Cork Bark Jade (Portulacaria Afra) Defoliation Project

[cbrshadow23]

I've been meaning to defoliate this tree for a while so that I could see the branch structure, but I've basically just trimmed the canopy and kept it with my other trees on a stand in my yard for quite a while. The leaves are so dense inside the canopy that there's no way to see what the branches look like without defoliation, let alone get wire in there. Here's a little video of the defoliation before/after.
<Watch it in youtube and turn up the quality to the highest in order to see high quality video>

I plan on wiring the branches to spread them out, and prune back a lot of branches to thin them out a bit. The top canopy in particular is too 'heavy' I think. Also big branch on the right side doesn't have much taper so I'm considering chopping it back. Thoughts?
One thing that makes this more complicated is that I don't want wire anywhere near the corking. These cork bark portulacaria devleop thick corking but not all of it is hardened and can flake off from tight wiring. I'll need to use guy wires and small amounts of wire out on the branches rather than low on the trunk.

What would you do if this were your tree?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Yes you can definitely defoliate them. I have done so. The resulting growth will be tighter and smaller.

However the best time to do so is in the early summer when they are just starting to push strong growth. I have defoliated at other times of the year and if they aren't actively growing they will just sulk for a bit before waking up.

 

[cbrshadow23]

Yes you can definitely defoliate them. I have done so. The resulting growth will be tighter and smaller.

However the best time to do so is in the early summer when they are just starting to push strong growth. I have defoliated at other times of the year and if they aren't actively growing they will just sulk for a bit before waking up.

Yeah I have these under grow lights and will until springtime, so as far as they're concerned it's a very warm sunny summer right now
I recently defoliated another tree and it started pushing growth in about 10 days

 

[Carol 83]

So maybe I am completely wrong, but aren't Cork Bark Jade and Portulacaria Afra two different things? I have some P. Afras I got at Home Depot. The Cork bark jade cutting I got from a member here was from Frank Yee cuttings. Ok forget that, per Wigert's it is a form of P. Afra. I tried to delete my message but couldn't.

 

[Forsoothe!]

So, there is no such thing as "Corkbark Jade", it's a misnamed Corkbark ~Baby Jade~ Portulacaria. Right?

 

[canoeguide]

Yes

So, there is no such thing as "Corkbark Jade", it's a misnamed Corkbark ~Baby Jade~ Portulacaria. Right?

Correct. I've never heard of a corkbark Crassula ovata, if that's what you mean. That would be cool though.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

So maybe I am completely wrong, but aren't Cork Bark Jade and Portulacaria Afra two different things? I have some P. Afras I got at Home Depot. The Cork bark jade cutting I got from a member here was from Frank Yee cuttings. Ok forget that, per Wigert's it is a form of P. Afra. I tried to delete my message but couldn't.

If you got it from Frank Yee, it was a P. afra. But I guess you already know that His P. afras are somewhat legendary

 

[cbrshadow23]

Frank Yee's Cork Bark's are a recognized variation of Portulacaria Afra. The story is that he used DDT on a few regular Portualcaria Afra's back in the 1970's and those trees developed corking, which continues in the cuttings from those original trees. I'm not sure sure I believe the story 100% since I think there are genetic variations in Portulacaria Afra where corking can show up. The are folks in Australia that have some very old "Cork Bark Portulacaria Afra" that did not originate from Frank Yee. Frank's trees do seem to have super thick corking though, unlike other variations that I've seen.