Nursery Mugo

[Vance Wood]

This Mugo was developed from a 3 gallon Nursery plant. Has been in training about five to seven years.

 

[bonsai barry]

Wow, It looks as if this tree has done some serious backbudding. It makes me anxious to work on my tree, but that is months away. How about a close up of the nebari?

 

[Tachigi]

Vance, most Mugos that I run across are multiple trunks. Was this one any different? It's hard to tell but it looks like it had a chop or heavy prune on the right rear side.

 

[Vance Wood]

Wow, It looks as if this tree has done some serious backbudding. It makes me anxious to work on my tree, but that is months away. How about a close up of the nebari?

Any requests for additional photos will have to be filled in the spring. Everything is put away for the winter and I would have to move about twenty trees to get to this one.

 

[Vance Wood]

Vance, most Mugos that I run across are multiple trunks. Was this one any different? It's hard to tell but it looks like it had a chop or heavy prune on the right rear side.

This one has had a couple of chops, mostly to cop off the additional trunks. That's one of the tricks of doing Mugos from nursery material.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Really nice. Do those bottom branches keep popping up? I have a 5 gallon Mugo atm sitting out back that I was planning on planting by my koi pond and training as a Japanese ornamental. Your tree helps get me motivated

 

[John Hill]

Hi Vance,
Mugo has always been a tuff species for me, I have just one and now it looks like a bush. When was the last time you detailed wire this tree? This is a nice tree for sure but IMHO it needs another detail job.
I know they are a bit tuff (at least for me) to get a nice style as such you have with this one. Nice work Vance.

A Friend in bonsai
John

 

[Vance Wood]

Hi Vance,
Mugo has always been a tuff species for me, I have just one and now it looks like a bush. When was the last time you detailed wire this tree? This is a nice tree for sure but IMHO it needs another detail job.
I know they are a bit tuff (at least for me) to get a nice style as such you have with this one. Nice work Vance.

A Friend in bonsai
John

I find Mugos a pleasure to work with, but I have done a lot of them. As to the detailing. You are correct it needs detailing. Most of last year I was unable to do much with my trees do to a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery. I was incapacitated for almost a year.

I have noticed that sometime after the first wiring they have a tendency to spring back a little bit, but they will set after the second go round. This is apparent on the right side of the tree. It should be down a little more than it is, and is down a little more than it was originally styled.

 

[JasonG]

Hi Vance,

Thanks for posting this mugo, it is coming along very well. RichL and I ran across a heck of a deal last week, and bought about 25 single trunk mugos for $2.00 each. They are in 1 gallons, root bound as heck and all have atleast 1 1/2" to 2" trunks with good bark. The guy had started to prune them for bonsai but then gave up I guess.
My plan is to plant them all in the growing field this spring/summer.... Since they are so root bound my thought was to cut the bottom 1/2 of the root ball and try to tease out the remaining roots then plant in the ground. I expect some loss doing this and I am fine with that, and it won't be a big deal if I lose a few..

Would you have any suggestions or ideas that you could share with me/us that may help? If so I would appreciate it and I am sure the others here would to.

Thanks, Jason

 

[Graydon]

Nice tree! I love the pot as well. Will you be able to reduce the rootball in the future to get it set in the pot a little lower? Just curious - I don't have the pleasure of growing mugo down here so I don't know much about them in pot culture.

 

[Vance Wood]

Hi Vance,

Thanks for posting this mugo, it is coming along very well. RichL and I ran across a heck of a deal last week, and bought about 25 single trunk mugos for $2.00 each. They are in 1 gallons, root bound as heck and all have atleast 1 1/2" to 2" trunks with good bark. The guy had started to prune them for bonsai but then gave up I guess.
My plan is to plant them all in the growing field this spring/summer.... Since they are so root bound my thought was to cut the bottom 1/2 of the root ball and try to tease out the remaining roots then plant in the ground. I expect some loss doing this and I am fine with that, and it won't be a big deal if I lose a few..

Would you have any suggestions or ideas that you could share with me/us that may help? If so I would appreciate it and I am sure the others here would to.

Thanks, Jason

If you are going to do this I would suggest you do it in the summer. Cut half the root ball with a sharp saw and tease the roots out that are growing around the outside of the rest of the soil mass to straighten them out. Plant them in the ground and the next time you transplant or work on the roots take care of what is left of the old soil ball etc.

 

[Vance Wood]

Nice tree! I love the pot as well. Will you be able to reduce the rootball in the future to get it set in the pot a little lower? Just curious - I don't have the pleasure of growing mugo down here so I don't know much about them in pot culture.

That's the plan. Actually I tend to plant them a little on the high side because I let water sort of help expose the surface roots.