All aboard the Mugo train!

i was at lowes today and found a bunch of $6.98 dwarf mugos.i went through all of them and found 1 that had some trunk girth(the rest were pencils),a halfway decent trunk line,and not too bad of a knuckle forming.
it's a double trunk and i'm thinking lowering one and having it become a branch,reduce the branches that are starting to form a knuckle,and a little cleaning up and wiring.

the soil on the surface seems to be loose and i'd like to scrape the loose stuff off -looks like the trunk gets a little fatter.

is all this stuff ok to do now Vance?should i prune the candles that are forming now? what about repotting?P1060719.JPG P1060720.JPG P1060721.JPG P1060724.JPG P1060718.JPG
 
ok i forgot to pick up something while at lowes and had to run out.
while i was there i looked through the mugos again and don't know how i missed this one.
trunk is 5/8" right before it forks into the roots.
P1060726.JPG P1060727.JPG P1060728.JPG P1060729.JPG
 
potted one yesterday and added one more to the collection.
I gave the larger of the two a hair cut off the top about 2 months ago, it didn't even noticed so I decided a late summer repot would be a safe bet.
The little guy came in a few months ago. I had never seen a mugo with such an upright growth habit so I snagged him right up and gave it a good root massage yesterday.
 

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bonsaiBlake said:
potted one yesterday and added one more to the collection.
I gave the larger of the two a hair cut off the top about 2 months ago, it didn't even noticed so I decided a late summer repot would be a safe bet.
The little guy came in a few months ago. I had never seen a mugo with such an upright growth habit so I snagged him right up and gave it a good root massage yesterday.
Click to expand...
Pure perlite huh? Pain to water for me because it floates.
 
Help! Added a small nursery mugo--now in a colander in pumice. For weeks now it has had yellow jackets crawling through the foliage. There are half a dozen or more all the time. They are not ground bees in the substrate.
What's the attraction?? Thanks, Lynn
 
3 possibilities. 1st, yellow jackets are predatory. A pest infestation could bring them in. 2nd, a fish based fertilizer will produce an oder that will attract them. Finally, if you mist your trees, water on the foliage draws them especially if you are in a drought. I have them here too. They are after water and they chew off weathered wood on the benches to make paper for their nests.
 
Also bees and wasps obviously are pollinators, and even though there aren't flowers all plants are still making pollen.
 
Well, these are some great answers. The mugo is on a bench with JBPs. All of the trees were fertilized with an organic liquid [ bat poo, fish,stinky stinky ] at the same time. Trees are all watered or misted at same time of day. The mugo is the only one with the yellow jackets.
The mugo however is the only tree that has new buds that are rapidly extending. They aren't on the buds tho. I haven't seen any pests on any of my pines .
I'm seriously allergic to hornets, wasps--don't want to spray. These yellow jackets are so interested in this little tree that I'm sure the dead ones would be quickly replaced by another swarm.
This tree may have to go elsewhere.
 
You are right. This time of year, a nest can have thousands of workers. Localized spraying won't do much good. I'd move the tree at night when they aren't as active.
 
Might could be a nest in it.

I moved one I found at night and they didn't move at all.

Sorce
 
Have you heard this one?

Two pine bonsai artists strike up a conversation at a convention:

Mugo person - "Wow, that's a really nicely ramified pine you brought this year! How'd you get those branches over here?"

(JWP/JBP/JRP) person - "Well, first I prayed to Buddha then spent the next 48hrs. fasting, hoping for it to backbud..."

Mugo - "Did it?"

(JWP/JBP/JRP) - "No, but after unsuccessfully praying for two years I then took out my 100 year old ceremonial grafting knife made by the famous smith who also made samurai swords to carefully cut back the cambium and place a bud where I wanted the branch to be..."

Mugo - "And that worked?"

(JWP/JBP/JRP) - "Not the first time, but on the sixth try after making sacrifices to a full moon with Mars in retrograde I got one branch to take and 15 years later I have the ramification you see now..."

Mugo - "Really?"

(JWP/JBP/JRP) - "Yes indeed... And what about you? I see yours is looking pretty nice too. How did you get that to backbud over here?"

Mugo - "Ummmm.... I watered it?"

;)
 
Vance Wood said:
I'm glad you said all of this and not me.
Click to expand...

That's me, Bill Cosby of Bonsai, minus the allegations - "You'll spend $150 on a pair of designer shoes, but not $20 on hooked-on-Mugo!" -Fact

Meh, have a couple brewskis too and you might start saying things like this to strangers online.

If the govt. ever interrogates me for any reason they won't have to waste money on sodium pentothal, just $10 on good ol' ethanol...

Then again, if the rest of the bonsai community did maybe they'd say they're just jealous how awesome and not fussy this pine is...

Couple more and I might start posting like Sorce...

Mongoose! Erm.... Mugo!:D

-Brewmeister;)
 
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Yet I'm left wondering why I see so many good JBP, and so few good Mugo bonsai.
 
Brian Van Fleet said:
Yet I'm left wondering why I see so many good JBP, and so few good Mugo bonsai.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong - a beautiful JBP IS beautiful. But think of this realistically - JBP have been used and grafted and hybridized and cultivated and collected from the wilds of Japan for what, 400 years or more for bonsai? Mugo - maybe 30-40?

Build yourself a time-teleporter and look ahead a couple hundred years - maybe Mugo will level the playing field by then.

Or do we need Kimura to come out and say "Mugo is great!" for the rest of you to jump on board? Remember - "good" is a relative term...

Don't know about you - but I've seen those Europeans with some pretty spiffy material...

Funny I don't see you saying the same thing on Walter's threads... Hint, hint... http://bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/mugo-for-vance.20207/

What's really ironic is I've stated previously I'm spouting gibberish while under the influence... and yet you're taking it seriously with a reply....

love ya' BVF, you've got some really nice trees as well - and I respect you for your talent, so why are you shitting on a drunken post on a mugo thread?

Am I going to regret this in the morning? Maybe in addition to bonsai we should adopt the Japanese practice of being able to criticize your boss/superior while drunk and no-one thinks badly of it or holds a grudge the next day...

Can't we all just agree to love pines, any pine? I'm no speciest, I love 'em all!!!

Maybe I'll head to Munich with Mr. Pall for Oktoberfest, maybe he'll like my jokes :p
 
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walter pall has several very good ones, yamadori but thats what most of great pines are
 
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