20 yr old MUGO PINE , new direction

[FEX]

Hi all, i have owned this little mugo pine for the last 17 years, bought when about 3 or 4 years old from an Adelaide hills nursery, apart from wiring some branches for a season and probably some pinching back,(not that i knew what i was doing) there has been no styling what so ever,, i lost a small branch near the top(you can guess where) , i decided to chop below the second to top brach, thinking i had a good chance to keep the taper,, so ,its done now,i have to work with what i have,, i have stated the compressing work with a main bend to give the lower branch some reason for its existence,,other branches have been pulled down,,not much else.. there are many outcomes possible from now on,even what ive done so far ,can be reversed,, i hope i can receive advice on Ausbonsai, after all,,,, its 20 yrs old,and is over due for some styling and direction,, height before the chop was 40cm,,now the tree is 26cm high from the soil level and can shrink a bit more i reckon,(mabe a shohin in the making)..all comments and styling advice welcome......... cheers....FEX.........

[Andrew Legg]

OK FEX,

I'm gonna take the plunge on this one. Now let me start by saying that a tree is never easy to design in 2D, and that I'm going to be brutally honest here.

I just can't see a great bonsai in this tree as it stands, and I'm guessing that not many others can either, otherwise there would have been a few responses here. The major problems I see are the lack of good taper on the trunk and the "almost bar branches" with pretty even gaps between sets. SO. I see two options for this tree. The first is an airlayer above the first branch and then do something small but dynamic with the existing trunk and first branch only. The second will be to bend the pants off of the tree, but I can't comment on whether this is possible as I am not sure how stiff it is. This option will allow you to compact it right down and get rid of the large gaps between the existing branches. The current top branch will then have to be developed into a new apex.

There is a possible 3rd option, and it involves planting it out, feeding it like crazy and hoping of some back-budding on the trunk and branches. Wait, wait and wait some more.

I think you have your work cut out for you here, but good luck!

Cheers, and good luck figuring it out!

Andrew

[Craig]

hi Fex, personally i am not a huge fan of thoses small red bending clamps. Unless some extra care/protection is taken to protect the live wood where the clamp touches(eg; rubber tubing as you have used is great) ,the pressure of the clamp on the area can lead to a dead area, especially the flat middle part. They are also very limited to how far they can bend a branch/trunk. I have used them in the past but will not do so ever again. good luck with it mate

[The Hacker]

Hi Fex

I tend to agree with Andrew, but you could also maybe lay the tree down & turn it into a Raft or Sinuous Style, you could even rap it around a peace of drift wood

Regard's The Hacker

[craigw60]

Hi Fex, given that you live in Sth Australia I would say mugo is probably one of the worst pine species you can grow, they come from quite a high altitude in the european alps and would really resent your long hot and dry summers. My advice would be to select plant species more suited to your climate. If you want to grow pines radiata or black pine would grow much more easily for you.
Craigw

[Olivecrazy]

Yeah try radiata pine would be the first to try Fex as they grow like weeds here in SA an can be collected if you no how there's a few here on this site that seem to collect pines very easy but cant remember who they are

[FEX]

OK FEX,

I'm gonna take the plunge on this one. Now let me start by saying that a tree is never easy to design in 2D, and that I'm going to be brutally honest here.

I just can't see a great bonsai in this tree as it stands, and I'm guessing that not many others can either, otherwise there would have been a few responses here. The major problems I see are the lack of good taper on the trunk and the "almost bar branches" with pretty even gaps between sets. SO. I see two options for this tree. The first is an airlayer above the first branch and then do something small but dynamic with the existing trunk and first branch only. The second will be to bend the pants off of the tree, but I can't comment on whether this is possible as I am not sure how stiff it is. This option will allow you to compact it right down and get rid of the large gaps between the existing branches. The current top branch will then have to be developed into a new apex.

There is a possible 3rd option, and it involves planting it out, feeding it like crazy and hoping of some back-budding on the trunk and branches. Wait, wait and wait some more.

I think you have your work cut out for you here, but good luck!

Cheers, and good luck figuring it out!

Andrew

thanks for the advice Andrew, i knew this tree was going to be a challenge, i just noticed, i had some responses to my tree today, and i have already done your second option about a week ago,the trunk was very flexible,so i twisted the crap out of it, i think i have a basic shape there,23 cm high. the apex still needs some more twisting to place the branches in the right spot, the bottom branching has work to do also,but i will leave that till the main trunk sets and i repot,