My first pine - and a mugo to boot

[Haydenmc]

So i went to the BSV show today and decided i needed a pine. Didnt find anything there i wanted to work on - towards the end of the second day, i know i should have been there first thing saturday.
Anyway i headed to the hills and grabbed this mugo

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all i want to do at the moment is get it healthy, remove the new growth as it comes in this season and look to a repot asap - its not in a bad way soil wise - but i just like to know all is well under there.
It has had some wire recently applied with a gentle shaping.
Love any advice people can give me specific to mugo's
As far as styling goes - im thinking i want to replicate the ground hugging wind beaten stock i have seen growing in very rocky / barren terrain in the European hills.
Open to suggestions though

Cheers
H

[The Specimen]

Pines especially Mugos are a personal favorite of mine and while I am no pine expert, thought I'd chip in seeing there has been no response yet.

Im sure more seasoned pros will weigh in..

For me and if you have the space, I would plant it in the ground (they are slow growing) for many seasons though because it is your first pine I can understand if you'd prefer to pot it up and enjoy it right away.

Young healthy mugos can be cut, wired and repotted in a vegetated season. Unlike other pines, they respond better being repotted in summer.

I'd let it grow freely for now and once repotted, you can then decide on options for this tree.. good luck.

Hope people post more photos of Mugos!

[kcpoole]

looks too be quite large actually.
did you collect it or get from a nursery?

I see 2 issues you will need to address over time. the foliage is a long way from the trunk, so you will need to try to get it back shooting to get more compact growth rather than on long branches
the other is the quite long strainghtish section of trunk above the first bend. This may need to be reduced or given big movement

Ken

[Haydenmc]

Its a nursery purchase this one, couldnt agree more with your two points, i was just looking at it thinking that maybe layering it off halfway up might be an option - 2 for the price of one?
Otherwise yeah just going to work on getting some good colour back into the needles - seem a little dull at the moment.
But i dont hate that there isnt much close to the trunk