Can I style this mugo pine now?

[IllinoisSam]

I'm in Southern Illinois and we are expecting our first frost tonight. This pine is really full and thick and I would like to thin it out, not style completely, but get a head start. I would like to remove maybe 25-33% of the foliage but leave it in the nursery pot.

What do you think?

 

[Paradox]

I'm in Southern Illinois and we are expecting our first frost tonight. This pine is really full and thick and I would like to thin it out, not style completely, but get a head start. I would like to remove maybe 25-33% of the foliage but leave it in the nursery pot.

What do you think?
View attachment 459605

Yes you should be fine to do that but don't get overzealous and remove too much.

 

[Carol 83]

Just curious, where in Southern IL?

 

[IllinoisSam]

Just curious, where in Southern IL?

Murphysboro/ Carbondale

 

[sorce]

I Think that new light green growth will have a hard enough time living without more stress.

Sorce

 

[Carol 83]

Murphysboro/ Carbondale

That is truly Southern IL. I'm only a half hour or so from St. Louis.

 

[BonjourBonsai]

Let's see some post haircut photos!

 

[IllinoisSam]

Okay - so here are a couple of after photos of my mugo. A problem that I ran into was a big clump of branches all joined about 8" up the trunk. I cut about half of them out and you can see the upper wound in the first photo. I don't really know where I'm going with this now, I'll start thinking about it harder in the spring.

In addition to the haircut, I'm trying a new (new to me) method of promoting nebari in nursery plants called Top down Re-potting Method. It involves washing the out the top half of the soil and leaving the bottom half intact. So, it went back into the nursery pot, which i had cut down to the original soil line. I washed and teased out the upper roots and left the lower alone. Once that was complete I put it back in the pot and chop sticked bonsai soil back in. After a year or so, the bottom half of the roots are removed. Nigel Saunders shows how it's done here. Also, here is a more extensive explanation by Tom Fincel with several examples.

 

[Sakura♡]

Looks great! How long did it take to grow your mugo pine this big?

Greetings

 

[IllinoisSam]

Looks great! How long did it take to grow your mugo pine this big?

Greetings

I don't know how old it is. It's a nursery plant.

 

[BonjourBonsai]

Thanks for sharing. I hope the tree can handle the root work and the trimming at this late stage.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Murphysboro/ Carbondale

My sister lives on Hickory Ridge Road, South of the water tower, North of Pomona winery. I'll be there sometime this winter.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

That is truly Southern IL. I'm only a half hour or so from St. Louis.

My other sister lives not too far from Carol, I've met up with Carol the last Greater Saint Louis Bonsai Show.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@IllinoisSam
I do like what you did with the mugo. I would do nothing except let it grow for all of next year. You could throw wire on it toward the end of the summer. Don't do any additional pruning. Next repotting 2025. You can prune again in 2024. Mugo are a hands off species. One or two insults a year, then let it recover.

 

[Carol 83]

My other sister lives not too far from Carol, I've met up with Carol the last Greater Saint Louis Bonsai Show.

I wish they would have another one close to me. Sadly, the Cass brothers retired.

 

[IllinoisSam]

I'm in Southern Illinois and we are expecting our first frost tonight. This pine is really full and thick and I would like to thin it out, not style completely, but get a head start. I would like to remove maybe 25-33% of the foliage but leave it in the nursery pot.

What do you think?
View attachment 459605

Update 3.3.2024.

It's dead, started heading south last fall. Now it's going into the bonsai graveyard.

 

[BrightsideB]

Update 3.3.2024.

It's dead, started heading south last fall. Now it's going into the bonsai graveyard.

Sorry to here. Looked like a good direction it was heading in. I think it was the root work you did to it.

 

[IllinoisSam]

Sorry to here. Looked like a good direction it was heading in. I think it was the root work you did to it.

You're probably right.

 

[BonjourBonsai]

Update 3.3.2024.

It's dead, started heading south last fall. Now it's going into the bonsai graveyard.

Sorry about that. Thanks for updating your thread though. That helps others learn. I would also guess that it was the root work.

For what it's worth, I've successfully repotted and cut off the bottom half of some mugo's roots in the late summer. That was on smaller trees that were a little younger than yours. I didn’t touch the branches at all. The trees have been recovering for 2 years now and I am going to style them this spring.

I tried the same technique on some older mugos but they did not survive the half root method. I saved one and will repot it in late summer but with less drastic root work.

 

[caffeinated]

After watching the BSOP Tom Fincel lecture I thought I'd experiment with it myself on a number of nursery trees last year. I'm notorious for killing cedars, so I actually tried this on 3 cedars, a mugo pine, a fat larch, and a couple others that I'm forgetting. Bare rooted the top half and spread the roots as best I could. They all seem to be doing great so far and didn't appear to have skipped a beat, but the next couple months will let me know for sure as it warms up.