Pugo Mine

MattE

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man im seeing mugos at my nurseries like crazy for cheap 5 to 10 bucks i think im gonna have to try my hand at one.
now no to hi jack your thread i know candles are good ? and the ones i see are healthy , the biggest question i have is .....what style are most mugos? i think it was vance or someone on the forum that said " let the tree style its self , dont force it to be something it is not" or something like that. are most mugos some form of informal upright with pads? some what like a mock juniper.. trying to style it like an old safari tree ?
 

M. Frary

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now no to hi jack your thread
You can't hijack this locomotive. It's here specifically mugo questions. Post mugo pine pics to get help from the man Vance on the direction to take.
Most mugo pines you find are going to look like round globes of foliage with numerous branches eminating from the same general area. This is what makes it hard for people to figure out a design. You almost have to be able to see into the future what the tree can be. Once you do it a few times it gets easier. I have the privilege and advantage of watching Vance take raw stock mugo pines and getting them headed in the right direction. Once you watch him and listen really listen to what he's doing and saying it becomes fairly easy to figure out what to cut off and what to keep.
And for those who can't see firsthand, Vance has made the videos.
I'm so lucky to know this man and to be able to name him as a friend.
 

sorce

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I don't care of MattE jacks this...."other" Mugo thread either!;)

let the tree style its self ,

While this is true...in a round-a-bout way...
Oddly.....Mugo is Probly than last tree you want to leave to its own devices.

Sorce
 

MattE

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thanks for the tips ill try and research alittle more , i went way back to some of Vances older posts
 

sorce

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Man...this thing looked so much prettier in the beginning.

Well...it's raining...finally, so I figured why the hell not.
20160622_102523.jpg

After a little bottom whack.
20160622_102854.jpg

And a hopefully not too aggressive teasing out.20160622_103831.jpg

And back on the pedestal.
20160622_105641.jpg

Oh...and I cut the bad circling roots last week...I didn't find many leftovers so I don't think they amounted to much.

I put some bark(with myc) on top of my bottom pile of 8822...And some more on top...I don't know why.

Seems like baking in the black pot had these roots on some decline.
Hopefully it stays a little cooler in this triple ish layered basket.

Still has many backbuds pushing fierce.
I'll watch them as a gauge to health I reckon. So far...they are growing stronger than I expected.

F2.

Sorce
 

Vance Wood

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You almost bare rooted the tree????? Just how much did you remove????
 

sorce

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OK, I'll take your word for it.

I might be lying to myself!
It could have been more like 10%, but definitely no more.

I really do think I have been cooking em in that black pot. Besides that one white fattie, there was only a few other white tips.

I kept thinking about all the barerooted ones I've seen...that Probly died...had Adair in my head with, "we treat pines differently", and I sure didn't want to disappoint you VW!

But I pictured M.F' s little comeback, and kept hearing, "these guys are tough" in my head, so I threw the Effing garbage can lid at it!

Besides...me and nursery soil don't get along very well...
I can't believe I left as much as I did!

I'm hoping that core just rots away and my basket roots form around the outside so I can dig that old shit out next time...

If there is a next time!

Sorce
 

M. Frary

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But I pictured M.F' s little comeback
I just get lucky sometimes I think.
It does look like the tree was almost barerooted but still not too bad I think.
 

sorce

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I just get lucky sometimes I think.
It does look like the tree was almost barerooted but still not too bad I think.

I had/have a feeling it was dying to get out of that soil and into a colander.

Like it had shat it's pants and it had to sit in them all day in the heat....it just wasn't happy!

Sorce
 

Vance Wood

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My major issue in all of this is the fact that this thread was started, essentially because of tbe interest in Mugos generated by yours truly. The assumption that what I was doing with the tree was sgnificantly different from the Two Needle Pine work book.

This is true; I grow and treat Mugos according to a different set of theories that have been shared on this site in detail. One of them is you don't arbitrarily bare root one of them just because you can. What has been the history of this is in the end is cry that you can't grow Mugos here. Why? Because I tried it and failed therefore you will too.
 

sorce

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bare root

On bare root in a second...

First....I will only cry...I should have followed the rules set forth by VW closer, and my tree may have lived.

But I believe it will live....

Inside what looks like, or is, I guess, the bare rooted part, was the bout 5in of rootmass that was the previous nursery pot.
When teasing out the sides, I found what was surely that old ball, and that, which contained more than 60% of the roots, very densly packed, is still wholly in tact.

It seems to have only been in this pot since the spring I picked it up, so there wasn't much going on outside that old ball, in the new soil.
What was there....which reached the last inch or so of the container, was mostly rotty, likely because of the temps.

Hell....right when I started...I thought to myself....I should just run this up to MI and get help from Vance himself.

Then I proceeded to work, half off what you recommend, and half off a feeling in my soul.
I didn't stray too far away from either.

Sorce
 

Vance Wood

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I hope you are right. I have had feed back from people living in Illinois that Mugos don't grow well here, according to them, but seldom do I get the information to try and figure out why the failure rate. I hear: They grow well for about three to five years and then we lose them. I am beginning to suspect it is because of the repotting practices. A lot of people default to the old Two Needle Pine Play Book ala JBP care guide because that is what has been taught for many years. It is like believing that the World is not Flat.
 

sorce

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Well....

My downfall is likely my laziness in checking for water needs....

That's why I kill nursery plants that everyone else and their dead grandma call tough.

So between certain death and semicertain death...I chose semi!

My first MUGO I actually barerooted fully and hosed it...and I hosed it!
It kicked in about 2 weeks.

So in 2 weeks...we should get a good gauge on How I did.

This thing has been telling me it's got balls, I hope it's not bullshitting!

The fresh, sifted for only largest 8822 and basket make me feel real good!

Plus...it's on a pedestal!
It's gotta live right!?

Thanks a ton Vance....
I truly appreciate your dedication to Mugo!

Sorce
 

sorce

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I had to go and be honest with myself...
And it turns out...

I wasn't so dishonest with myself to begin with....
Where I dumped it.20160623_082056.jpg

After going thru and finding most of the root remains. And piling them.20160623_082414.jpg

And 90% of that in hand.
20160623_082443.jpg
I did miss a lot of those white tips that came off....but with the moon where it should be...and this basket....I am digging the odds!

Sorce
 

Vance Wood

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I had to go and be honest with myself...
And it turns out...

I wasn't so dishonest with myself to begin with....
Where I dumped it.View attachment 109027

After going thru and finding most of the root remains. And piling them.View attachment 109028

And 90% of that in hand.
View attachment 109029
I did miss a lot of those white tips that came off....but with the moon where it should be...and this basket....I am digging the odds!

Sorce
However: and I know you probably did not want to hear more. Root work is a lot more than just removing roots. It is the shock or stress of putting the roots through a process where things can be broken or torn that are left in the soil ball you want to preserve. You may not have cut a lot of roots and I like you, hope the best, but you stressed out he rest of the soil ball doing it.
 
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