Another Portuclacaria Afra Progression

[lieuz]

This is how it always starts... two years ago I bought a jade during a random impulse buy. Dead of winter too, that's when I typically make impulsive buys, fidgety fingers. Did an initial wiring and didn't know how I'd feel about the tree in its current state/style. I have never seen a broom styled p.afra before so I thought "oh well let's see where this goes...". Well, I forgot about it and a year later it got some pretty decent growth.

I did notice that the tree has a T bar branch thing going on and was a little concerned for the longest time because I just don't know what to do with it.

A year later, I noticed the tree grew out of the broom style and I saw an informal upright in it. I trimmed it back and did my first official styling of it. SUPER unhappy with how it turned out because I just wasn't in tune to what the tree was offering at the time. I also defoliated a lot of the leaves so I could wire better. It was the T bar branch that makes me cringe and then you have the large branch in the back.

A few months after, I want to say around January of 2017, I did a bit of refinement here and there and the tree spoke to me a bit more and I was a bit more happy with the styling. But because jades winterize so well indoors, it lost quite a bit of foliage. I was a bit satisfied with the small refinements but I was still a unhappy with the seemingly glaring fact the tree didn't have any movement.

Fast forward to today and this tree got yet another refinement. Now I'm very happy with how the tree looks. I was able to keep the T bar branches but had to position them differently. The large branch in the back was wired into a pad as the other 2 lower branches. The apex still needs some work but overall I really liked how much fuller the tree looks with the adjusted branch placements. There were quite a few spots with wire crossing, but they are under or behind the branch I promise.

 

[f1pt4]

Nice portucalarias. This one and the other one you posted!

Just curious, what do you prefer as a soil mix?

 

[lieuz]

@f1pt4 Thank you! The soil I like to use is made up of 60% of Akadama 25% of pumice, 10% of lava, and 5% of the orchid coconut husks. The ones I get are chopped up pretty nicely so it adds a bit more moisture retention. It's worked really well for me and has proved to work well outside as well as inside when I have to winterize it indoors. I've notice I can go about a week with 1 watering indoors when winterizing. When outside, I can go 2.5 days.

 

[f1pt4]

@f1pt4 Thank you! The soil I like to use is made up of 60% of Akadama 25% of pumice, 10% of lava, and 5% of the orchid coconut husks. The ones I get are chopped up pretty nicely so it adds a bit more moisture retention. It's worked really well for me and has proved to work well outside as well as inside when I have to winterize it indoors. I've notice I can go about a week with 1 watering indoors when winterizing. When outside, I can go 2.5 days.

I've been using a very inorganic mix, that's similar to yours, except my Akadama is at about 25%. Lava and Pumice make up the rest. I use it for both Crassula's and Portucalarias. What I found was that the Crassulas love it, however my portucalarias aren't as happy. I was planning on repotting my ports this weekend, as they grow under lights all winter, and I'm going to try your mix. I like the slight addition of husks. We'll see at the end of summer how they respond.

Keep up the great work with your portucalarias. They look really nice.

Cheers.

 

[lieuz]

@f1pt4 good luck sir! unsure what the climate is in toronto, but we can get some really hot muggy weather. i have found the coconut husks helped buy me some time.