Mugo pine repot

[FourMileMarc]

I tried searching for this one before I posted this but I cannot find a definitive answer for it. When is the best time to repot and root prune these tree's. I got this one from Evergreen Garden Works in person last summer and Brent made it pretty clear to do root work at the regular time during candle swell in the late winter early spring time frame. However Vance Wood and the Bonsai 4 me people indicate that mid summer is best. I emailed Brent on this one and he brought up the fact that Vance lives in a much cooler climate and can get away with it. Brent lives in an area with temps in the 90's every day and root work in the summer would be to much. It is easy to assume it is that hot here to but due to the fact that I am right on the central coast 1/4 mile from the ocean, we have very cool summers. Summer here is our winter with perpetual fog and highs in the mid 60's. In fact I think it may be cooler here in the summer than in Northern Michigan or where ever Vance is from. This would seem to indicate I should do all of this in the mid summer if the Mugo would rather prefer it.

Here is the article from Vance

http://mababonsai.org/pages/wood_mugho1.html

Aditionally Vance seems to indicate in his article on Mugo's that you can also go ahead and cut and style the tree at the same time. This I find interesting because it violates the "one insult per year" thing. This would be convenient for me with this tree because I really need to induce backbudding on it while the wood is still relatively young. In fact I even seem to hear in this article that it may be preferable to repot (trim roots?), wire and cut all at the same time in mid summer.

Anyway I trust both Brent's and Vance's advice but they seem to be in conflict. Maybe he forgot I live in Santa Cruz. Highs have been in the 70's almost every day here since the first of the year and this tree is starting to push new growth so I am wondering what everyone's opinion is on this conflict.

Thanks alot!

 

[woodguy]

Popular topic.

I have been following the advice of Vance and Harry Harrington (Bonsai4me) for the last three seasons with my Mugos in southern CT. Summers can be pretty hot, we regularly get stretches in the summer of 90+ for days or weeks at a time. It can also be pretty humid during these times. I've been pruning roots in the summer and have had good success. I have also wired, and styled them at the same time as re-potting and was rewarded with good back budding and strong growth. You should allow at least a year after that to allow it to recover though. Perhaps it can just be considered one really major insult if you do it all at once. Young Mugos do seem to respond well to this treatment at least in my climate. From what I've read though older trees will not tolerate this treatment and should be worked more slowly. Unfortunately I don't have any old Mugos yet.

 

[FourMileMarc]

Sounds like I should whack it back and begin reducing the root ball for smaller containers around the 4th of July when we are in the thick of the June gloom around here then. After all our summers are the coolest time of year. I drove for 4 hours and payed around $175 for it so I do not want to kill it and I have no experience with these tree's.

Harry Harrington probably also has a cool summer in England. He seems to write pretty adamantly about summer repoting.

Thanks Woodguy