Bonsai Gallery of Walter Pall: Mugo Pine nr. 8

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Mugo Pine (Pinus Mugo) #8

140 cm high
Around 120 years old
pot by Derek Apinall
from a tree which was collected in Italy in 2001

This is an extraordinary mugo pine (Pinus mugo). It is some of the best material that I ever found. But it is a real horticultural challenge . After collecting in spring of 2001 the tree was planted into a plastic pot. But it would not grow very well. It just sent one new bud at each shoot. No ramification. In 2006 I decided that it might be the soil of the original habitat that had to be removed. consequently I took ti out of the container and planted it into a good bonsai pot. I often do this quite contrary to conventional bonsai wisdom which tells you to first style the tree and only then find the final pot I do it the other way round for several reasons. One is to be able to style it in then pot finally and not re pot it afterwards for many years, like more than ten years. But it still would not grow. In the fall of 2007 I fed it with chicken pellets, which is simply dry chicken do. And in spring of 2008 all of a sudden it came to quite vigorously. It still did not have enough ramification to really style the crown, but it was enough to make it pleasing finally. Before it looked funny, like it was styled by someone who had no clue. Now one could see what the aim of that was. In fall of 2008 the tree has created many new buds which came nicely in summer of 2009. Finally, after the old needles were plucked some parts were cut off, the old wire removed and the whole thing totally re-wired. Now for the first time the inherent quality is visible. We only need a slight change of front and some editing to the crown plus a new pot within the next two years.