Mugo Transformation

Vance Wood

Lord Mugo
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This is a Mugo Pine, started from nursery material cut down, root pruned and potted on the same day, Father's Day 2006. The beginning bonsai photo was taken in Aug of this last year, 2007, so you can see that not only did the tree survive the process, it has thrived. The dead wood has to be worked and improved, the form needs another application of wire and foliage pads need to be defined.

The original tree, on the left, was about six foot tall when we began the process. This was done for a club demo. The original tree was obtained from a nursery in a balled in burlap condition, planted in one of my large training planters and allowed to develop a fine root system for a number of years prior to this process.

The tree is now about eighteen inches tall from the soil level.
 

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rlist

Shohin
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Vance-

Excellent first-ish styling. As the tree has more work and is allowed to mature over time, this will be a nice tree.

As the tree ramifies and is brought down to the main trunk to hide the branch/trunk (with a little movement added) and giving it the image of more mass, the tree will bring on a more natural and mature look. I await future stylings.
 
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ianb

Shohin
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Vance,

Excellent start, I have a couple of questions as I have a mugo as well (which seem to grow very slowly):

How long do you think it will take for the upper trunk to bark up to match the lower trunk?

Also do you know how long it would take for a sacrifice branch to help match the taper of the lower and upper trunk?

Thanks for your help.
Ian
 

grouper52

Masterpiece
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Certainly an impressive transformation, Vance, and well on its way to even greater refinement. This sort of progression is very instructive to us, so please continue to keep us posted as the tree progresses. Your work with nursery mugos certainly inspires us, since yamadori mugos are not in the cards for those of us in the US, (although I have seen a few landscapadori mugos recently that have deeply impressed me.) My own three small mugos are in the ground with tantalizing hints of future greatness, if I live long enough!

Thanks for the post.

grouper52
 

Vance Wood

Lord Mugo
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Vance,

Excellent start, I have a couple of questions as I have a mugo as well (which seem to grow very slowly):

How long do you think it will take for the upper trunk to bark up to match the lower trunk?

Also do you know how long it would take for a sacrifice branch to help match the taper of the lower and upper trunk?

Thanks for your help.
Ian

Ian:

The bark question can be a subjective issue depending on cultivar. This particular Mugo is of unknown attribution other than Mugo Pine. It most probably is just plain old Mugo. This means that as I start pinching and training the remaining branches I can expect bark to start to bulk up in about ten years, though I will be experimenting with a technique a friend exposed me to this year. If it works I will tell you.

I do not care for sacrifice branches on Pines if they are not in an area where their removal can be turned into a jin or some other dead wood element. Sacrifice branches often thicken only the area where they occur leaving the area below the branch much as it was. This is my experience with Scots and Mugos, it may be different with JWP and JBP.

Thank you all for your kind words.
 
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