Landscape Mugo Yamadori

[Potawatomi13]

1. Negativity aside something Bonsai Positive can be done with any tree. Survival, time, study and humility will reveal what.

2. Cones are diagnostic! Observe all SMALL details as well as seeds and ID will be found. Turns out this was how I ID'd tree from my motel in Reno after over a year and second stay there.

 

[Arcto]

Just an update on this older thread. When I moved to WA, all my trees and stuff went in a rented trailer for the trip. Wasn’t sure how much I could fit. This Pine was the last tree to go and it just fit in the full trailer. Last winter, it finally went in a bonsai pot. You can better see now the old stubs from the long bottom branches.

The tree responded well and is healthy. The issue was still those super long whippy branches with growth only at the ends. Since this is primarily a practice tree and my lifespan probably isn’t sufficient to chase the foliage that far back, I decided to do some approach grafting with those whippy branches. Now it’s a waiting game to see what if any takes.

 

[sorce]

Someone said you can't thread graft a pine.

But after watching these mugo, I reckon you can if you planned correctly.

If this grafting don't work for you, I was gonna say you can sell the trunk but screw that, make it work!

Sorce

 

[misfit11]

Someone said you can't thread graft a pine.

Those are approach grafts

 

[0soyoung]

Those are approach grafts

Yes, indeed. And they are likely to fail or be 'forever' to take because the scion stem is going straight across the 'root stock' stem. This crossing should be at less than a right angle.

The problem is that the phloem and the polar auxin transport lines run down the root stock stem. The notch across the stem stops this. Stuff tends to pile up above the cut like an air-layer (which seems like a good thing), but the tissue directly under the notch is cut out of the stream which means it won't thicken and may die (back - which is a bad thing). Of course, tourniquet-like action will eventually happen at the top of the joint and the graft can take, if the scion doesn't just pop out.

This trouble doesn't arise with the notch paralleling the axis of the 'root stock' stem. Both sides of the notch grow (tending to close notch) and likewise the scion stem. The result is a much higher probability of success in less time.

I suggest you redo one of your approach grafts with the notch running more or less up and down the trunk, to see this for yourself, @Arcto

 

[Arcto]

Yes, indeed. And they are likely to fail or be 'forever' to take because the scion stem is going straight across the 'root stock' stem. This crossing should be at less than a right angle.

The problem is that the phloem and the polar auxin transport lines run down the root stock stem. The notch across the stem stops this. Stuff tends to pile up above the cut like an air-layer (which seems like a good thing), but the tissue directly under the notch is cut out of the stream which means it won't thicken and may die (back - which is a bad thing). Of course, tourniquet-like action will eventually happen at the top of the joint and the graft can take, if the scion doesn't just pop out.

This trouble doesn't arise with the notch paralleling the axis of the 'root stock' stem. Both sides of the notch grow (tending to close notch) and likewise the scion stem. The result is a much higher probability of success in less time.

I suggest you redo one of your approach grafts with the notch running more or less up and down the trunk, to see this for yourself, @Arcto

Yep, my first try grafting my material. I botched doing the research that should have been done. I saved other branches as backups. Now I may end up with a practice tree that looks like it came out second in a knife fight. . Thanks for all the information.

 

[Vance Wood]

What you need to do is to place the tree in an overly large pot and fertilize the crap out of it to encourage as much growth as possible. Then when it is growing really well you can start cutting back the extended growth all the way back to active needles all along the tree. This should stimulate back buds on the branches you have cut back. Make sure you cut back to active growht.

 

[Vance Wood]

Once you accomplish the process you repeat it. I have been growing Mugos for nearly 60 years and I have never grafted a Mugo. The first nursery tree I had was a Mugo Pine given to me by my parents in 1957-58. I killed it trying to design it.