Little Mugo Pine Cascade

[Mitchell]

Just a little Mugo I potted up into a Mudlark crescent. Wanted to style it in pot. Plan to chop some of the lower branches and carve out the bulge from the lower whorl.

Starting to wire it out now, hopefully in a few hours I should be able to put some movement in the branches. I know it should be in a grow box, but i'm not too concerned just felt like practising wiring and needed a subject.

We shall see where it heads. I'll post back in a couple of hours, when wirings done.

Shall be a challenge as at the moment Penny's pot wants to flip head over %$@#!!
I will remove/trim it back and hopefully pull some branches back towards the pot, maybe then it will balance..

[stymie]

Forgive my outspoken-ness Mitch. The Mugo doesn't look like cascade material to me.
If it had been planted upside down to the current position, the longer growth could have been made into a cascade style. Even so, I would prefer to develop the original more upright tree. Sorry

[Mitchell]

Oh ye of little faith.

You are 100% correct not cascade material what so ever, not trained for it at all. What I have in mind only requires that planting angle, I was fearful of styling prior, as I was not sure where I was headed. I do have a bizarre plan in mind, if it doesn't work out I'm only down a nights work, the pine will still be salvageable.

I intend to do some extreme bending of the twin long branches and bring them down into a cascade. Might work, might not.


Please never apologize for commenting on anything I put up, good or bad. Your comments are more than welcome and well regarded.

[Amanda]

ahh bonsai nuts.. we are like children with toys, a world of pure imagination.

Looking forward to the updates

[Mitchell]

Hands up who loves free form pots?!!?!!!

On Stymie's suggestion, hey presto, flipped...

Now working this side up!

[Amanda]

Nice one Mitchell, you tend to see much more in a photograph. If I may, removing those longer branches so to balance with the size of the pot would improve the overall look

[kcpoole]

A better Start Methinks
Curious as to what is going to happen here

Ken

[Mitchell]

Wouldn't be expecting much Ken.

Well at least now I am able to wire without breaking branches off. Still not happy with neatness, wire gauge selection and technique, guess they're all things I can work on which is good.
Doesn't help that I only have 4 gauges. Way more wire on the plant than is probably needed, but that comes back to my gauge selection, if I got it right the first time, I wouldn't need to double wire some branches. This lil' Mugo's branches are quite stiff, compared to say my radiatas.

Almost all wired out, time for some bending, my fingers hurt today though as I wired several others yesterday too.

I know my wiring is less than satisfactory, but I'm trying. The more I wire the more sympathy I have for that guy that wrapped his plant like a wire spool/Tv antennae.

[NathanM]

Hey mate,
Just my opinion, but to pull off a cascade with this thing, which I feel is totally do able, I think you're going to have to removed the "top". or main trunk. The "lower", or right, trunk is where it's at. I see a branch behind the main trunk sticking up which could be the new upright leader, if you were to make a more formal cascade too.
Just my opinion
Nathan

[Mitchell]

Kind of like this Nathan?

I don't mind that idea at all, I think your right about the top one needing to go.

[Amanda]

I think the tree has merit and you could pull it off with a heavier gauge wire

Here is my idea, bare in mind I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing half the time with my own trees but this is what I did in a virtual to pass a few minutes.

[NathanM]

Spot on what I was thinking mate:D
Afer posting I had an idea of potentially jinning the main trunk? Maybe cut it back to the branch that looks to be about 1/4 way along, get some movement into the trunk and branch, and jinn them. That could work too