mugo pine thoughts?

SouthernMaple

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Guy selling mugo pine seedlings for $5 bucks a pop here in western greater asheville. I thought they might be good xmas presents fro my friends that are borderline interested in bonsai. And i thought i might pick one up if they are a good tree to bonsai. How is their growth rate? Should I hold out for something bigger and better?
 

Shibui

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Mugho is one of the slower growing pines over here. It would be a loooong term project from seedling I think.
Seedlings of all sorts are cheap and allow you full control but take time.
Advanced trees can give quicker results but cost more and can have problems that are difficult to work with.

As always, your choice and it is always possible to do both at once.
 

SouthernMaple

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Mugho is one of the slower growing pines over here. It would be a loooong term project from seedling I think.
Seedlings of all sorts are cheap and allow you full control but take time.
Advanced trees can give quicker results but cost more and can have problems that are difficult to work with.

As always, your choice and it is always possible to do both at once.
im gonna hold off and get into bouganvillias instead
 

sorce

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im gonna hold off and get into bouganvillias instead

Is that a joke!
That almost sounds like a joke!

I would give em a try.

I've been so frustrated with what comes in the pot with nursery mugos that I've been considering just planting seeds.

Screw how long it takes. Slow growth is easy to control.

Mugo is a beautiful tree all the time. No need to wait for flowers!

Sorce
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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I'd pick a Japanese red pine if I would go with seedlings. Mugo pines are slow, single flush, unforgiving.. Red pine doesn't give a hoot! They either single, double or triple flush. You can freeze them or grow them in hotter places. From all the pines I own, japanese red pines are the most forgiving ones.
And that's coming from a scots pine fanboy, in a scots pine country, on a scots (and mugo) pine continent. ;-)
If they are borderline interested, I think a red pine would reel them in better than a mugo. I believe a more easy-to-nibble-on bait is better than a species with some traits that are harder to deal with.

Or otherwise, I'd just do junipers. You can't really go wrong on those. At least.. Not in a sense that can never be fixed.
 
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SouthernMaple

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I'd pick a Japanese red pine if I would go with seedlings. Mugo pines are slow, single flush, unforgiving.. Red pine doesn't give a hoot! They either single, double or triple flush. You can freeze them or grow them in hotter places. From all the pines I own, japanese red pines are the most forgiving ones.
And that's coming from a scots pine fanboy, in a scots pine country, on a scots (and mugo) pine continent. ;-)
If they are borderline interested, I think a red pine would reel them in better than a mugo. I believe a more easy-to-nibble-on bait is better than a species with some traits that are harder to deal with.

Or otherwise, I'd just do junipers. You can't really go wrong on those. At least.. Not in a sense that can never be fixed.
im allergic to junipers or id go that route, my old landlord offered to give me a 25 yr old juniper landscape tree all i would have to do is dig it up and cover the hole.
 

SouthernMaple

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Is that a joke!
That almost sounds like a joke!

I would give em a try.

I've been so frustrated with what comes in the pot with nursery mugos that I've been considering just planting seeds.

Screw how long it takes. Slow growth is easy to control.

Mugo is a beautiful tree all the time. No need to wait for flowers!

Sorce
slow growing is what I am trying to shy away from Im 38 and im not a spring chicken anymore. I don't have much time left. I also have no kids so I don't have anyone to carry on my legacy.
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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im allergic to junipers or id go that route, my old landlord offered to give me a 25 yr old juniper landscape tree all i would have to do is dig it up and cover the hole.
Ouch, that must be a tough one. Are you allergic to the pollen, or the entire thing? Because I haven't met anyone who doesn't get a (slight) rash after being hit by juniper foliage. If it's the pollen; junipers have males and females, usually at the end of summer they show their sex by either producing pollen cones, or by producing square-ish female flowers. The ladies don't make pollen.
Not that I want to convince you of anything, but I think it would be cool for you to know that there might still be options even if you're allergic.
 

