Killermommy
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Jade bonsai

Hey all! I love the bonsai idea and want to grow my own I have a cutting of my mother in laws jade plant and want to turn it into a bonsai my own art work if someone could help me out to get started and give tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated
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Gnome
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Grow it full out, as fast as you can and then cut it back hard. Repeat this for as long as you can stand it. Look into 'Baby Jade' or Portulacaria, they are much more suited to bonsai.

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rainbowgardener
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I'm not a big fan of jade bonsai, but that is just a personal preference thing; I know many people love them. To me the main thing that makes a jade plant approach the look of bonsai is having a nice thick trunk:

Image

Image

(by the way the pictures are both the baby jade, portulacaria, that Gnome mentioned.)

It will not grow big like that kept in the little bonsai pot. If it were me, I would put it in to a big pot and just let it grow for awhile. Bonsai is the art of patience!

Killermommy
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Thank you guys ! How do I grow it fast ? How do I thicken the trunk ? How big of a pot should it be in ? I want a 3/5 in he tree.

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rainbowgardener
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Ummm ... bonsai is the art of patience. It grows at the rate it grows. You can help by giving it optimum conditions - plenty of sunshine, water it regularly, but not too much, allow it to dry a little bit between waterings. Jade plant doesn't need a lot of fertilizer, but fertilize with a balanced water soluble fertilizer every few months, per the directions. But that doesn't exactly make it grow faster, it just lets it live up to its natural potential.

For now a pot the diameter of the one you have but at least 6" deep would be enough. As the plant gets bigger, up-pot into bigger pots. To grow big and thick, it needs a good root system.

Again that thick trunk is mostly about patience and basic TLC, but if you trim the ends of new growth it will help focus the growth towards the center. Keep the branches few and not too long.

Killermommy
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Thank you very much I now have a idea of what needs to be done :) and should I keep the trunk shallow for shallow roots ?

imafan26
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when you are growing it out you can keep it in a grower pot. It will grow thicker and faster than in a small pot. You keep cutting it back to get the trunk to thicken. Usually, starters take a long time to develop.

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Gnome
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Killermommy wrote:Thank you very much I now have a idea of what needs to be done :) and should I keep the trunk shallow for shallow roots ?
Don't worry too much about that now. My Jades have not developed much of a nebari after years of growing and re-potting. The roots are, at least for me, very fibrous and slow to develop thickness. Each re-potting requires cutting away a large amount of these fibrous roots.

This means that you can grow a Jade out to a substantial size and get it into a small pot much easier than say a deciduous tree or Conifer. At the next re-potting use a more free draining mix. Research bonsai soil.

I have limited room to overwinter tender plants and I am phasing out Crassula in favor of Portulacaria. If you really fancy a succulant bonsai try one of these.

Killermommy
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Thank you all for all the tips ! I have done alot of reading online and it all gives me miss information. I really appreciate the help ! ☺

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rainbowgardener
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Incidentally, in your May 12 post, you wrote: " I want a 3/5 in he tree."

I have no idea what that means. Want to try again?

Killermommy
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I want my tree to be 3/5 inches tall

Killermommy
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I want my tree to be 3/5 inches tall. sorry that made no sense to me either.

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rainbowgardener
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Tiny bonsai (under 4" tall) are called mame bonsai (ma' may). Somewhat less tiny, under 10" tall are called shohin bonsai.

It is more, not less, of a technical challenge to create a tiny bonsai that still has some artistic features and maintain it at that size. And I doubt jade plant is the best subject for that. But it can be done:

Image

Image

Note that they still have thick-ish trunks. You don't make a mame bonsai by never letting your plant grow. You make it by letting it grow and then cutting it back down. Note also the tiny leaves, in scale with the tiny size of the tree. Some of that is just getting the right small leafed variety of jade (or baby jade) to start with. But there are techniques for reducing leaf size.

I found this:

It used to be a big thing with me a few years ago. I would completely defoliate a standard ovata plant every year in July. The sun intensity from the time of year plus the shorter growing season would keep leaves about 1/2 normal size. Not allowing leaves to stay on a plant for a number of years keeps them small. If you look closely at your plant, the biggest leaves are the ones growing directly on the trunk or the ones that have been on the plant the longest. If the oldest leaf on the plant is 6 - 8 months old, it doesn't have time to bulk up and get big. https://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions ... -on-a-jade

and this: The Jade has a thick trunk and branch structure with thick elliptic green succulent leaves. Given sufficient light the leaves develop red edges to their leaves and produce clusters of star-shaped white flowers in Autumn. Natural leaf size is 1-2" but can be reduced to as little as 1/2" with regular pruning. The Jade Tree is suitable for informal upright and clump styles in all sizes.https://www.bonsai4me.com/SpeciesGuide/Crassula.html

Pruning also contributes to making the plant fuller and leafier.

But this is all technical stuff and a lot to learn. I still recommend just letting your plant grow in a big pot for awhile, while you give yourself a crash course in bonsai techniques.

Killermommy
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Thank you very much that was very helpful ! I did put it in a bigger pot to help the trunk grow now just a waiting game :)



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