Mugo restyle?

[Vance Wood]

Sorry...I'm a bit dyslexic!! I did not mean "removing side to side needles". I meant up and down needles. When do you remove this years up and down needles?

Any time now.

 

[ABCarve]

Thanks for your patience Vance. I'm on the job!!

cheers!!

 

[ABCarve]

Vance,

I noticed that your Mugos are potted in deeper pots and that they are mounded up a bit. Is this your aesthetic choice or is there a horticulture reason behind it? Do they like more soil than other bonsai or pines in general. I'm gonna repot this summer into something about 2/3 of what it in now.

 

[Vance Wood]

Vance,

I noticed that your Mugos are potted in deeper pots and that they are mounded up a bit. Is this your aesthetic choice or is there a horticulture reason behind it? Do they like more soil than other bonsai or pines in general. I'm gonna repot this summer into something about 2/3 of what it in now.

Just my aesthetic choice. I have planted them in some pretty shallow pots with no difficulty and some deep pots with no difficulty. With the method I use to develop the root system I can pretty much do with them what I want.

 

[ABCarve]

I was looking at the repot and had a thought. Tell me if I'm all wet!
The tree has a really goofy root coming out the left side. If I tilt the tree on the repot I can partially bury its ugliness. Since I'll be root pruning significantly, I was going to cut a root and graft it to the other. Hope you can see in the pic. It would improve the nebari a lot. The new pot looks quite a bit larger than it really is because of it sitting in front of the tree.
Question.....If I repot in summer will the graft take considering you normally do this in early spring.
If you think it'll work....do you have any pointers. I never did it before.
This will be a grow out year.....I promise!

 

[Vance Wood]

I was looking at the repot and had a thought. Tell me if I'm all wet!
The tree has a really goofy root coming out the left side. If I tilt the tree on the repot I can partially bury its ugliness. Since I'll be root pruning significantly, I was going to cut a root and graft it to the other. Hope you can see in the pic. It would improve the nebari a lot. The new pot looks quite a bit larger than it really is because of it sitting in front of the tree.
Question.....If I repot in summer will the graft take considering you normally do this in early spring.
If you think it'll work....do you have any pointers. I never did it before.
This will be a grow out year.....I promise!

Something I have thought about a number of times but have never done----I don't know. I think it might work if you completely seal the point on the trunk where it is joined, and the joint between the root and the tree base is perfect.

 

[october]

Wow, the new pot creates an even more beautiful image. A beautifully balanced tree with an ornate pot. Sometimes, ornate pots such as this don't work with some trees or in bonsai. However, in my opinion, I feel this is a magnificent combination.

Rob

 

[ABCarve]

Wow, the new pot creates an even more beautiful image. A beautifully balanced tree with an ornate pot. Sometimes, ornate pots such as this don't work with some trees or in bonsai. However, in my opinion, I feel this is a magnificent combination.

Rob

Thanks Rob, I was wondering the same thing. I'm still not sure, although the photo gives me a little more confidence in it. I'll know better when it actually in there and the scale is right.

 

[ABCarve]

Something I have thought about a number of times but have never done----I don't know. I think it might work if you completely seal the point on the trunk where it is joined, and the joint between the root and the tree base is perfect.

Is the joint just like a regular graft? I would rather do it with another mugo as an approach graft, like Mach did with a maple. I don't know anywhere to buy a mugo whip. Do you?

 

[Vance Wood]

Is the joint just like a regular graft? I would rather do it with another mugo as an approach graft, like Mach did with a maple. I don't know anywhere to buy a mugo whip. Do you?

I was under the assumption that you were going to dig out the one particular root you highlighted, move it around to where you want to join it to the trunk, cut into the trunk and slice the end of the root placing the root into the slice on the trunk and hope for the best. As long as the cambiums more or less come into contact with each other I think it has a chance to take as long as you anchor it and seal the place where they come together.

 

[ABCarve]

I was under the assumption that you were going to dig out the one particular root you highlighted, move it around to where you want to join it to the trunk, cut into the trunk and slice the end of the root placing the root into the slice on the trunk and hope for the best. As long as the cambiums more or less come into contact with each other I think it has a chance to take as long as you anchor it and seal the place where they come together.

That was the plan.....and I think now it is the plan. Thanks again...I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[Vance Wood]

Sorry...I'm a bit dyslexic!! I did not mean "removing side to side needles". I meant up and down needles. When do you remove this years up and down needles?

