Purchased this Mugo Pine from a local nursery in Autumn of 2008. It had been in its container for 7-10 years but was still in pretty good health. I immediately planted it into a slightly larger pond basket. In January 2009 I began to tame the octupus of branches. I removed some of the totally unnecessary branches. I also used a technique I read about where I removed all the large buds at the tips of the branches. In spring I did get a flush of backbudding, even further down on the branches. This technique should only be used on healthy plants and as a last resort.
Progression - Mugo Pine from a nursery
- Thread starter BonsaiRic
- Start date
October 2012 I removed the lower left branch. I'm moving away from a multi-trunked windswept style and toward a slanting Father-Son style. Two of my friends and I plucked needles and wired the branches this past week. The apex of the taller tree will be bent down to the left a little more to compact the image.
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Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Very nice progressions. Mugos aren't easy but they sure are fun when they start taking shape. I think I probably would have gone down this same road, or one similar to it. There are a couple of things I think I would do, especially cutting back the branch ends to induce some back budding. You have to be careful here that you don't wind up with a bunch of Pom Poms for branches. It also looks like maybe the tree is not getting quite enough sun.
JudyB
Queen of the Nuts
I like that you changed direction on this tree, I think the father son idea is a good way to go. I would try to hold back the son, and allow the father to grow larger to accentuate the differences between them.
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Agreed, the heat was pretty brutal here in the Detroit area. I'm really looking forward to how this one progresses. A couple of words of warning about Mugos. There are two diseases they are prone to. One is needle cast. This is a sort of fungal infection that attacks the two and three year old needles. They turn yellow and then fall off. There is little danger in it killing the tree but they do make cutting back to green growth a bit more difficult. If you spray with Captan once a year it is easily controlled. The other is pine scale. This is a bit more of a problem. This species of scale looks like speckles of white paint sprinkled on the needles. This stuff can decimate a tree in short order and Mugos are more susceptible to it than other Pines so keep your eyes open.
fore
Omono
Boy Vance, pine scale looks pretty nasty. Lucky I haven't been affected so far!
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Look for the slightest sign of it. It can spread rapidly during the summer. You will see it first between the bundle of two needles, easy to miss till it spreads to the outside of the bundles. If you catch it early it is easy to control with a tooth brush and some denatured alcohol. You simple dip the brush in the alcohol and gently scrub the critter off the needle in the same direction the needle grows---outward. The alcohol kills the bug and dissolves the white shell which gives you the scale. It is also possible to control with an early application of some insecticides designed for scale. I stick with the alcohol treatment, I detest insecticides unless absolutely necessary.
fore
Omono
I'll keep a look out for sure Vance. Looks actually very similar to pine adelgid, though the scale looks to form more over the entire needle vs. at the needles sheath.
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
The scale does go after the entire needle, tip to base. It usually looks like little white paint splatters. If you look closely they are basically tear drop in shape, and they are hard once formed; therefore the use of alcohol is necessary. Most scalecides (sp?) use an oil based product that suffocates the insect rather than killing it out right. The longer you work with Mugos the more familiar you will become with this problem. The alcohol treatment both kills the insect and dissolves the shell it hides under.
my nellie
Masterpiece
Tips/info about repotting
May I ask about the soil of the nursery container... What kind was it and how did you handle the repotting process?
I am starting experimenting with mugo pines and I have bought one tree from a nursery.
My dilemma concerns the quality of the soil. It is a red, hard and compacted soil and I believe this will soon prove to be detrimental (even though the tree is happily growing for the moment).
How can I complete a repotting (at the appropriate time of course) safely?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
PS: I am aware of articles by Mr. Vance Wood regarding mugos as well as I have seen a lot of photos of his excellent bonsai made out of ordinary nursery material, but the first transplanting of a compacted nursery tree is bothering me.... So I need some instructions, please.
Hello!
May I ask about the soil of the nursery container... What kind was it and how did you handle the repotting process?
I am starting experimenting with mugo pines and I have bought one tree from a nursery.
My dilemma concerns the quality of the soil. It is a red, hard and compacted soil and I believe this will soon prove to be detrimental (even though the tree is happily growing for the moment).
How can I complete a repotting (at the appropriate time of course) safely?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
PS: I am aware of articles by Mr. Vance Wood regarding mugos as well as I have seen a lot of photos of his excellent bonsai made out of ordinary nursery material, but the first transplanting of a compacted nursery tree is bothering me.... So I need some instructions, please.
