Mugo Pines again

We shouldnt get into the specifics of my failure in this thread. If you like I would be glad to PM you. Again, I dont blame you for anything of my doing. I think I probably blew the potting and aftercare, but again, not here. This thread is about you doing a video on the mugo pine, with which you have had much success.
Regarding the camera, video can be made from DSLRs, video cameras, and surprisingly good ones can be made with smartphones. Now, editing those vids is something I have NO idea about. Just never have done any editing of video before. I'm sure people here have, and can help with that.

I think you should just start doing some and see what you like, dont like, what needs to be done differently, what needs to be included, etc. That way you will be able to do your final version(s) how YOU want them to be.
 
berobinson82 said:
If you don't have Acrobat, you could design the document in Micro$oft Word and convert it afterwards... I'd be glad to help with that conversion.
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I used PowerPoint; easier to work with photos and text boxes. Just about finished the update...having a few friends review/preview it and proof it.

I'd be interested in seeing one on Mugo. Aside from a few Pumillo from a nursery in Sebastapol, the European yamadoris are about the only ones that seem to show any convincing signs of age. It would be nice to change the perception in the US if it's false.
 
Vance Wood said:
I guess; considering the time of year, it is not surprising that I have turned to the INTERNET bonsai sites, specifically Youtube videos for Mugo Pine information. I am not quite so interested to find out some new stuff other than design information, there is a good deal of that from European sources.

However; I was appalled at how much really bad stuff there is out there about this tree. If people posted stuff of this quality about JBP you would see people climbing out of the wood work in protest. At this point I would suggest anyone interested in Mugo Pine could look look at a lot of this information as suggestions and recommendations of what not to do.

There are three or four videos where you have people doing demonstrations with trees that they don't have a clue as to what it is they are doing, why they are doing it and what they expect to happen a year down the road. They are totally lost but somehow thought, that the Mugo was an easy target for a demo-video and blundered they way in the disasters that followed. The results from those that survived and were exhibited as bonsai (?) would never occupy a place of honor on any bonsai bench. Am I boasting a better skill lever? Absolutely not but I have a different approach that is not afraid of removing a lot of material from these trees most of these other people will not.

It has been my experience that I am just about the only fool in America that has taken the Mugo Pine seriously. Most everybody else cannot get the image of all of these "sheared for the nursery trade" trees out of their minds and only consider the Mugo a novelty tree suitable for beginners to get their hands dirty with. Most do not have a Mugo sitting on their bench good, bad or dead. Their experience has only been in kiling them and recommending the same kind of treatment they have always used to kill them in the past. Instead of coming to a conclusion that they are doing something wrong they blame where they live as the reason they die. I wonder how that happens????? Never the less I guess I have discovered what my next project is going to be.
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I'll be working with a shohin mugo pine this year for the first time. It's not zoned for my climate though here in socal. I fear I might end up having to sell it in a year or two from lack of a hard freeze every winter. Time will tell.
 
Brian Van Fleet said:
I used PowerPoint; easier to work with photos and text boxes. Just about finished the update...having a few friends review/preview it and proof it.

I'd be interested in seeing one on Mugo. Aside from a few Pumillo from a nursery in Sebastapol, the European yamadoris are about the only ones that seem to show any convincing signs of age. It would be nice to change the perception in the US if it's false.
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The perception is not false because people will believe what people will believe either because they have been told it is so, or they have heard it is so and they don't know any better. Perception is perception true or false it is what it is. Just because in my mind I can look at the world and believe it is flat does not make it so. The reality is that there are no really old Mugos in America that I am aware of. The real problem is that not many are aware of what is necessary in developing Mugo nursery stock so that it departs from the pigeon holed profile of being a sheared round bush fit only for the landscape. Most people are loath to discover that much of the original tree they find in a nursery must be cut away and discarded. In designing this tree, in the beginning there are in some peoples minds, just too many choices and most of them give no evidence which are the right ones. Too much is left and the wrong stuff is removed.

The trees that exist in Europe are exactly the same trees that we grow here. I have heard people say that our Mugos are different; one of the many lies told about this tree for years, that is just flat out untrue. Another favorite lie is that: I cannot grow Mugos here. That's a favorite for those who don't wish to figure out what they did wrong. I used to get that one around here all the time until I started coming up with all kinds of them that had been cultivated as bonsai for many years. No one wants to admit they are probably doing something wrong. The fact is the Mugo is very easy to work with if you know when you can work with it and what to do when you do. The Mugo is almost simple.
 
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Videos are nice, but to be honest, I have little patience to sit at my computer and watch a half hour video on anything.

I would prefer a PDF I can download and put into my files. I can take it anywhere without having to drag a computer or ipad around and have an internet connection to see it. I can look at the pictures without having to pause and if done right, can really see the details better than any U-Tube video can portray. Most of the time, full screen on a Utube video is so grainy you cant see a damn thing.
 
Paradox said:
Videos are nice, but to be honest, I have little patience to sit at my computer and watch a half hour video on anything.

I would prefer a PDF I can download and put into my files. I can take it anywhere without having to drag a computer or ipad around and have an internet connection to see it. I can look at the pictures without having to pause and if done right, can really see the details better than any U-Tube video can portray. Most of the time, full screen on a Utube video is so grainy you cant see a damn thing.
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Maybe the videos can be transcribed and the two formats can be released together? I would think a how-to video would translate pretty easily onto paper. Kind of cover all the bases sort of speak. I imagine people on the forum would be happy to help with something like that if it makes sense.
 