You really should not have many to deal with except on the new growth that has not been cut back yet. Once the new growth has grown out to a point where you might plan on showing it-----remove the needles on the bottom first and remove the needles on the top latter. Mostly this process is for trees under cultivation. Once you get this process rolling you are going to be dealing with the new developing growth on the interior branches that need to be thinned out from time to time. Mugos become very dense and if you don't keep them cleaned up you will start to lose development, and end up with pom-poms.

 

[ABCarve]

Is the joint just like a regular graft? I would rather do it with another mugo as an approach graft, like Mach did with a maple. I don't know anywhere to buy a mugo whip. Do you?

This seemed like a safer bet...being summer and all, but we wouldn't learn anything. If the plain root graft fails I can always try the approach graft with whip another time.

 

[Vance Wood]

This seemed like a safer bet...being summer and all, but we wouldn't learn anything. If the plain root graft fails I can always try the approach graft with whip another time.

You might want to try growing some cuttings from the original tree and use them to approach graft a root base. Might take a year or two longer but--------it's a tree. Everything about a tree is measured in time.

 

[ABCarve]

Well...I repotted it. I must say it feels really weird doin' it in the summer!! I whimped out on the root graft. I started thinking I could make quite a mess of the nebari, that could look worse than the original problem. Anyway, I tried improving it by altering the planting angle by tilting it to the left and back, burying some of the odd root. I also poked a small cut in the bottom corner of the root and packed it with sphagnum in hopes of layering a root or two. It can only heal over if it doesn't. I may try starting some mugo from cuttings if by the next time it still doesn't look right.
I think I have the dreaded needle cast considering the only last year needles are nasty looking and three years are non-existent. I started spraying about 3 weeks ago.

 

[ABCarve]

Oh.... forgot to ask Vance.....Any advise about after care for this time of year? I was thinking filtered light for a while.

 

[JudyB]

Very interesting and cool pot. I wonder if it is a bit small for the tree, but maybe in person it's more proportional. I like this tree, has a real nice flow. Good job all around.

 

[ABCarve]

Very interesting and cool pot. I wonder if it is a bit small for the tree, but maybe in person it's more proportional. I like this tree, has a real nice flow. Good job all around.

It may be a bit small.....mmmm unsure. My thought is chasing the tree back and making it smaller. You may have noticed I have a Goldy Locks problem on getting the size right. It doesn't help that the clay can shrink up to 16% in drying and firing. It's still fun making them though.
Back in post #25 the pot was sitting in front of the tree.....it looked proportional....but the illusion of perspective didn't help.

 

[october]

Glad to see this tree again. I love this tree. It has excellent branch placement and a very nice trunk. This tree has incredible future potential. As you mentioned, it might have some needle cast which can put you back from a styling stand point. However, it might be a watering issue.

On another note, I love the pot. I think Judy's comment about proportions comes from the silouette of the tree or maybe she means the size of the base of the trunk. If it is in regards to the silhouette, that can be taken care of in time. Are you planning on reducing it. I realize that you will have to let it get healthy and have some good and strong back budding before you can do this. I hope it is ok, but I did a virt of the silhouette reduced just so we could see the potential size relationship between the pot and tree. With a reduced silhouette, it all seems to work out. Beautiful tree.

Rob

 

[ABCarve]

Glad to see this tree again. I love this tree. It has excellent branch placement and a very nice trunk. This tree has incredible future potential. As you mentioned, it might have some needle cast which can put you back from a styling stand point. However, it might be a watering issue.

On another note, I love the pot. I think Judy's comment about proportions comes from the silouette of the tree or maybe she means the size of the base of the trunk. If it is in regards to the silhouette, that can be taken care of in time. Are you planning on reducing it. I realize that you will have to let it get healthy and have some good and strong back budding before you can do this. I hope it is ok, but I did a virt of the silhouette reduced just so we could see the potential size relationship between the pot and tree. With a reduced silhouette, it all seems to work out. Beautiful tree.

Rob

Thanks for the virt and the vote of confidence! I am planning on reducing it in time. I usually have a bit of hand wringing when I change pots. I do like the texture of pot w/tree now that it's in there. Even though the tree is a basic 123 style pine...its mine and I enjoy it.