Nursery stock mugo pine - initial design

Design
1

Hey Mirai community! Greetings from Switzerland.

Yesterday I did the initial structural design on my nursery stock mugo pine. I purchased the tree mid winter and repotted it in February. It was growing very vigorously during spring and summer, so I decided I could risk taking the next step. For me, this was one of the biggest operations that I have done on any tree to date and it took me an entire day. I hope the tree will live, but thanks to everything I learned here, I’m pretty confident for now. :blush:

In future, I would like to compress the left side more and accentuate the move towards the right.

Please let me know your thoughts and let me know if you have any suggestions for improvement.

Front

IMG_1605
IMG_1605866×1154 295 KB

Right

IMG_1607
IMG_1607866×1154 306 KB

Back

IMG_1608
IMG_1608866×1154 281 KB

Left

IMG_1609
IMG_1609866×1154 320 KB

Top

IMG_1610
IMG_1610866×1154 430 KB

Before styling

IMG_1055
IMG_10553024×4032 3.93 MB

4 Likes
2

Good start. The back seems a better angle than the front you picked. Can you see whyconfused:?

1 Like
3

I like the view from the back too, but it has this giant branch sticking towards the viewer. I didn’t dare remove it on top of everything else I cut. Certainly a consideration for a second iteration of the tree though. :blush:

4

I could see that branch. Wonder if turning a bit left or right and possibly rewiring the branch a bit to the direction the tree was turned could make the difference. The uncomfortable thing I see is a big gap between branches on your chosen front right side of the tree. From the back this is not so obvious. In time with added foliage this can be corrected at least somewhat.

1 Like
5

Nice tree! I like the back also. The upper two trunk internodes look shorter (Better imo) from the rear. The topmost internode is almost entirely hidden creating a more mature looking apex. That’s something you could recreate in your current front by bringing an upper branch towards the front. I have not seen a pack of Luckys in like 3 decades.

1 Like
6

Hey Christoph! Cool tree :slight_smile:

I noticed you wired the trunk from the bottom up. Is that to have an anchor point? If you’re hoping to get movement in the trunk, especially so low, you’ll be hard-pressed to get it with wire. You might be able to get it with more extreme measures but it seems to me this would be a fine tree for the formal upright form. I’m not trying to say you should cop out and not try to give it movement, but I’ve found doing a formal upright when you have the material that warrants it, is a good exercise in branch selection. Just my thoughts to be taken with a grain of salt or not at all.
Cheers bro!

1 Like
7

Nice work. My two cents picture 2 should be front when you repot. Better movement of trunk and killer Nebari

1 Like
8

Thanks for the feedback Ned. :blush: I wired the entire trunk in order to bend the apex slightly to the right and minimise the negative space created by the big gap of branches… That just so worked with the thickest wire I had available. No way would I be able to bend the lower part of the trunk using just wire. :blush: (But nevertheless I definitely should get some good copper wire from Mirai some day… I can only find in aluminium wire in my area). I absolutely agree that this should stay a formal or slightly informal upright tree.
And thanks @Eastbayvet. I will certainly reconsider the front with the next repot. In the end I’ll probably have to give Ryan the casting vote regarding the best angle. :wink:

1 Like