All aboard the Mugo train!

[KennedyMarx]

Here is the one from last year. I removed most of the dead and browned out needles but there are still a few.



Here is the newer one after thinning down to two branches at each split (aside from the knuckles):


Here's a better shot of the base so you can see where the branching forks and where I cut little stuff back to stubs:

 

[Vance Wood]

You cracked the egg, you got a Mugo to survive a repotting and a winter. No small accomplishment.

 

[bonsaiBlake]

I agree with this approach. Do this in July. You could also take the same approach a series of branches higher. However; trying to make a bonsai out of the entire tree will leave you with a failure tree a couple of years down the road.

I've been looking at this tree everyday for awhile now. I've decided on slowly reducing down to the first set of lower branches. More than 60% of the green is above the lower 2 branches and exudes from one knuckle so i'll reduce that way down this year. repot next year and a final style the year after including the removal of stubbs and creation of deadwood.

does this sound about right? It really is a great piece of material and I would like to have any and all input on styling it, I have no experience with pines and this is my first tree I feel has some serious potential and I need all the help I can get to achieve that.

 

[Vance Wood]

I've been looking at this tree everyday for awhile now. I've decided on slowly reducing down to the first set of lower branches. More than 60% of the green is above the lower 2 branches and exudes from one knuckle so i'll reduce that way down this year. repot next year and a final style the year after including the removal of stubbs and creation of deadwood.

does this sound about right? It really is a great piece of material and I would like to have any and all input on styling it, I have no experience with pines and this is my first tree I feel has some serious potential and I need all the help I can get to achieve that.

This sounds like a workable solution. How are your wiring skills? Could you post another photo concentrating on the growth on the lower branches we are discussing?

 

[Paradox]

@KennedyMarx, thats not a bad find at all.

 

[Joedes3]

Should I keep the 3 branches or what

? Looking for a virtual or advice.
Joedes

 

[Vance Wood]

In this case you probably should not keep all three trunks/branches. If this tree were mine I would seriously consider removing the two right branches leaving at least two inch stubs. Now you will have a single trunk that can be worked and developed into a tree much like the Mugo I have shown before. This tree was developed over years and in my opinion is about three years away from being pretty good tree. Notice that the tree this was developed from is shown below.

 

[clevetromba]

I've shown this on B-nut before, but I want on the train too! I envision bringing the lowest branch on the left down to horizontal, but I wish I could get it to back bud on that long bare section.

I'm not sure what to do with the cluster of branches at the top right. I know there's too many branches but I can't decide which ones to keep. Any suggestions?

 

[Vance Wood]

It looks to me that all three lowest branches all come off the same point? With a tree this small it will probably never be a problem. I assume the problem branch you are referring to is the one you have your finger on? This branch could be removed without harming the tree but I'm not sure what you are doing with the tree design wise.

 

[clevetromba]

Vance,
Yes the three lowest branches do come off at the same point. The branch I was referring to is not the one with my finger on it, but the cluster above it. You can be honest with me, is this tree beyond help? I knew next to nothing about Mugos when I got it and started working on it, so I know I made several critical errors at the beginning. It was only an $8 tree, so I will only have lost emotional energy if you tell me it has no potential as a bonsai.

 

[M. Frary]

Vance,
Yes the three lowest branches do come off at the same point. The branch I was referring to is not the one with my finger on it, but the cluster above it. You can be honest with me, is this tree beyond help? I knew next to nothing about Mugos when I got it and started working on it, so I know I made several critical errors at the beginning. It was only an $8 tree, so I will only have lost emotional energy if you tell me it has no potential as a bonsai.

That tree isnt bad at all. All of these nursery mugo pines need to be set in the right direction. And they almost all look like the one you posted.
This is one of the reasons to start this thread. To get people to post pictures of their trees in development. With these trees I think it's easier to learn by a picture. This way we can all get on the road to being able to figure out a trunk line before we buy the tree.
The repotting times and pruning times are set down. The hardest thing for me and a lot of other people is trying to figure out how to make one look like a tree not a bush.
You should be able to cut new shoots back this summer and hopefully get some buds to pop out of the braniches closer to the trunk.

 

[Alain]

Hi there,
I'll be a new passenger on this train as soon as I will be able to post picture (i.e. once at home).

