Advanced techniques for Mugo pines.

[Grant Bowie]

Anybody know any?

Especially back budding, needle and internode shortening, when to prune, pinch, snap etc.

Grant

[John Henry]

Hi Grant ,Iam doing all my Mugos now and get very good results with back budding ect.
John

[ozzy]

The only tip I can give for Mugos is don't leave them out in the hot sun and forget to water them or they will die

[Grant Bowie]

Hi Grant ,Iam doing all my Mugos now and get very good results with back budding ect.

John

Hi John,

More information please. What is it you are doing now? Complete removal of all/most of this years growth? Partial removal ? Trimming back this years growth leaving 2,4 6 or 8 sets of needles? Plucking /cutting old needles? Bud selection?
Thinning of all growthetc.

Having lived in Sydney for a lot of my life Mugo Pines were not high on my agenda. Now I am in cooler winter climate the Mugos do well here but I am interested in finding out what and when to do; how and why; results.

Thanks

Grant

[John Henry]

Hi Grant, i tend to remove all this years growth in the stronger areas i leave about 4to 6 sets of needles in the weaker areas and do a little thinning out if needed,i do not do any bud selection untill there is strong back budding,then feed feed feed,this seems to work down my way
thanks john

[ricardo]

Hey all here’s some pics of my birthday present I’ve only had it a couple of weeks,
So didn’t want to do too much with it but needed a bit of a haircut so following
Pruning methods described here removed all this year’s growth hoping for a bit more
Back budding. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.
Thanks Ricardo.

[Jow]

This article looks interesting.....

"This article is about the maintenance of the Pinus sylvestris and the Pinus mugo, but the techniques I will describe here can, with some small adjustments, also be used for, Pinus nigra, Pinus uncinata or Pinus ponderosa."

http://knowledgeofbonsai.org/techniques ... re-basics/

[Beaumatsu]

would mugo pines grow in queensland, gold coast

[Matthew]

they pretty much struggle north of canberra except around the ranges in NSW( boweral etc) so the answer i think is no. Your best bet are japanese black,red or radiata pines. scotts wont like it either maybe in the hinterland?

[Gerard]

Interesting article Jow,
When John M suggested that I could repot mugos on November I was surprised. I tried it last year and my tree powered along nicely.
Hans has obviously had a similar experience repotting mugos in early summer.
Perhaps this practice is common in climates which rely upon ice thawing which would make winter repotting difficult.

[Grant Bowie]

OK,

I have a semi abandoned Mugo pine that I am happy to experiment on.

Mugo pine before trim.jpg

I have trimmed off most of this years new growth back down to last years growth and leaving a small stub.

Trimmed (2).jpg

Trimmed.jpg

This is how it looks now. A fair percentage of the foliage gone.

Mugo pine after trim.jpg

I have another one very similar but will use different techniques/timing on it.

I will show it and also report on the progress of the first one.

Grant

[Grant Bowie]

Hi all,

After carefully reading the above article on P sylvestris and P mugo I have decide to use the technique known as "Masterfull Inactivity"! (ie the "Do Nothing Technique") for this year.

My 60 year old pine below has just had a major overhaul and it is probably best to do as little as possible for the rest of the season. I will trim off some needles in the strongest portions of the tree in autumn and that is about it for this year. I hope to repot it in autumn as well.

Mugo Pine.JPG

Next year when it is settled in its new pot I will then need to control its spring growth and balance out the vigour using the various two needle pine techniques.

I will photograph the above pine closely and use it as an example.

Grant

[Mick B]

Grant,
I have a two/three man Mugho in a quite large bonsai pot. I put it on a rock about 25 years ago and have left it alone except for now when this last spring commenced its training process. In spring I cut off all candle development and cut the needles to about one quarter of an inch long. Since that time I have back budding and am very pleased. During Walter Pauls visit to Australia some time back I had a serious talk to him abut the Mugho and the most helpful advice he gave was to ensure the nothing, no shade or tree cover was over it. This was my main problem then as I had lost a branch and after I explained the tree's position in my garden he solved it.
I am on the coast and was told I could not have a mugho here but it has survived the last 21 years in my climate. Treatment other than needle cutting is the same as for black pine. This autumn/winter will see styling commence provided I can get enthusiastic bonsaists to assist. My main guidance has been from Bonsai focus articles. No one else ,except for Walter has offered any advice.
Mick

[Gerard]

Hi Mick,
I would be very interested to see any pictures of the budding after applying this method.

[Grant Bowie]

Grant,
I have a two/three man Mugho in a quite large bonsai pot. I put it on a rock about 25 years ago and have left it alone except for now when this last spring commenced its training process. In spring I cut off all candle development and cut the needles to about one quarter of an inch long. Since that time I have back budding and am very pleased. During Walter Pauls visit to Australia some time back I had a serious talk to him abut the Mugho and the most helpful advice he gave was to ensure the nothing, no shade or tree cover was over it. This was my main problem then as I had lost a branch and after I explained the tree's position in my garden he solved it.
I am on the coast and was told I could not have a mugho here but it has survived the last 21 years in my climate. Treatment other than needle cutting is the same as for black pine. This autumn/winter will see styling commence provided I can get enthusiastic bonsaists to assist. My main guidance has been from Bonsai focus articles. No one else ,except for Walter has offered any advice.
Mick

Hi Mick,

Good to hear from you and thanks for your input. I believe mugo will be fine where you are but I was very interested last year when you said you lost some Scots pine; I too have found Scots touchier than Mugo.

Full sun makes sense as they are trees that grow in full sun at high altitude.

So if the tree is in good health you follow the complete removal of spring groth technique. cut old needles off rather than pluck.

Thanks