Mugo Pine Advise

[BobbyO]

New Mugo pine from nursery stock. Is it too late in the season to do much with this tree (I live in zone 4 Minnesota)? I cleaned out lots of dead needles and extra soil. Didn’t really remove any branches as the visible cuts were to get rid of a few limp, dead nubs. I’m pretty much a novis - this Mugo puts my current tree count at 3 - and I would like to shape this tree up a little bit before the snow flies. This is my first pine and I don’t want to damage a tree with such good potential. I just read Vance Wood’s tutorial and, due to the date, it sounds like I should wait until next year to proceed. Thanks in advance!

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

I reckon I'd select one uneccesary branch in the bottom and whack it off.
It should be one that when removed, greatly reduced the risk of knuckle swelling.

Sorce

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Nice little mugo. You are right, with you being in Minnesota, zone 4, it is probably too late in the year to repot. In spots where you have 4 or more branches, bring the number down to 2 or 3. But because winter is coming, do not take off more than 25 %. Its okay to leave 2 branches and the continuation of the trunk (3 total) at any one point, because you have not styled the tree yet. Keeping 2 at each node leaves you choices for when it is time to style next year. Key is do not take off more than 20 - 25%.

Clean out dead needles, litter, and duff. Basically get it ready for next year.

If I were you, I would repot next year, right after the Summer Solstice. Repot first. Give it all summer to recover, then the following summer do your "full styling". That is the order I would do it. Your pot for next year can be a training pot, should be a training pot. But if you can't resist, a bonsai pot will do. I know there is always a temptation to move trees to bonsai pots quickly. It is necessarily a bad thing.

 

[BobbyO]

Welcome to Crazy!

I reckon I'd select one uneccesary branch in the bottom and whack it off.
It should be one that when removed, greatly reduced the risk of knuckle swelling.

Sorce

Thanks!

 

[BobbyO]

Nice little mugo. You are right, with you being in Minnesota, zone 4, it is probably too late in the year to repot. In spots where you have 4 or more branches, bring the number down to 2 or 3. But because winter is coming, do not take off more than 25 %. Its okay to leave 2 branches and the continuation of the trunk (3 total) at any one point, because you have not styled the tree yet. Keeping 2 at each node leaves you choices for when it is time to style next year. Key is do not take off more than 20 - 25%.

Clean out dead needles, litter, and duff. Basically get it ready for next year.

If I were you, I would repot next year, right after the Summer Solstice. Repot first. Give it all summer to recover, then the following summer do your "full styling". That is the order I would do it. Your pot for next year can be a training pot, should be a training pot. But if you can't resist, a bonsai pot will do. I know there is always a temptation to move trees to bonsai pots quickly. It is necessarily a bad thing.

Thanks for the sage advice...much appreciated!

 

[Vance Wood]

You could remove a branch or two but anything more than that could be dangerous. If you still have the label from the nursery could you check if there is a piggybacked title for these trees, like botanical names Mugo Montana, Mugo Mughus, Mugo Tyrolean, there are a lot of them I would very much like to see how this one was marketed.

 

[BobbyO]

You could remove a branch or two but anything more than that could be dangerous. If you still have the label from the nursery could you check if there is a piggybacked title for these trees, like botanical names Mugo Montana, Mugo Mughus, Mugo Tyrolean, there are a lot of them I would very much like to see how this one was marketed.

Jacobsen Mugo Pine
Pinus Mugo ‘Jacobsen’
H 2’-3’
W 4’-5’
Zone 2-7