All aboard the Mugo train!

[barrosinc]

Maybe I'm wrong and really hope I am Max. I like yours and hope it does well.

Thanks!
I hope it lives too!

I did a really bad repot and has been knocked over, twice. And is still green. All that happened mid summer so it all points to me keeping repots for Summer as Vance recommended.

I do not really like it right now... Don't even take the time to look at it. I am just chasing growth back and see what will the tree do.

 

[0soyoung]

They need cold. Not frost but sustained freezing cold for dormancy

Actually they (mugos) don't.

Like most all temperate species, they enter dormancy at temperatures less than 40F (5C). Chilling requirements pertain to buds and it is usually measured by accumulated time below 40F (5C). I do not know what it is for mugos, but I have no troubles growing them here, where it rarely freezes. There are 100 year old Douglas firs right across the street, so I so know that we experience more than 1700 accumulated hours below 40F every winter (this number for Douglas firs is easily found in open access scholarlarly papers on the interwebs). Threfore, it is enough for mugos, white pines, red pines, black pines, lodgepole pines, lacebark pines, bristlecone pines, scots pines, and probably others that I grow or that are in domestic landscapes or grown commercially in the vicinity of Anacortes.

 

[Kandoloh]

I really shouldn't think so. They need cold. Not frost but sustained freezing cold for dormancy. Do you even get frost? I was in Houston in September and October and it was the hottest temps I had ever experienced. Brutal.

Houston is like 3 hours away from here, on the coast, whole different climate there. We get sub 30 here a few days a year with freezing rain, sleet, hail sometimes snow. I've only lived here 3 years but it's been consistent.

 

[Kandoloh]

Oh and September still kinda summery here, it starts getting cold Halloween, we always get cold sitting outside for trick or treaters, that's usually the first day we notice the weather changing. We get our "icepocalypse" in January/February and can have freezes sometimes into April. It doesn't accumulate much usually but enough to shut everything down for a day or two

 

[parhamr]

Regarding winter dormancy: I’m in zone 8b and I specifically place my pines, firs, and hemlock into a part of the yard that is nearly fully shaded in the winter. The ground stays frosty, but it’s not a hard freeze.

Regarding my recent repotting into colanders: they’re pushing new buds! This is 3 weeks after the transplant; they’re in 12.5" plastic colanders filled with diatomaceous earth, pumice, and perlite. I feed them with Osmocote, inoculate with ectomycorrhizae, and supplement with azomite. Daytime highs are in the 90s and nights get down to the mid-60s. I water the trees twice a day.

 

[Arcto]

Ok.. I'll hop on too.The first one here I fondly call Knucklehaid. I picked it up at a small nursery years ago. I've been working on balancing out the first knuckle for some time. There is much improvement from when I first acquired it, but still ways to go. It was in a twin tree planting, but lost its pot mate a couple of years ago.
This next one I obtained from a collection I acquired a couple of years ago. It to my eyes anyway seems to have a style better suited for an oak or maple. I also need to do repot-soil change as the previous owner used pea gravel as a major component. I've only done some candle pruning the previous year and making sure the tree is stable and healthy.

 

[JoeR]

@Vance Wood ,
I have a very cute little dwarf mugo pine I got from plantcitybonsai yesterday that I want to prune and wire and I would love to hear your opinion.

It just came in lastnight from five hours away in Georgia, would it be okay to prune about 1/3-1/2 of the foliage off and wire the tree now? I have been reading your threads and from what I gathered now is best to do this. Maybe even slip pot it into a colander if possible too?

I was mainly concerned of two things:
1) Should I wait and do it next year so it can acclimate?
2) After the work, do I put it back in full sun or some shade for a while?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Oh and p.s. if anyone is looking for stock, dont waste your time and give steve at plantcitybonsai a call right away. He has awesome stuff with good prices and he is great to talk to.

