Mugo Pine 1 Lowes find!

[tlogs]

Vance,

Quick add on question from a guy with his first tree. I also got a nice little Mugo pine from Lowes and have read previous posts about not repotting till summer. You also talk about them not sitting in wet soil. So is there a key to watering the pine in the nursery container?

 

[Vance Wood]

Water it when it starts to dry out. In nursery soil you have to be careful that you don't rot the roots. It would help if you would update your profile so that we know where you live. This can be significant. A picture would be helpful.

 

[jeanluc83]

It also depends what the "nursery soil" is. I picked up a couple of mugos last year from Lowes. The ones I got were planted mostly in composted pine bark. It was loose and fairly fast draining. It held a good amount of water but didn't get soggy like your typical potting soil.

You have to remember that nursery's want fast growth and low maintenance. They are going to use what ever soil that gives them that. They are also likely to use automatic watering on some kind of schedule where the trees are most likely over watered. Over watering a tree will affect growth. Under watering a tree will kill it.

I watered by mugos in nursery soil every day just like my other trees and did not find any root rot when I repotted.

 

[barrosinc]

Water it when it starts to dry out. In nursery soil you have to be careful that you don't rot the roots. It would help if you would update your profile so that we know where you live. This can be significant. A picture would be helpful.

What to do when half is bonsai soil, half is potting soil?

 

[tlogs]

So how can I determine if mine is in composted pine bark or not? The soil is not rock hard and water seems to be absorbed into it without alot of run off. There are alot of surface roots so I can't work my finger in too deep though.

I understand that watering seems to have the steepest learning curve and am trying to avoid killing the tree before I repot it.

I will add pictures when I have figured out how to take a picture beneath the impressively dense foliage without it being blurry or get over my hesitation to cutting cut a few branches off I know are going.

 

[Vance Wood]

So how can I determine if mine is in composted pine bark or not? The soil is not rock hard and water seems to be absorbed into it without alot of run off. There are alot of surface roots so I can't work my finger in too deep though.

I understand that watering seems to have the steepest learning curve and am trying to avoid killing the tree before I repot it.

I will add pictures when I have figured out how to take a picture beneath the impressively dense foliage without it being blurry or get over my hesitation to cutting cut a few branches off I know are going.

Odds are it is composted Pine bark. Personally I am more interested in just seeing the the tree in the pot. Of course I would like to see the trunk and the base but for now just the tree in the pot will answer a lot of the questions you are having. If you lift the tree and water streams out of the bottom of the pot you are probably watering too much. If the tree seems to weigh a whole lot you might be watering too much. If the tree feels light you might not be watering enough.

 

[tlogs]

Here is the photo of my tree. Thanks for weight comment. It makes complete sense but I wouldn't have thought of it.

 

[Vance Wood]

To determine if the tree is too wet put a couple of fingers beneath the needles into the soil. If it feels wet you are probably watering too much if it feels dry you are probably not watering enough if it feel like a sponge you have just squeezed all of the water out of you should be about right. This summer you should start considering reducing down the foliage mass and looking for branching that can be used.