However as I just got my first pine (mugo but 1st anyway, never had any pine) so I went to look for information about their care and found this article:
http://bonsai4me.com/AdvTech/ATMugo Pines Indepth.htm

Sounds pretty good and easy to understand to me but I would like to have your opinion, what do you think of it?

 

[M. Frary]

Harry Harrington has some good articles. However. All of the information he gleaned from the Internet and put down in his article especially working on them in the summer is a rip off. All of that information comes from Vance Wood.
I think he should get ALL of the credit for mugo techniques. We would not even be talking about the tree if it weren't for him. Except for some wild caught mugo pines in Europe he is the only person on earth that has developed them from nursery stock to bonsai. I'll fight anyone who try to tell me different. Seriously break out the can of whip ass. I have an industrial sized one too.
Any takers?

 

[Vance Wood]

Vance,
Yes the three lowest branches do come off at the same point. The branch I was referring to is not the one with my finger on it, but the cluster above it. You can be honest with me, is this tree beyond help? I knew next to nothing about Mugos when I got it and started working on it, so I know I made several critical errors at the beginning. It was only an $8 tree, so I will only have lost emotional energy if you tell me it has no potential as a bonsai.

Look at the tree! ---- What is the one single most important and attractive feature of this tree? I'll wait for your answer. I don't want to do the thinking for you and the tree is not beyond hope. It just needs a vision or a visionary.

 

[clevetromba]

Look at the tree! ---- What is the one single most important and attractive feature of this tree? I'll wait for your answer. I don't want to do the thinking for you and the tree is not beyond hope. It just needs a vision or a visionary.

To me, the most attractive feature is the roots coming out on the left side, which is why I repotted it at the angle it is now. I feel it accentuates the nebari, and makes sense as they anchor the tree as it reaches out toward the right. I also envision bringing the long branch on the left down to horizontal which will balance out the slant to the right, and may even put it on a lower plane than the first branch on the right. The branch in the back I want to pull down and to the right to bring some foliage behind the trunk and give it some depth. It's the apex of the tree that I have a hard time envisioning. Is it always necessarily desirable to prune back to only two branches at each fork?

 

[Alain]

Harry Harrington has some good articles. However. All of the information he gleaned from the Internet and put down in his article especially working on them in the summer is a rip off. All of that information comes from Vance Wood.
I think he should get ALL of the credit for mugo techniques. We would not even be talking about the tree if it weren't for him. Except for some wild caught mugo pines in Europe he is the only person on earth that has developed them from nursery stock to bonsai. I'll fight anyone who try to tell me different. Seriously break out the can of whip ass. I have an industrial sized one too.
Any takers?

Ok, duly noted!
However that means that the information in this paper are correct right?

 

[Vance Wood]

BINGO!!! If you want to dig through everything I have ever written about Mugo Pines you will find a constant theme. It is all about the trunks, everything else can be regorwn, adjusted and even grafted; but a good trunk is irreplaceable and almost impossible to make. This trunk on this little tree is awsome for a tree its size. As to the growth you have in question?: I would cut it off. Leave a stub to either jin or cut flush down the road but leave a stub. Leave the little branch you have you fingers on in the Photo for later removal.. Now it is going to be up to you to redesign the tree from the one branch on the left. This is the secret of doing bonsai with Mugo Pines. In the beginning it is more an exercise of removal than almost anything else.

 

[M. Frary]

Ok, duly noted!
However that means that the information in this paper are correct right?

As correct as if Vance wrote it himself. If you really want in depth info check out the tutorial Lazylightningny posted today. It's all there.

 

[Alain]

As correct as if Vance wrote it himself. If you really want in depth info check out the tutorial Lazylightningny posted today. It's all there.

Thanks! I'll check that.

 

[Paradox]

Sorry Vance but I have to comment on this before he removes what IMO is the tree.

View attachment 75534
I've shown this on B-nut before, but I want on the train too! I envision bringing the lowest branch on the left down to horizontal, but I wish I could get it to back bud on that long bare section.
View attachment 75535
I'm not sure what to do with the cluster of branches at the top right. I know there's too many branches but I can't decide which ones to keep. Any suggestions?

I would keep the branch that you have your tree finger on and pull it down as you say, but the trunk to the last of that, the one that slants to the right with the cluster at the top right you are talking about.....THAT IS YOUR TREE!!!

I would cut the 2 left bottom branches because they are competing trunks and make your tree look like a shrub.

I am on my phone right now and away from the house for the weekend so I cant do a virt.