Nybonsai12

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slow growing is what I am trying to shy away from Im 38 and im not a spring chicken anymore. I don't have much time left. I also have no kids so I don't have anyone to carry on my legacy.

1)38 is not old and probably on the younger side of bonsai hobbyists, plenty of time left!
2)Japanese black pine are very fast growers when it comes to pines.
3)Nobody's kids care about their bonsai hobby.

Good luck!
 

Japonicus

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Gees for $5 get YOURSELF 3 or 4 and take pride in your outcomes.
If you live to be 50 you should net at least $100 each on eBay or at a local club.
More if you get creative with them, but chances are you will not want to part with them
unless you’re ill.

I am allergic to one juniper I have growing in the ground that’s ripe for collecting
but I am highly skin reactive to it unlike any other juniper I mess with.
I think it’s a pfitzer juniper.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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+1 for NYBonsai12's list
Almost nobody is lucky enough to have their own kids get interested in bonsai. Not unless you were already showing a net profit over $100,000 per year from your bonsai nursery, which I am pretty confident not more than one or two nurseries in the USA would net over $100,000 usd.

Sometimes you get lucky and a kid from your extended network of family and close friends will get interested, but most often, the only people interested in your bonsai will be friends you have made through the bonsai hobby, friends you probably would have never met except for this hobby.

I'm 65 years old, and have every intention of "doing bonsai" until the day I drop dead, hopefully 20 or more years from now. I buy, sell trade, & gift away trees all the time. New trees come in, other trees go out. My collection of 100+ sticks in pots in various stages of development is entirely different than it was 10 years ago. Only 4 or 5 trees have been with me more than 10 years, and I started raising bonsai over 40 years ago. Though granted, I've only been serious about it since about 2004.

Point is, get over the idea that you will be the "only owner" of a tree. If a tree develops to the point where it gets interest at shows, sure enough, you will find people interested in taking on a tree after you decide you have had it long enough. Even "pre-bonsai" sticks in pots others will get interested in, so passing along trees is a normal part of the hobby. As you make friends in the hobby, you will see someone with something your are interested in, and next thing you know, you end up trading. Bonsai is not permanent. We are all temporary care takers of our trees.

Bonsai as Gifts, this is an activity that is fraught with hazards. Will your friends avoid you if they kill your gift tree and feel guilty about it? Will your friends feel imposed upon if their mild interest in bonsai is not up to the demands of actual bonsai horticulture? Key is, if you give gifts of bonsai, expect nearly 100% mortality, and be pleasantly surprised if the trees actually become the hook that brings your friends into the hobby. It rarely works out the way you picture it in your mind.

Better might be a good book, like one from Colin Lewis, or a picture book of bonsai. Check out the selection at Stone Lantern. A book won't die, won't make someone feel guilty, and might be just the hook to get someone to try on their own.

Or ask first before you give a tree. Don't surprise them with one.

Also, giving a winter hardy tree, will make the recipient crazy, because a dormant mugo should not be brought indoors for more than 10 to 12 hours at a time, or it looses winter hardiness and will need protection to finish the winter. Same with a juniper. For winter gifts, give a sub-tropical like gardenia, florists (not cold hardy) azalea, Ficus, or other sub-tropical.

With the mugo, I'd pick them up now, a good bunch of them. Winter them in your own back yard. Give them away in spring or early summer after you have repotted them to bonsai pots. Give them as random acts of kindness gifts, and giving them while in active growth allows the recipients to enjoy them for the summer, before having to put them away for winter dormancy. Keep a few extra mugos for yourself to sharpen your own mugo skills with. They are slow, take time and are very much well worth the effort and patience required.


 

Vance Wood

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I agree, the more the better. You may want to keep them all. Don't listen to those who are telling you they are slow, they are not they just don't grow so much that you loose track of them.

Included are a few I have dragged from my files. The last one was sold last year at the bonsai show, the top one was shown at the National Show in NY a couple of years ago. The one in the center was developed for really young and cheap $1.98 material about ten years ago.
 

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