HGs Vance Wood Memorial Mugo 4 Year Contest Entry
- Thread starter harshadg
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harshadg
Yamadori
harshadg
Yamadori
Thanks. The tree is guiding this decision. I’ve had to prune off some more branches. After this work I found that lower branches that were shaded started to appear quite listless. Most commonly these were at knuckles where two of the branches pointed up, and the third pointed laterally or downward. The stress of the repotting and the long dry spell of high temps here has taken its toll, and the tree is aggressively selecting what to discard (including old needles).
Not having worked with mugo before, I don’t quite know if this is normal. But, I’m confident that what remains is still a healthy tree that is just responding to the new reality.
Not having worked with mugo before, I don’t quite know if this is normal. But, I’m confident that what remains is still a healthy tree that is just responding to the new reality.
harshadg
Yamadori
I’ve moved it from its mostly shaded position to partial shade now.
Tree continues to shed foliage while simultaneously producing buds for next year. If someone has suggestions on how to stop this - happy to take em on. I think it’s still adjusting to the root work.
Seems to be an incredibly finicky species (and I say this having worked with Cedrus sp).
Tree continues to shed foliage while simultaneously producing buds for next year. If someone has suggestions on how to stop this - happy to take em on. I think it’s still adjusting to the root work.
Seems to be an incredibly finicky species (and I say this having worked with Cedrus sp).
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RoadManDenDron
Chumono
Please can you provide more details of what you actually did when you repotted this?
harshadg
Yamadori
What specifically do you want to know? This is the retained root ball after removing half of the substrate/root ball in the pot. There were surprisingly fewer roots in the part that was removed than I expected. I got rid of circling roots following the instructions. Unfortunately I don’t have pics of what was removed.
At the time I removed dead foliage and some weaker branches that were obviously shaded and pale green. The tree has responded to this repot by dropping last years needles, and entire branches. Notably ones that were shaded.
At the time I removed dead foliage and some weaker branches that were obviously shaded and pale green. The tree has responded to this repot by dropping last years needles, and entire branches. Notably ones that were shaded.
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harshadg
Yamadori
Paradox
Marine Bonsologist
Ugh...Too bad.
This is why I don't like repotting in summer.
I was very reluctant to do the one I got this year for the contest. I always disagreed with Vance about this as I seem to have better luck in the spring.
This spring was very late warming up here and my timing for the repot was right before one week or so of very mild weather with highs in the 70s followed by low 80s. We didn't have many really hot days here this summer. My tree also has a ton of young roots near the trunk which helped. So I think I got lucky.
This is why I don't like repotting in summer.
I was very reluctant to do the one I got this year for the contest. I always disagreed with Vance about this as I seem to have better luck in the spring.
This spring was very late warming up here and my timing for the repot was right before one week or so of very mild weather with highs in the 70s followed by low 80s. We didn't have many really hot days here this summer. My tree also has a ton of young roots near the trunk which helped. So I think I got lucky.
harshadg
Yamadori
I think I repotted about a week after you and was hit by IIRC two weeks of 90 deg days right away.
I might see how much root mass there still is left to see if I was unlucky in that the major roots were in the bottom half that was removed.
I’ll give a mugo another shot next year but not as part of this challenge. Makes little sense to me to do a summer repot here with such a short season for pines.
I might see how much root mass there still is left to see if I was unlucky in that the major roots were in the bottom half that was removed.
I’ll give a mugo another shot next year but not as part of this challenge. Makes little sense to me to do a summer repot here with such a short season for pines.
Paradox
Marine Bonsologist
Yea temperatures in the 90s right after a repot is what did it in. Compromised roots when the tree needs water the most is never a good combination.
Mugo should do well in Connecticut. Definitely try again. Repot when the buds start to swell in early spring. Protect after the repot it if you get freezing or a freak heat wave that we sometimes get now.
If you get another nursery mugo, be careful on that first root reduction and really look at where those roots are. Adjust how you reduce depending on what you find.
About 2-3 months since most of us did reports, does it look like they are all going to survive their first major stress hurdle?
Mine looks unchanged from the day I cut and repotted. I have one more whorl to reduce sooner than later, anyone think I can do it later winter or should I wait until late summer?
Hope all our entries are still hanging in and looking forward to the next wave of update photos.
Mine looks unchanged from the day I cut and repotted. I have one more whorl to reduce sooner than later, anyone think I can do it later winter or should I wait until late summer?
Hope all our entries are still hanging in and looking forward to the next wave of update photos.
stubmle
Mame
I did 3 trees- big, medium, small. Small one is doing great! It didn't even seem to notice the work. Medium died very quickly- think I damaged the roots too much and it could not handle the summer heat. Big one seemed to be OK for a few months but appears to be on the decline now. I think it might be overpotted & staying too wet, but if so it's probably too late to do anything about it at this point. Shame- it has a great trunk. Maybe if I'm lucky it will pull through, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.
Altogether, I'm just glad I have one that is doing OK. This was my first time really working with a pine of any type, so even 30% survival rate isn't too bad in my book.
harshadg
Yamadori
Well mine clearly croaked. It seems to have enough roots left but 
.
I actually think this contest will go toward establishing a dataset on whether this approwch/protocol can actually be used across various hardiness zones and latitudes, or whether it has limited applicability.
.I actually think this contest will go toward establishing a dataset on whether this approwch/protocol can actually be used across various hardiness zones and latitudes, or whether it has limited applicability.
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Paradox
Marine Bonsologist
ugh...sorry to see that it didnt make itWell mine clearly croaked. It seems to have enough roots left but
I actually think this contest will go toward establishing a dataset on whether this approwch/protocol can actually be used across various hardiness zones and latitudes, or whether it has limited applicability.
stubmle
Mame
I hope so, though there are going to be inconsistencies in our respective material and techniques that might make it hard to drawn meaningful conclusions from such limited sample sizes. The three mugos I have worked on so far were all very different in size, age, and root condition. What killed one might be fine for another, and vice versa.
Still, more data can't hurt!
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