bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - Question about "collecting" Mugo Pine from my yard

Since I grow a lot of pines and other trees in the ground, I can tell you one useful thing about it. The tree can take much more drastic pruning in the ground than after it was transplanted into a pot. Incomparably more. So, if you plan to drastically alter the design, you may want to do that first, and wait another year before collecting it. You basically start training the tree into bonsai while is still in the ground. The good thing is that when you prune it in the ground, the root growth will slow down significantly, so you don't have to worry too much that the roots get even longer.

The downside is twofold.

One, you may end up being unsuccessful in transplanting the tree from ground to pot, so you've wasted a year training and then end up with nothing. But this is unlikely if you know what you are doing.

Two, after training the tree in the ground, and successfully collecting it, you may find that it has a horrible nebari, and may decide that it's not good enough for spending more time on it. So, you may want to dig down a bit just to make sure that it has an acceptable nebari before you decide to do anything.

If you plan to prune less than a third of the foliage, you don't need to worry about training in the ground, you can just dig it out and style afterwards.

3-Aug-2005	#3
Attila Attila Soos Join Date: Jan-2002 Location: Los Angeles, California Country: USA Posts: 2,003	Since I grow a lot of pines and other trees in the ground, I can tell you one useful thing about it. The tree can take much more drastic pruning in the ground than after it was transplanted into a pot. Incomparably more. So, if you plan to drastically alter the design, you may want to do that first, and wait another year before collecting it. You basically start training the tree into bonsai while is still in the ground. The good thing is that when you prune it in the ground, the root growth will slow down significantly, so you don't have to worry too much that the roots get even longer. The downside is twofold. One, you may end up being unsuccessful in transplanting the tree from ground to pot, so you've wasted a year training and then end up with nothing. But this is unlikely if you know what you are doing. Two, after training the tree in the ground, and successfully collecting it, you may find that it has a horrible nebari, and may decide that it's not good enough for spending more time on it. So, you may want to dig down a bit just to make sure that it has an acceptable nebari before you decide to do anything. If you plan to prune less than a third of the foliage, you don't need to worry about training in the ground, you can just dig it out and style afterwards.