Mugo monstrosity

[jesseblunt]

Free nursery find (headed for the burn pile)

Is that a trunk or just a big fat useless knuckle? Branches seem too thick as well as being bar branches and I'm not sure what to start thinking about styling.

What is the cutoff for root work on Mugos? This guy is root bound and I'd love to get it into a pond basket if it isn't' too late in the season.

Any help/comments/ideas are appreciated
Jesse

PS. I'm beyond frustrated with trying to get pics to stop rotating by themselves...any advice on that would be helpful too.

 

[markyscott]

Free nursery find (headed for the burn pile)

Is that a trunk or just a big fat useless knuckle? Branches seem too thick as well as being bar branches and I'm not sure what to start thinking about styling.

What is the cutoff for root work on Mugos? This guy is root bound and I'd love to get it into a pond basket if it isn't' too late in the season.

Any help/comments/ideas are appreciated
Jesse

PS. I'm beyond frustrated with trying to get pics to stop rotating by themselves...any advice on that would be helpful too.

iPhone? Make sure the camera lens is in the top left corner when you take the picture. OR go to the photos app, find the photo you want, edit, rotate, save, edit, rotate back, and save. Then post.

Scott

 

[evmibo]

I'm beyond frustrated with trying to get pics to stop rotating by themselves...any advice on that would be helpful too.

Are you taking pics with your phone and sending them to your computer?
PC or Mac?
If not, are you posting everything from your phone?

I should be able to help when I figure out what devices you're using and your procedure.

Btw, really nice find. Free is even better. I'm sure Vance will be by soon.. I know literally nothing about Mugos but I would think this has a lot of promise.

 

[jesseblunt]

Photos were taken with an iPad mini (took them with iPhone before that - but not in upper left... ) with the camera upright. They are all vertical and seem to rotate 90* counter clockwise after uploading (they even appear upright in the tiny thumbnail image just before I click "upload" and afterward, when the thumbnail disappears and they are attached, they magically rotate. Does the phone have to be held a certain way to indicate that it's upright? Seems like it should post te same way it is viewed in my photos album. Sorry for the lack of photo skills. I may go back to using my cybershot and just uploading from the PC if I can't figure this out.
Thanks
Jesse

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Let Vance chime in, but I would think you could score the circling roots and sink it in the pond basket in the ground. I think more people kill these by moving too fast on the top; myself included. Wait unil spring and then remove one small branch a month. I think you can manufacture some taper.

 

[evmibo]

Photos were taken with an iPad mini (took them with iPhone before that - but not in upper left... ) with the camera upright. They are all vertical and seem to rotate 90* counter clockwise after uploading (they even appear upright in the tiny thumbnail image just before I click "upload" and afterward, when the thumbnail disappears and they are attached, they magically rotate. Does the phone have to be held a certain way to indicate that it's upright? Seems like it should post te same way it is viewed in my photos album. Sorry for the lack of photo skills. I may go back to using my cybershot and just uploading from the PC if I can't figure this out.

Darn, I have an iPhone but send my pics to my email and upload on the computer (this site isn't very mobile friendly). What I would at least try is editing the pictures in your albums on the iPad before uploading, and seeing if rotating it there helps. Otherwise just send them to your email, download on comp and upload to the site. Maybe someone else with an iPad can chime in.. I've never used one before.

 

[Vance Wood]

It looks to me like you have a potentially good tree that needs work. Remember a Diamond is just a rock in the beginning. I would saw off the bottom third to one half of the bottom of the soil ball. It looks like you have already pulled the loose junk off the top of the soil ball. I would saw into the remaining soil ball toward the trunk no more than one inch in three locations around the remaining soil ball. Like measuring the cuts in a pie for you and two of your friends. You just want to break the circling cycle and make the tree grow outward. Put it in a pond basket and let it alone till it starts to bud out next spring.

 

[M. Frary]

Took this from your post, turned it and put it back here in 2 minutes with my RAZR.

 

[M. Frary]

Yikes! Try again.

 

[jesseblunt]

Worked on this finally today. Hoping I folowed Vance's instructions correctly. It's now slip potted into a pond basket with granite/NAPA Oil Dry mix. Thanks again for the help, Vance!

