Mugo mistake?

[MeDupree]

Soil is not good. I pruned it pretty hard in March so I didn't repot. (Cart before the horse?). I will try to poke some holes in the soil and get it into the shade.

Some sun I'd aim for sunrise to before it really heats up. Have you been fertilizing this? Need to get it healthier and then maybe slip pot into colander remove the top portion of soil but don't touch the rootball and add some better soil to start replacing the old but no full repot for a year or two depending if you plan to prune back hard again and how healthy you get it

 

[MeDupree]

Here's the 1 I'd shown before...stretching it out a bit taking time for figuring my direction for the 1st wire and next prune...repot in colander next spring most likely

 

[TrevorLarsen]

You want to repot in July like the best practices say. I did what you did except I was even harder on mine because I repotted and trimmed in spring. Mine also had the tips turn brown on a lot of the old needles but it has recovered. I think you will be fine and it will survive. If it is back budding and the new growth looks healthy you should be good.