Jade Potential??

[Mike423]

Last summer I acquired this Jade from a nursery that was going out of buisness, I usually am not to hot on Jades but this one seemed to catch my eye since it had a goo trunk diameter and unusually branching (as well as the price) and I know Jades in general take forever to develop a trunk like this. Its very top heavy as is and The soil seems to be as hard as a rock. I pinched back all the current growth a few months back and got a decent amount of adventitious buds that formed and opened all over. I know jades usually are not considered as bonsai or having the potential to be shaped as such, but was wondering if anyone out there has some experience with them and if any pointers could be given or shaping ideas shared or just what you think overall. My Idea was to just pinch and let the canopy fill in to eventually loos something like the last picture if possible.

-Mike

 

[Matt Williams]

I never really consider Crassula for bonsai but I do have a potted Crassula as a house plant, that I propogated from a leaf cutting. Your tree needs more light, put it in a very bright spot or ouside for summer (I live in Britain in a zone 8 climate and mine will go out in May (they cant hack frosts). You will get alot more back budding, red fringed upright leaves, and a much bushier habbit.

 

[GerhardG]

Hi Mike

There's a local bonsai guy with HUGE Crassula bonsai, truly impressive, and I just don't like them....
I don't know whether it's the (real or perceived?) impermanence of a succulent bonsai, but I've ignored many huge ones I could have dug.

Locally they end up in forgotten corners of gardens and just go nuts, one house I pass everyday on my way home has 3 on the sidewalk that the owners has actually trimmed into huge trees (trunk thickness, not height).

They should make a branch anywhere you remove a leaf, so in theory, if it's happy you can direct it any way you want.

FWIW
Gerhard

 

[Jason]

Jade's can be fun and their nearly indestructible. My advise would be to repot it in the spring (freely draining soil like turface) and to do your best to keep it outdoors as much as possible. In your region that probably means about May 1st (move out gradually to full sun or they get sun burn) to before the first hard frost (around sept-october?). Fertilize it lots when its outside. When you bring it in for the winter cut back or stop all together. They seem to like to be moderately constricted in their pots (just observation not proven).


With this specific plant I'd keep the all the lower branches to get a thick base and then I'd think about deleting them and moving to a single trunk design. I'd keep the thick one. While your waiting for the base to thicken you could try to get back budding farther down on the part your going to keep. They keep me mildly entertained during the winter months when I can't do anything with my "real" trees. Oh, if you remove that second trunk in the spring some year just stick it in sand and you'll have another one in a few months to work on. They're like weeds.

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