Low Vigor Mugo Pines?

[cheap_walmart_art]

Hi all!

I have a pair of Mugo Pines I picked up at the end of last year that seem low vigor this Spring. They were styled by the previous owner and are in nursery pots in what appears to be regular nursery soil. They seem weak right now and aren't showing the vigor of the other conifers in my collection. Are they typically late to wake up?

 

[sorce]

Hello! Welcome to Crazy!

Dunno how I missed @cheap_walmart_art !
Classic!

Where are they from?

I'd bet they were kept too dry last year.
Some ill timed work....

Sick ass trunks!

Sorce

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

All mugo's that are late in my yard have endured serious abuse by me (and the nursery they came from, but most was me).
The healthy ones have extending needles from their extended candles. The badly hurt ones have just started to show some bud activity. The mughus cultivars seem to have more vigor than the pumillo over here.

That might give you some reference to work with.

 

[just.wing.it]

Nice trunks!
Hard to find on Mugo

 

[A. Gorilla]

I bought a mugo in a pond basket last year, ASSuming that somebody did something with the roots to exploit the entire POINT of said pond basket, so I was watering it like mad-man. Ya know, cuz pumice.

Nope.

Turns out, ol' boy just put the original soil mass into the pond basket and called it a day.

Most of the roots drowned and died.

However, I re-potted it correctly anyway this year, and it seems to be doing the same thing as yours. Hanging in there, but not really vigorously pushing candle length.

I do not know the final outcome. But I'm optimistic. Hasn't lost any color in a month, so...it could survive.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

I knocked the nursery pot off of one of them this morning, looks like they are in 100% organic medium - mostly pine bark fines it looks like. The roots are fairly ropy and filling up the pot and the soil is moist but not wet. It looks like the buds are still trying to swell and elongate but several bud tips are dead. I did some research and read about Dothistroma needle blight. Picking off some of the dead needles I did notice some black spotting on some. I have a fungicide with Myclobutanil that I sprayed with earlier in the week just as a preventative measure on my trees, getting ready for the Wet, Hot, American Summer we tend to get here in Middle Tennessee. Will keeping this regimen up help?