Vance Wood said:
I look forward to learning more about them and not trying to dodge anything that does not fit my findings.
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This is key. Thanks for having this attitude, Vance, and thanks for having an interest in helping the community to learn more about Mugos!
 
Vance, I think this is a great idea for a project. It would be great to see some videos but you should seriously consider doing the PDF as Brian Van Fleet has done for black pines. It is definitely some of the best presented info I have seen in bonsai and as others have pointed out already it is much easier to refer back to than a video.
 
Paradox said:
Videos are nice, but to be honest, I have little patience to sit at my computer and watch a half hour video on anything.

I would prefer a PDF I can download and put into my files. I can take it anywhere without having to drag a computer or ipad around and have an internet connection to see it. I can look at the pictures without having to pause and if done right, can really see the details better than any U-Tube video can portray. Most of the time, full screen on a Utube video is so grainy you cant see a damn thing.
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You have little patience to sit at your computer and watch bad videos. I purchased a HD video camera for my wife and I. It is fully digital and has 8.9 Mewgapixals and capable of 1080 I. I think I can get some decent videos with it. The reason I want to go this way is because you can often tell people something and they will turn around and do something completely different.

As I mentioned earlier some people will hear what they want to hear and then claim they did what you told them to do. When you show them--- then they can blame only themselves. Here is an example: A number of years ago I did a workshop with Mugos for a local club. I instructed one individual to remove all the upward growing needles and all the downward growing needles on several branches. Leave the side growing needles. Fifteen or twenty minutes latter she came to show me what she had done. She had removed all of the needles. Her explanation was that this is what they do to Black Pine. I told her that the tree was not a Black Pine------etc.

This is what I run into with this tree. People think they know what you are talking about because they know something of Black Pine and didn't really listen to what they were told. Consequently they end up with trees that will take many years to recover enough that back budding can be induced. One of the complaints about Mugos is their tendency to produce Pom-Pom growth. Now you know why. If this information were transmitted in a video format a lot of the confusion would be dissipated.
 
woodguy said:
His videos are excellent!
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Put those on full screen and they are as good as anything. I won't produce anything that is not of that quality. I can even call them up and engage my Apple TV device and stream the videos straight to my very large flat screen TV and the picture still does not degrade.

I have been known to sit in front of the TV for hours and watch this guy do Mugos, Scots Pines, Junipers of all descriptions, and Yews. I don't find his videos boring at all. I think I have figured out what he does to make them viewable and I hope to duplicate it.
 
Doing either video or written format is a big project so doing both would be a huge project.

Vance, if you do decide to do a written version in addition to a video, Id be happy to help with it. I actually thought about offering my help once before but didnt think you were into doing it at the time. If you are interested, Ill send you a PM with what I have in mind.
 
Paradox said:
Doing either video or written format is a big project so doing both would be a huge project.

Vance, if you do decide to do a written version in addition to a video, Id be happy to help with it. I actually thought about offering my help once before but didnt think you were into doing it at the time. If you are interested, Ill send you a PM with what I have in mind.
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We can talk about it if I can get my PM's. I seem to be having a good deal of trouble getting my Email notifications of post on subjects I have subscribed to. No one seems to be able to tell me why.
 
Vance Wood said:
We can talk about it if I can get my PM's. I seem to be having a good deal of trouble getting my Email notifications of post on subjects I have subscribed to. No one seems to be able to tell me why.
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Can you send PMs? PM me your email if you dont mind and I can email you.
 
Great idea Vance! I for one would greatly appreciate learning more about Mugos.
 
Vance Wood said:
Have any of you guys watched any of Graham Potter's videos? It is this guys work that has made me want to do this project.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...&mid=D79889CB2D0EDD47C007D79889CB2D0EDD47C007
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Hi Vance,
I love Grahams videos. I think both Graham and Pavel Slovak do amazing work in Europe with pines. I am hoping to retry Mugo pines after looking up all of your posts. I have not had luck in Southern California with them. I need to follow your advice on working the trees in the summer as well as how to get them to back bud. When I do find a new tree I will post it and hope you will chime in with advice. I have been told that I cannot keep Mugo Pines alive in Southern California by fairly respected Bonsai enthusiasts here. If the Southern California climate is not in your opinion condusive to Mugo Pines, please let me know before I give it another shot.
Thanks Vance,
Tona
 
Got it Vance, Ill email you tonight when I can sit at my actual computer and type on a real keyboard instead of this phone.
 
Tona said:
Hi Vance,
I love Grahams videos. I think both Graham and Pavel Slovak do amazing work in Europe with pines. I am hoping to retry Mugo pines after looking up all of your posts. I have not had luck in Southern California with them. I need to follow your advice on working the trees in the summer as well as how to get them to back bud. When I do find a new tree I will post it and hope you will chime in with advice. I have been told that I cannot keep Mugo Pines alive in Southern California by fairly respected Bonsai enthusiasts here. If the Southern California climate is not in your opinion condusive to Mugo Pines, please let me know before I give it another shot.
Thanks Vance,
Tona
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I really do not know. Over the years if I had taken seriously everyone who said they cannot grow them "Here", no one could grow them any where, out side of Germany and the Arctic Circle. Of course we all know that's untrue. I am thinking if you can grow JBP where you are you can grow Mugo as well. Most of the time a good portion of the "You can't grow those here" arguments are really just an excuse for the truth that you can not grow them there---- using the same tactics used for JBP, no matter how often the literature says all two-needle Pines are treated the same way. The real problem is that many come at the Mugo having all this success with JBP thinking that they can pull it off regardless of what I say. In the end the results wind up being the same, dead trees and wasted time.
 
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