AusBonsai

Hello there everyone. I am relatively new to bonsai and have become extremely addicted. I had no idea it was so consuming. Anyway I have myself a little Mugo Pine that was given to me a while back by my wife. She tells me is atleast 25 years old. My problem is that it seems to be quite healthy and developIng a nice shape although there is a bareness between the main trunk and the ends of the branches. Is this common?

nathan

Hi Nathan,

join the club! I received my first bonsai last Christmas, and now the backyard looks like a nursery! If you could upload a picture of the tree that could help the more experienced folk here give their advice.

Hi nathan and welcome to ausbonsai
If the growth is allowed to creep away from the trunk, then you will have trouble trying to get backbudding closer in

A pic well help a lot

Here's a pic

All pines grow like this and need special pruning to keep buds closer to the trunk. You will need to search for techniques for pines to find out how.
The good news is that mugho is among the easiest to get buds on bare wood so it is relatively easy to recover.

Is that your wiring Mugoman? Is it actually doing anything to the shape of the tree or is it just on because 'that's what they do to bonsai'

A great place for any beginner to start is at your local bonsai club.

Ok you need to work out how to try and get foliage back into the trunk rather just pompoms on the ent of sticks if you can, and you need to get some movement into the branches.
Nice wiring job, so now bend them and get some curves into each of the branches and trunk.

Ken

Ah lovely ive been scouring the forum trying to find tips, I'll keep looking. And you're right I should and will check out some local clubs in Sydney. It is my wiring and no not because thats what they do on bonsai. It was actually quite a wind swept shaping which I didn't care for and didnt think suited the tree. Any tips on styling would be greatly appreciated though.

Not too sure on Mugo care but here is a step by step on how I would go about doing the first style.
Just a start, if the tree is in good health (it seems well at the moment but need to check when you do this work on Mugo) it will send out new shoots as well. I might make the bends more pronounced. Remember the bends will always mellow in time.

Place lots of bends in the branches and trunk to make the tree more compact. By doing this you can make the foliage appear much closer to the trunk.
Avoid removing branches at this time of year.

Then again this would be even better

wow. Thank you for the response. I love the styling advice although I must say I would be concerned about losing so much of the tree. But if it were to promote new growth I guess it may be my only shot. Here's another pic with a bit of bending done to the branches. What do you think?