The $30 dollar 30 minute junk pile Mugo pine.

[scottc]

#bottombranchplanb ? Are we thinking I could just trim down to the bottom branch and make a cascade? I’d want to let it get better first and my Pom Pom ends might actually make it live till I can get to that point. I like plan b if that’s what that means.

 

[Nybonsai12]

Are we thinking I could just trim down to the bottom branch and make a cascade?

101%

 

[scottc]

New goal!!!! My plant named osoyoung will end up like this!!! And all it’s namesake can say is “yeah I was a critical di k to that guy”

 

[Underdog]

I like the way you are rolling with this shit!

Me too! Oso and others can be pretty blunt but I think they mean well. I mean why take the time to post otherwise.
We're all learning here Scott. I like you already

 

[Victorim]

You are a bell end. on with the bonsai..

 

[sorce]

osoyoung

Most people probably think I am here to Rascal Nonsense. Truth is, in order for me(or anyone for that matter) to gain any useful knowledge of trees, I have to be a student of the PEOPLE here just as well as the information they provide. Otherwise their information is without foundation, and just as a tree needs a good base as a foundation, information needs a good foundation. I don't fuck around with Bullshit information, Or Bullshit people.

As that student of these people, I know, because this is the third (fourth) time I'm saying it....

Oso is not an Asshat! (He's an assclown!) Lol...just playing!

Truth truth....
We run Bullshit People off way before they even think about naming their trees after one of us Assanythings!

That's how we already know you're not on Bullshit!

Welcome to Fucking Crazy!

Do you see all the cuss words that haven't been deleted?

Do you see that this thread is hardly about Either Oso, the asshat or the tree, yet we are still receiving no Bullshit threats of the thread getting deleted, or some other sis pants sheeeit!

Welcome Home!

And my theory about how 90% of humans still haven't evolved fast enough to really understand this method of communication, and the fact that more than half of human communication is non-verbal to begin with....
Explains the previous...
Complete and total misunderstanding.

But we already burnt the Bridge, turned the water going under it to Guinness, and are back at it already!

Now where the hell is Vance!?

Sorce

 

[scottc]

Cool, some people have changed my opinion of this board now. I’m cool with criticism, pointers, advice all kinds of stuff. I went and looked at the tree. I learned from advice and suggestions. It’s far from a goner. It won’t need to crumpled into a ball. I’ll let it chill out the rest of the winter and see how it likes spring. Never really had a winter this year. but I’ve got a plan now. Osoyoung (the tree) has a bright future. Damnit now I have to go read about Mugo Pines for hours....

 

[Soldano666]

hours....

Months

 

[Potawatomi13]

See, you could have just said that in the beginning. You could have just said a mugo wont grow stuff behind (backbud) It was more to learn other things but maybe now I will try and bend it up like the moon pine in one of Hiroshiges prints. You can give advice without being an a$$hole. People do it all the time.

Absolutely correct. Some JERKS! However would have been good idea check out Mugo species training first. Possibly eventual use of one or two lowest branches and can salvage a design yet but do not cut off any more until tree recovers. IF it does. No repot, no wiring, no nothing until recovered.

 

[Potawatomi13]

To the people that replied with some good advice thanks. It still was just a way to try out a few things I watched videos on without trying it on a JWP I have in the garage till spring. I didn’t want my first time cutting a branch or wiring to be on that tree. I’ll make sure my posts are well thought out when I post on here. I have named the tree now by the way. I named it osoyoung and will make a nameplate and display it at the next local Bonsai show.

Please, please wait to work on White Pine until or during training class so result will be much more happy for both you and it. Time, humility and patience grasshopper.

 

[Lazylightningny]

Lol, this is why I don't really share my practice trees. I know they aren't good and I'm doing bad things to them so I wait to see if they live first. Being a noob myself and even less experienced with conifers, I learned something from this post. I had no idea that mugo didn't back bud. Glad I didn't strip mine when I reduced the roots last year.

Gail, it wasn't the fact that his tree was sub-par; we expect them to be so. It was this statement in his opening salvo:
"Throw it on the front porch and see if it lives"
I believe it shows a lack of respect for the art and for the tree. He was in effect stating that he sacrificed the tree just to improve his wiring skills.
I think I know where he was coming from- he knows he's a noob and that his tree was not of a high caliber, so he adopted a cavalier attitude to save face before his tree was judged. The problem was, it caused us to judge him, not his tree. If he had been more humble in his approach, our response probably would have been more like "Ooh, yeah, ok, nice try dude. Let's see what we can do to improve the next tree."

