds, they come from the internode. That is, the base of the old candle that became the stem. They don't appear to be old needle buds.

 

[Vance Wood]

Most of my work is done in July as well. Take a closer look on the branches shown here. You notice the flaky looking protuberances on the branches that look like the teeth on a rasp?, these are the remains of where the old needles were. For the most part this is where the majority of the back budding is going to take place. You could make the argument for them being epicormic buds and they might well be. I have seen buds appear right in the crotch between the two needles and if you happen to remove those needles on purpose or by accident, the buds will come with them. If I can catch the event as it happens I will try to photo the different stages. Some of it can be pretty interesting. Here is a clue you might want to look for on a Mugo, I don't know whether JBP's do this but when the tree is going to send out a new shoot within the needles it will most often be followed first by the double needles lengthening often preceded by a third needle and then the little pineapple-like growth of the new shoot will emerge. These kinds of buds are usually pretty sturdy while the buds you see in the photo below tend to be a little fragile for the first year. They are easily rubbed off or broken.

 

[Adair M]

If a JBP needle bundle has three needles instead of two, it for sure has a needle bud!

Yeah, I saw where the old needles were, but the budding appears to be grouped down low of what was once the shoot. I didn't see any up in the area that had all the needles. Maybe they are... I don't know.

For the most part, with JBP, we just work with the spring buds and the adventitious buds that appear after decandling, if we decandle.

 

[MichaelS]

If a JBP needle bundle has three needles instead of two, it for sure has a needle bud!

Yeah, I saw where the old needles were, but the budding appears to be grouped down low of what was once the shoot. I didn't see any up in the area that had all the needles. Maybe they are... I don't know.

For the most part, with JBP, we just work with the spring buds and the adventitious buds that appear after decandling, if we decandle.

If you want lots of back-budding in Black pine remove the new growth in autumn not spring. The tree must be young ad vigorous though. You can get buds on bare wood that way.

 

[Djtommy]

How have you beem fertilizing this mugo? Untill which month?
If buds develop over the winter, i guess there must be some kind of sapflow, do you use any firtilizer during wintermonths? Although i guess your trees are just snowed under in winter where you are..

 

[Vance Wood]

I don't fertilize during the winter, and you are right the trees are not capable of assimilating fertilizer during this period because of the nature of the soil being mostly frozen. Which brings up another point: Allowing the roots to freeze is a myth, mine freeze all of the time every year.

 

[Wilson]

I agree 100% Vance, up north here nurseries lay the pots down an cover with a sheet. All the roots freeze in -30 celsius, yet the trees are fine.

 

[Vance Wood]

I meant to finish this thought: Allowing the roots to freeze is a myth, mine freeze all of the time every year. There are those who say do not allow the roots to freeze. There are those who claim that allowing the roots to freeze is bad. This may be true, obviously for tropicals, and for many of the sub-Tropical and warm temperate trees. But most conifers are adapted by genetics to endure the root system being frozen solid for a substantial portion of the winter.

 

[M. Frary]

The roots on the my trees are frozen still.
What trees are left that is. Mice!
I'll be starting a thread on that. Utter devestation.

 

[wireme]

The roots on the my trees are frozen still.
What trees are left that is. Mice!
I'll be starting a thread on that. Utter devestation.

Bummer, hopefully you can still use the material.
I have a couple maples that were moused in the past that are regrowing into decent clump style material now.
No problems here since I started burying trunks and all in pumice, regular old pea gravel would work fine too I bet, extraction in the spring is a bit of a mission but it keeps the critters off and prevents early bud break too. So far.
Nice buds Vance!
Soil in my pots has been frozen solid since mid October without thawing once, will be frozen still for another 3 weeks or so.