Jade Bonsai from Cuttings?

[Megatherium]

Many years ago, my family received a jade tree from a neighbor. Long story short, we have a fair amount of cuttings from this tree. The thing is, we don't really know what to do with them. I've wondering whether or not they could be made into bonsai.

Five cuttings in particular caught my eye. They're all about 10 inches tall and the diameter of their trunks at the widest part is around 2 and 1/2 inches. Right now, they're living in little (maybe 4inchesX4inces) plastic pots. I can lift some of them right out of their pots by the trunk because the roots are so dense.

Are these cuttings Bonsai material? If so, what are the steps I should take to make these cuttings into Bonsai?

[kdodds]

Absolutely, though Jades can be a bit difficult and time consuming to become truly tree-like. Cuttings are an excellent way to go, especially if you've plenty of them. You can practice methods and designs on the least promising and then work on the best of the best.

[Megatherium]

So, from now on do I treat the cuttings like bonsai in terms of soil, pots etc?

[Gnome]

Meg,

Jades really like a gritty, open, free draining mix. A little bark is OK but no actual soil. Other than that my mix is inorganic. A 2 1/2 trunk is pretty substantial so a bonsai pot is appropriate now.

I have just re-potted several recently, make sure to remove the old soil and try to comb out the roots a little. You can cut them back a little if you need to in order to get them into their new pots.

Jades seem to be slow to develop substantial roots so I am always sure to wire them into their pots. If your bonsai pot has two holes in it I can outline how I do it if you like.

Norm

[bonsaiboy]

I have succesfully rooted a few cuttings in plai old sand with nothig else. Once strong roots develope, they can be repotted.