I picked up this mugo back in early march (1st pic) and slip potted it into a bigger pot without jacking with the roots and only pruned off the dead branches. I really liked this tree because if it's huge flat trunk base (3rd pic) though I wasn't sure what I was gonna do with it. I didn't know much about mugos (still don't) but read all the Vance advice I could and decided to wait until summer before I reduced the root mass and repotting into a smaller pot.
Pictures 2-9 are from this weekend when I finally got around to working on it. Seems like it had really nice growth over the last 4 months and also noticed there is some good back budding going on deep in the canopy.
I tried to only take off about 40% of the branch / leaf material, focusing mostly on cleaning up the trunk base which had about 13 branches coming directly out of it and thinning out the whorls. I didn't do any styling or wiring as I figured what I did already was stress enough. Next step I'm gonna repot it and then not touch this guy for a good long while to let it recover.
From a style perspective, I'm not sure where to go yet. I really like the thicker main trunk, but I gotta figure out something to do with those branches at the other end of the base. I could jin them, cut them off, develop them into something windswept? I've got some time to sit and stare at it for inspiration, but I'll take any feedback from y'all
Pictures 2-9 are from this weekend when I finally got around to working on it. Seems like it had really nice growth over the last 4 months and also noticed there is some good back budding going on deep in the canopy.
I tried to only take off about 40% of the branch / leaf material, focusing mostly on cleaning up the trunk base which had about 13 branches coming directly out of it and thinning out the whorls. I didn't do any styling or wiring as I figured what I did already was stress enough. Next step I'm gonna repot it and then not touch this guy for a good long while to let it recover.
From a style perspective, I'm not sure where to go yet. I really like the thicker main trunk, but I gotta figure out something to do with those branches at the other end of the base. I could jin them, cut them off, develop them into something windswept? I've got some time to sit and stare at it for inspiration, but I'll take any feedback from y'all
