stubmle
Mame
Decided to take another crack at this since last year's attempts did not make it. If these also fail, I'll give it one more attempt next year with a Spring repot instead of Summer.
I know that strictly speaking this should be 3 threads, but I don't want to clutter up the forum too much.
I potted up 3 mugo pines about a month ago. There were 2 small 'Slowmound' plants & a single, slightly larger 'Pumilio.' All trees were purchased in April-May this year.
I neglected to take pics of the Pumilio before potting, but here's some pictures of the Slowmounds. Click to view full-size.
The one pictured above, mugo #4, was cut back a bit in Spring, but otherwise it's just been getting watered & fertilized since then. You can see the Pumilio in the background.
Above: Mugo #5. This was not cut back at all. Note that the needles are much shorter than the one that was reduced earlier this year.
Above: Mugos #4 & 5, respectively, as they appeared a few days ago.
As you can see, #5 did not like the repot & has elected to join the choir invisible. It had weird, kinda one-sided roots compared to the other one, and I think this made it more sensitive to having them worked. I've also wondered if supporting the extra foliage was too much for it to handle after the repot. If anyone is doing a large batch of these & wants to run an experiment, I'd be interested to see if doing a cutback a few months in advance makes a difference.
I did not take pics during the repot as I managed to injure myself in the process & was a bit preoccupied with controlling the bleeding before the roots dried out. Clay shards are SHARP!
Lastly, the Pumilio, #6. This is how it looks now. Second picture shows the trunk, such as it is. Similar to #5, this one was untouched until repotting.
All three of these were put in shade after repotting, then moved to sun this week. While #5 didn't make it, the others seem to be doing OK thus far. I'll be holding my breath until next April, though; one of last year's batch looked great from July to March before it expired. I'm trying to more more slowly & cautiously this time around, so no further work on these until I see signs of life next Spring.
I know that strictly speaking this should be 3 threads, but I don't want to clutter up the forum too much.
I potted up 3 mugo pines about a month ago. There were 2 small 'Slowmound' plants & a single, slightly larger 'Pumilio.' All trees were purchased in April-May this year.
I neglected to take pics of the Pumilio before potting, but here's some pictures of the Slowmounds. Click to view full-size.
The one pictured above, mugo #4, was cut back a bit in Spring, but otherwise it's just been getting watered & fertilized since then. You can see the Pumilio in the background.
Above: Mugo #5. This was not cut back at all. Note that the needles are much shorter than the one that was reduced earlier this year.
Above: Mugos #4 & 5, respectively, as they appeared a few days ago.
As you can see, #5 did not like the repot & has elected to join the choir invisible. It had weird, kinda one-sided roots compared to the other one, and I think this made it more sensitive to having them worked. I've also wondered if supporting the extra foliage was too much for it to handle after the repot. If anyone is doing a large batch of these & wants to run an experiment, I'd be interested to see if doing a cutback a few months in advance makes a difference.
I did not take pics during the repot as I managed to injure myself in the process & was a bit preoccupied with controlling the bleeding before the roots dried out. Clay shards are SHARP!
Lastly, the Pumilio, #6. This is how it looks now. Second picture shows the trunk, such as it is. Similar to #5, this one was untouched until repotting.
All three of these were put in shade after repotting, then moved to sun this week. While #5 didn't make it, the others seem to be doing OK thus far. I'll be holding my breath until next April, though; one of last year's batch looked great from July to March before it expired. I'm trying to more more slowly & cautiously this time around, so no further work on these until I see signs of life next Spring.
