mugo pine

[rat fink]

I just bought a medium sized mugo pine from the nursery, it already has a 2 inch trunk. It is in excellent condition. It is in typical dense soil. I have read that the best time to prune the roots and repot a mugo, is in the summer, July or August. Could I repot it now without trimming the roots into better draining soil, or leave it as is until then? Could I do some light branch pruning and wiring now?

 

[SimonDuval]

This will all depend if you're in Florida or Alaska... Update your city in your profile, it will be easier for future questions!

 

[Vance Wood]

This will all depend if you're in Florida or Alaska... Update your city in your profile, it will be easier for future questions!

Simon is correct, it depends on where you live. If you do it now in Michigan to New York you will probably lose the tree. If you plan on removing a substantial amount of the original soil you should probably wait till after the first of July. Spring can work but, as I have told people before, the only Mugos I have ever had trouble with are those that I have dealt with in the Spring.

 

[rat fink]

I live in Albuquerque, NM. So should I leave it in the nursery soil for now? Can I do some light top runing now?

 

[SimonDuval]

Very light pruning yes, but if you plan to repot this summer, I would leave it as is, especially if you plan to remove a lot of the original soil. In my experience, Mugos can be insulted easily if you do too much.

 

[logan3]

I learned the hard way not to trim branches back all the way to the trunk, had a lot of die back. So now I leave about a 1/4in. stub that I can clean up later. Pete

 

[Vance Wood]

I learned the hard way not to trim branches back all the way to the trunk, had a lot of die back. So now I leave about a 1/4in. stub that I can clean up later. Pete

I've been teaching that for years. It's nice to get confirmation. This is particularly annoying about Mugos, I have seen the water path or living path for a particular branch die all the way to the ground on larger branches flush cut.

 

[Vance Wood]

I live in Albuquerque, NM. So should I leave it in the nursery soil for now? Can I do some light top runing now?

You can do some light pruning but leave stubs, do not cut flush. I am also concerned about where you live. NM is pretty hot--- where did you get your stock? Local nursery or mail order or what? I am very interested to know what experiences people in your area are having with the Mugo Pine. How well do they do in the landscape? I get people telling me from areas that are less climatically hostile than yours that they cannot grow Mugos where they live. I would like to follow your experience with this tree from the beginning.

I have been growing Mugos for many years and would very much like to help in any way I can with your experience.

Can you post some pictures?