Pinus mugo Jacobsen

[Abhishek Dasgupta]

Beginner here . Living in zone 4 of Minnesota , we don’t have access to Japanese black pines or Japanese white pines . But we do have mugo .

Today found an amazing Jacobson mugo pine at local nursery and at a bargain as it wasn’t in greatest of condition . Lots of dead branches and when took it out of put to check heavily root bound and also it was planted way deep . I have been searching for a nice one that I like for over a year and finally found one I think …

Brought it home , cleaned up the dead woods and brown needles , potted in an air pot with pumice , pine bark fines and red lava . Took out 1/3rd of roots and kept root ball mostly intact as am scared to bare root it .
Planted with Myke’s mycorrhizae and gave it a drink with superthrive .

Let me know what Incan do to reduce the transplant shock . I have heard of Dyna Gro KLN but don’t know if it’s needed .

Sorry if this sounds too novice …

anyways here is the pic

 

[Abhishek Dasgupta]

The pot is an air pot similar to pond basket that my wife uses for hydroponics …

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

You can't really reduce transplant shock after a transplant, I believe.
It either happens or it doesn't. But it seems like you're on the right track. In a month or two, you'll know if it liked it or not.

 

[Abhishek Dasgupta]

You can't really reduce transplant shock after a transplant, I believe.
It either happens or it doesn't. But it seems like you're on the right track. In a month or two, you'll know if it liked it or not.

Thank you for replying .
Is there anything I can do to help in root development ? Will fertilizing with seaweed or fish fertilizer help ?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Mugo pines are a single flush pine species, that means they grow once a year.
Feeding it lightly can help it, but feeding it too much can be problematic because the roots would have to deal with salt stress. You're probably not going to see any growth (other than some bud formation) up until next spring.
It's entirely up to you if you want to feed it nutrients, but you don't have to.

I do a light feed after transplanting into inorganic soils because I consider those soils empty. But if you're not entirely sure about the amount and the frequency, for instance because you're new to the hobby, the plant will be fine if you don't do anything other than water it at the right times. The watering part of the hobby is probably one of the most important things you'll have to teach yourself, and it really helps if there are no other factors in the process giving you signals; overfeeding and over/underwatering can have the same signs on the foliage, but it's hard to figure out what caused an issue if you've applied multiple actions at the same time.

Just before spring happens though, it's generally a good idea to provide pines with some nutrients so that those nutrients are available in the soil when spring growth occurs.

Summarized: if you want to play it safe, feed it lightly or not at all. If you feel like you want to take a risk, go for a full dose.

 

[Abhishek Dasgupta]

Thank you son much for the detailed reply . Any particular feed ? I was thinking of fish fertilizer which I have at hand

 

[bonsaiDerek]

any update on that tree? id like to try the same species
also in the twin cities area

 

[August44]

any update on that tree? id like to try the same species
also in the twin cities area

I have one of those and like it a lot. They're grafted, but pretty good graft. I scored all the way around every so often down below the graft. They say that will help the trunk to blend better with the graft.

 

[bonsaiDerek]

what soil did you pot it in?

 

[Abhishek Dasgupta]

It’s doing excellent after a summer repot last year and is now planted in my garden for ground growing in the colander with root work being done every 3-4 years . My plan is to let it go for this year and come back next year for some styling work . They are extremely slow growing co pared to normal mugo pines .

Soil is pine bark and pumice

any update on that tree? id like to try the same species
also in the twin cities area

 

[August44]

what soil did you pot it in?

Left it in nursery pot as this is not the right time of year to repot with buds coming on etc