What's going on with my Mugos needles?

[gallina1594]

This is year 2 for this nursery mugo. This spring I pinched all the candles in like half. Once the candles opened up, the needles are like 3x longer than last years!!! Is this a normal response to pinching in the beginning?

 

[0soyoung]

It sometimes happens, seemingly without any reason sometimes. I don't pinch nugo candles and yet have this trouble. Some possibilities are more water/fert this spring than in the past. Warmer spring this year than last (needles are hardened before the summer solstice). Sometimes this is the response to a significant reduction in foliage mass the year before. More sun (if that is possible) should help.

Regardless, it is a mugo. You can cut off the entirety of this year's shoots (leave just a line of green on the tip) pretty much anytime now or later this summer. You'll have little buds bumping up here and there that you can see by fall if you look closely - they will be obvious next spring. Meanwhile, start 'feeding' now (budding required good nitrogen nutrition) through season end, then not at all until this time next year (this should help to tame the needle size or at any rate won't encourage long ones).

 

[gallina1594]

It sometimes happens, seemingly without any reason sometimes. I don't pinch nugo candles and yet have this trouble. Some possibilities are more water/fert this spring than in the past. Warmer spring this year than last (needles are hardened before the summer solstice). Sometimes this is the response to a significant reduction in foliage mass the year before. More sun (if that is possible) should help.

Regardless, it is a mugo. You can cut off the entirety of this year's shoots (leave just a line of green on the tip) pretty much anytime now or later this summer. You'll have little buds bumping up here and there that you can see by fall if you look closely - they will be obvious next spring. Meanwhile, start 'feeding' now (budding required good nitrogen nutrition) through season end, then not at all until this time next year (this should help to tame the needle size or at any rate won't encourage long ones).

Thank you so much for the informative response! Last year I transplanted it into growing medium, and removed 1/3 of the foliage... 2 things you suggested that might have contributed to the increased needle size!

 

[Paulpash]

Hi Galina. Similar to 0soyoung's response I think the main reason for bigger needles is that you have removed a lot of buds but the root mass has stayed the same. Using a hose as an analogy it's like having the same pressure (root mass) but reducing the pipe diameter (buds). The result is that you get more power (bigger needles) being directed through a smaller outlet.

When your pine reaches the refinement stage it is exactly the opposite of this process that will reduce needle size & make it look like a 'real tree', ie more buds / needle mass with a finite root mass, enclosed in a shallow container.