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Quote:

Originally Posted by lauere85

Hello All,

I've recently acquired an old Mugo pine from a local nursery. It came in a 1-gallon plastic container, where it was completely root-bound. After pulling the container off, I saw that the majority of the soil mass had extremely old roots, which probably weren't doing much besides anchoring down the tree.

SO, I cut off the majority of the root mas with a saw; about 3/4 of it. I placed the tree into a bonsai pot and it's been there for about three weeks. Some of the needles have started to show signs of yellowing, and some of needles on lower branches look a bit curly, but besides that, no other health problems are apparent.

My question is, given the extreme root-pruning I did, how long would a Mugo pine usually take to die? I'm wondering if I may be wasting my time with this tree, because the extreme root pruning may have killed it. Thank you

Actually your question should be "How long will it take to recover?" 75% of the root mass eliminated is pretty extreme especially in the early spring. If this tree survives here is what I suspect will happen. The rest of this year it will only kind of sit there and pout. It wont look good and many may say it is dead but don't believe them. Just let it alone and water only when it needs water. Next spring you will be lucky if it puts out any new growth, it might not do anything other than look like it did this year. Many will tell you it is dead; don't believe them, keep it around for another season. The next season if it is going to survive it should pop some buds. I have had Mugos do this exactly as I have described.

Here I feel compelled to make a couple of judgements. First of all if you are contemplating doing something drastic beyond your experience it is best to ask questions before the event not after, and hope for a miracle suggestion. Second major root work in my experience on Mugos is best done in the summer once the tree has gotten into high gear to use a metaphor.