 

[M. Frary]

've seen it happen with no needles.

They can back bud on old wood.
Need to be healthy and it can be done.

 

[scottc]

All the trees I got to (mess with) my term to learn a little will just be chilling till spring now. I think the Mugo can come out nice if a spend a few years slowly removing until I just have the one bottom branch. The JWP I’ll ask questions or at least go over anything I do. But it’s going to be tough with the way it has grown. Thanks for the good advice. I’ll title my posts better from here on out. Osoyoung is still an asshat though.

 

[clive bennett]

just seen this thread.
I think yyou have the makings of a great tree, re pot in spring to a free draining bonsai soil, leave a year then cut down to the lowest branch leaving a stub to later make some deadwood., wire the remaining brach more upright. you will have a great base, loads of taper and no worries about bar branches or straight trunks. Loads of potential for an informal upright, twin trunk tree, or cascade

 

[leatherback]

Just leave it alone for a year. Don't mess with it anymore.
And take input here as advice, not jerky.

 

[scottc]

just seen this thread.
I think yyou have the makings of a great tree, re pot in spring to a free draining bonsai soil, leave a year then cut down to the lowest branch leaving a stub to later make some deadwood., wire the remaining brach more upright. you will have a great base, loads of taper and no worries about bar branches or straight trunks. Loads of potential for an informal upright, twin trunk tree, or cascade

Yeah, after sitting for a while I’ve got a good plan for it. Only the lower branch. Save old main for Jin. The Pom Poms will keep plant alive as I slowly cut it lower and lower and bend the trunk. Will be a super long project now. It’s just going to sit now for a long time till it’s happy again.

 

[twisted trees]

Use chewing gum instead of elmers. You'll know why when it rains.

 

[jeanluc83]

You will want to keep the main trunk until the tree has regained vigor. When you do remove it you need to leave a 2-3" stub so that the tree can redistribute resources. Mugos are somewhat compartmentalized. This means if a significant branch is removed the roots that supply the branch will die. The opposite is true as well if roots are removed the corresponding branch will dieback. By leaving a stub the resources can be redistributed preventing the dieback.

The mugo that I linked earlier had this problem. The main trunkline died back down to the roots. Mugos are a mountain tree so dead wood is a natural feature. The problem is when dead wood is in contact with the soil it will decay. I am already seeing deterioration at the soil line. I'm planning on repotting it this coming season at that time I will see if I can stabilize it with wood hardener.

 

[scottc]

Use chewing gum instead of elmers. You'll know why when it rains.

I noticed that. It’s raining this winter instead of snowing here in salt lake. I’m off today so I’ll grab the correct stuff. I’m determined to make ’osoyoung’ a super tree.

 

[Adair M]

All the trees I got to (mess with) my term to learn a little will just be chilling till spring now. I think the Mugo can come out nice if a spend a few years slowly removing until I just have the one bottom branch. The JWP I’ll ask questions or at least go over anything I do. But it’s going to be tough with the way it has grown. Thanks for the good advice. I’ll title my View attachment 173261 View attachment 173262 View attachment 173263 View attachment 173264 posts better from here on out. Osoyoung is still an asshat though.

I know this thread is about your Mugo. I can’t help you much there. Vance is your man.

I do know quite a deal about JWP. Your JWP is cute. But it will not tolerate the treatment you did to the Mugo. They are much harder to make back bud. They’re slow growers. And sensitive.

Your tree has a nice low graft. The trunk is straight. You pretty much are going to have to settle for a formal upright tree. (Not that it’s a bad thing!)

That last section of trunk that pops up, will have to be removed. The internode is just too long.

This is a wiring project. I’m sure there are “extra” branches that will eventually need to be removed, but not now.

To prepare for a workshop with this tree, you need to acquire a set of copper wire, in all sizes. Julian Adams sells a starter kit that would be perfect. Www.adamsbonsai.com

And, you didn’t say anything about it, you NEED to watch that Colin Lewis wiring tutorial on www.craftsy.com. Did I mention that it’s free?

After you watch it, go back to your Mugo, and take the wire you put on earlier off. Then, using fresh wire, do it again and apply the principles that Colin teaches. You will be amazed at 1) how much better it looks 2) how much better the wire works and 3) how much easier it is to do now that you know what you’re doing.