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Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Do this anytime after Father's Day, or the middle of June. Remove the tree from the container. Remove as much of the soil from the top of the soil mass until you encounter roots;, you want to know how much of the soil mass is actual active and how much is just a bunch of junk piled in the top of the pot while the tree was in the nursery. This could be very little to a lot, it all depends.
Once accomplishing this, take a saw and saw at least one third to one half off of the bottom of the soil mass. Pick a couple of spots along the top of the soil mass, like taking a couple of slices out of a pie, and rinse out the soil as far back toward the trunk as possible. Leave the rest of the soil alone. You should remove at least two segments totaling about 1/3 of the remaining soil mass. Plant the tree into a well draining bonsai mix in a pond basket, collander, or specially designed bonsai planter and allow it at least three years before disturbing the roots again. Once you get to this point we can talk about what's next.
Poink88
Imperial Masterpiece
Ric, sorry for the semi-hijack.
Vance, I quoted your post above and replied on my thread. If you have time please check it out. I need advise if the same root reduction technique is applicable to Hollywood Juniper. Thank you.
http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?8809-Chinese-juniper-chop-this-time
Vance, I quoted your post above and replied on my thread. If you have time please check it out. I need advise if the same root reduction technique is applicable to Hollywood Juniper. Thank you.
http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?8809-Chinese-juniper-chop-this-time
my nellie
Masterpiece
That's great help, Mr. Wood! And in the shortest of time, too!
Thank you!
In fact, I was surprised to see a lot of thin roots showing out of the top of the soil. I could never expect such shallow roots...! I have not poked about nebari. I assume I let those thin roots be as they are or not? I mean do I have to cover them with some soil until the time of transplanting?
Thank you!
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Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
No you do not need to cover them. This does however mean that the tree is probably root bound, and the good point; the tree has been in the same medium for a while and not freshly repotted.
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Hollywood Juniper are outside my realm of expertise, specially, but they do belong to the same family, the Chinese Junipers, and as such should with stand the same treatment. Junipers are in general pretty hardy and can stand a lot of abuse. However; most of them, once repotted, will take two or three growing seasons for the roots to stabilize.
my nellie
Masterpiece
Since all the info I have got is posted here -at a third person's thread- I apologize for keeping on posting at this thread. Please bear with me... 
Will you please inform me whether I can eliminate the unwanted branches now to keep only the necessary for the design and chop the apex to the desired height?
I feel rather reluctant to accomplish these drastic interventions at the same time with the repotting..., you see this is my fist attempt with a pine -generally not only mugo pine-
Mr. Wood, I am aware that you complete some interventions all together (branch chopping, re-potting etc) at the correct time.
Will you please inform me whether I can eliminate the unwanted branches now to keep only the necessary for the design and chop the apex to the desired height?
I feel rather reluctant to accomplish these drastic interventions at the same time with the repotting..., you see this is my fist attempt with a pine -generally not only mugo pine-
Vance Wood
Lord Mugo
Since all the info I have got is posted here -at a third person's thread- I apologize for keeping on posting at this thread. Please bear with me...
Mr. Wood, I am aware that you complete some interventions all together (branch chopping, re-potting etc) at the correct time.
Will you please inform me whether I can eliminate the unwanted branches now to keep only the necessary for the design and chop the apex to the desired height?
I feel rather reluctant to accomplish these drastic interventions at the same time with the repotting..., you see this is my fist attempt with a pine -generally not only mugo pine-
I usually leave my Mugos alone after November. A tree stores up energy to pull it through the winters in the branches. If you start eliminating them now, and too much or too many, you risk the tree. In my way of thinking I don't do anything heavy to them before the middle of June. Small branches, as long they are not more than one third the diameter of the trunk can be cut, but make sure you leave at least a one inch stub or you will lose portions of the trunk or larger branches they are connected to, due to a die back of the roots they were associated with.
By leaving a stub you fool those roots into acting like they have a job to do and they will gradually realign their affiliations without destroying portions of the trunk or larger branches. If you cut the larger branches flush to the source you instantly interrupt the root flow. That root flow goes up the trunk and the larger branches. What can happen is the total destruction of the life vain from the chop to the roots. Sometimes other elements can be associated with this vain and the interrupted resources can cause some unintended consequences.