 

[Vance Wood]

Worked on this finally today. Hoping I folowed Vance's instructions correctly. It's now slip potted into a pond basket with granite/NAPA Oil Dry mix. Thanks again for the help, Vance!

View attachment 58635View attachment 58636View attachment 58637View attachment 58638

I'm thinking you're fine.

 

[Vin]

Free nursery find (headed for the burn pile)

Is that a trunk or just a big fat useless knuckle? Branches seem too thick as well as being bar branches and I'm not sure what to start thinking about styling.

What is the cutoff for root work on Mugos? This guy is root bound and I'd love to get it into a pond basket if it isn't' too late in the season.

Any help/comments/ideas are appreciated
Jesse

PS. I'm beyond frustrated with trying to get pics to stop rotating by themselves...any advice on that would be helpful too.

Is the "eeny, meeny, miny, moe branch selection method allowed in bonsai? Kinda looks like an Ilex I have. The maze of branches was daunting at first. However, things began to come together as I removed some of the branches. Looking forward to your progression.

 

[Vance Wood]

Is the "eeny, meeny, miny, moe branch selection method allowed in bonsai? Kinda looks like an Ilex I have. The maze of branches was daunting at first. However, things began to come together as I removed some of the branches. Looking forward to you progression.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Mugo Pines. The is the second most daunting process that scares people away.

 

[Vin]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Mugo Pines. The is the second most daunting process that scares people away.

I knew I had a photo for comparison somewhere. What concerns me is if this is only the second most daunting process then what's the first most?

 

[Vance Wood]

I knew I had a photo for comparison somewhere. What concerns me is if this is only the second most daunting process then what's the first most?

Buying one------LOL, just joking--- sort of. Repotting trumps eveything.

 

[Potawatomi13]

This is a pretty small tree and Mugos have pretty limber branches so how about picking one branch, cut off all the rest and make a cascade? After a year to recover if it looks strong start doing some drastic and outrageous bends in it to give it great and unique character. Take your cues from the best yamadori you can find either in pics or in person. As an afterthought you might save one other branch in case you kill your first choice in your enthusiasm.

 

[Vance Wood]

This is a pretty small tree and Mugos have pretty limber branches so how about picking one branch, cut off all the rest and make a cascade? After a year to recover if it looks strong start doing some drastic and outrageous bends in it to give it great and unique character. Take your cues from the best yamadori you can find either in pics or in person. As an afterthought you might save one other branch in case you kill your first choice in your enthusiasm.

Seriously? Why don't you set the tree in the drive way and run over it a couple of times with your car? You take that much off a Mugo at one time and you will kill it, force it into a cascade and it will look more like a toliet brush than a bonsai for at least ten years---- unless you decide to run over it with your car first.

 

[Vin]

Someone just opened up a big ole' can of Trash Talk

 

[M. Frary]

This is a pretty small tree and Mugos have pretty limber branches so how about picking one branch, cut off all the rest and make a cascade? After a year to recover if it looks strong start doing some drastic and outrageous bends in it to give it great and unique character. Take your cues from the best yamadori you can find either in pics or in person. As an afterthought you might save one other branch in case you kill your first choice in your enthusiasm.

You will kill more than a branch in your enthusiasm. You'll kill the whole shooting match. These are not maples or elms. They are pines that most people have a tough time getting a handle on. Easy does it.

 

[Vance Wood]

When it comes to styling a nursery Mugo there are two ways to look at the tree. The first, and most obvious, is from the point where the tree is without removing any branches. Is there a solution that looks like a tree growing in the Mountains that the tree reminds you of?

If not; then you have to start thinking of the branches as a continuation of some sort of single or double or even triple trunk that could be a tree. You are looking for a single trunk line that is produced by the systematic and progressive removal of branches until a single trunk is defined. This is the kind of process more akin to clip and grow.

This particular tree has a problem that needs to be worked through; it has two main branches that make a bar branch assembly right at the base of the tree. One of them has to go. You now have to decide which one stays that provides you with numerically more or artistically better solutions than the other. When that decision is made you can cut one of them off, but make sure you leave at least a two inch stub at the base. If you cut it flush to the trunk you are likely to see some serious root decline. This is important so listen and do it this way. Lets wait and see how the tree does from this point then you can decide what kind of design to accomplish.