Golden mugo pine nursery stock advice needed

[Jansai..]

Greetings everyone. I recently bought a Carstens Gold mugo pine from a nearby garden centre. It's about 1 foot high with a 2.5 inch trunk. I couldn't get any good photos because the foliage was in the way of the camera, so it looks like it has much less taper in the pictures. I'm not sure whether it's grafted or not. I am going to style the tree as a little shohin
When I took the tree home, I dug away the top layer of soil underneath and found more trunk flair underneath, however, the tree has absolutely no nebari.
I need advice on how I can style it, cut it back and develop nebari on this tree.

 

[Moridin]

Tutorial - Compiled Vance Wood on Mugo Pines

Compiled Posts by Vance Wood on Mugo Pines UPDATED 5/20/2018 Vance, I have gathered posts you made on B-Nut over the years from the archives. I have consolidated this info below. I appreciate your sharing your years of experience with this...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Moridin]

Read all of that many times.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The Tutorial pointed to by Moridin will be your best resource.

If this mugo were mine, I would not do much of anything until after repotting. The repotting will expose where the roots actually are. You need a look at the roots to plan a style. The roots play heavily into picking a front for the tree.

So I would remove no more than 25% of the foliage. Then repot. Then allow the tree to recover for a growing season. Then I would think about styling.

I know this is a conservative, many do a lot more to their trees all at once. But I have killed my previous mugos, so I figured I was doing too much all at once. So now I recommend going slow.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The slow approach allows you time to visualize different possible styles. I see a enough in your photos to be pretty confident there are a couple good styling options. But I can't design this tree from the photos. I'd need to see it in person. If you wait, just do the repot, and hold off on styling, over the time you are waiting for the tree to recover, you can make sketches. Try out different ideas. In time one design will likely appeal to you over other possibilities.