 

[Vance Wood]

You could repot and most certainly slip pot into a colander if you wish. Be warned; the dwarf Mugos can be difficult to work with. Summer repotting is an absolute necessity with these guys. If you have to whack away at the roots it will do best in at least partial shade until the tree recovers; about two weeks.

Can you post a photo?

 

[JoeR]

You could repot and most certainly slip pot into a colander if you wish. Be warned; the dwarf Mugos can be difficult to work with. Summer repotting is an absolute necessity with these guys. If you have to whack away at the roots it will do best in at least partial shade until the tree recovers; about two weeks.

Can you post a photo?

It doesnt really need any roots removed, maybe a few to reduce root mass height.

Mostly I am wondering if I can reduce the foliage by 1/3-1/2 and wire now as well as after care of such work. Its going to be high 90's again tomorrow.

Pics soon hopefully.

 

[Vance Wood]

You can work the top of the tree as long as you are not too aggressive. For now I would not reduce the tree more than 1/3. Mugos can be fussy especially the dwarf varieties. Remove to much at one time you can kill the tree.

 

[JoeR]

Okay well thank you for the replies. I think I would rather be safe than sorry and wait until a better time, whenever that would be.

I need to remove two branches which equal almost 1/3 of the tree and maybe a few twigs on the rest of the tree so it may end up being too much.

 

[Vance Wood]

Okay well thank you for the replies. I think I would rather be safe than sorry and wait until a better time, whenever that would be.

I need to remove two branches which equal almost 1/3 of the tree and maybe a few twigs on the rest of the tree so it may end up being too much.

That should be OK, but I would wait another month.

 

[JoeR]

So about mid-august then.

Just so I dont need to keep asking you this everytime I get a mugo, what am I looking for to decide whats an appropriate time for cut backs? Am I looking for lower temperatures?

 

[Vance Wood]

For you, lower temperatures. As I said you could probably do it now but personally I am afraid you will take off way more than you should and then blame me for the failure. I do a lot of my work on Mugos by the seat of my pants and instinct. Your part of the country is full of people that say you cannot grow Mugos there because of the temperatures. As I said' you can take off 1/3 almost anytime you desire. If you go further than that then you have to be cautious. I cannot explaine how to tell at what point that might be.

 

[LanceMac10]

Don't call him cute. He could resent that later....

 

[JoeR]

Oh and @Vance Wood ,

How do you feel about sacrifice branches on mugo pines?

For instance, on black pines I know people like Eric let huge (6'+) branches go on them while preserving the bottom branches and shape.

The branches on mine are perfect in size (could use some backbudding though) and the trunk is okay but I think some girth wouldnt hurt. Not a ton is needed, but a little.

 

[Vance Wood]

I don't particularly care for escape branches I have never had a circumstance where they were as important as with JBP's, mostly because of the styles they are grown in. I have found that over time the Mugo will thicken fine given time.

 

[JoeR]

I figured as much as I have never seen you post a tree with one.

May just be better to put it in a colander to thicken it up. Only issue is I need a new soil mix; the particles in mine are too large and it dries out too fast for me. I was thinking chicken grit, sifted pine bark fines and some of the lava rock that I currently use. My goal is to only need to water once a day, even on the hottest days.

If I get those in time I will repot/slippot with your guidence.

 

[Vance Wood]

I think your idea for a soil mix is probably good. If it is not possible for you to water as much as you would like then you have to make adjustments. You do have to be careful though. If you are trying to set your soil mix for the hottest days you may be putting you trees at risk on the cooler days when it does not dry out as quickly.

 

[JoeR]

I have stuff for the soil now.

Ya know, I am actually tempted to put it in this little pot I have now. I would only have to comb the roots and prune a little bit of them for it to fit in the pot at the wanted angle. The pots are the same width but a little less than half of the roots would need combed (not pruned).

Could I repot it into this pot and remove those two branches at the same time in August? I think that would balance it out, or do mugo pines not need root and foliage to be balanced?

I may end up keeping one of the two branches but one of em definently has to go.

The new angle of potting (roughly) would be:

Its packed full of roots: