Does this P. Afra Prune Get Me Where I Want to Be?

[KingJades]

I hijacked @Lobaeux 's thread about P Afra pruning, but figured it would probably be better to ask in this Forum Instead and collect experience from more experienced people.

I'd like to extend the height of the tree to allow it to be taller and I would also like to continue developing the trunk to be thicker towards an informal upright trunk style. It seems like there are two options available to me right now.

I've removed the nub at the center of crotch point so the branches are starting to heal over that spot.

Here's an image of the overall tree for context. This is from a couple of weeks ago post repot so hence the wrinkly leaves, but it's pretty lush and healthy now.

Options:
1. Wire the long branch to the left upwards to vertical and run it as a new leader adding some height and taper. The left branch is clearly the dominant branch right now and is growing rapidly. The branch on the right continues to be a side branch adding thickness until it's time to design prune.

2. Make the following cut to use the first secondary branch on the left main branch that this already vertical as a new trunk, introducing both taper a little movement as the trunk line shifts to the left.
I'd probably also cut down the vertical branch to allow me to grow the new nodes a lot closer than they are right now.

The zigzag would be pretty drastic at first until my trunk is about 2-2.5x as thick as it is currently and then I hope it would smooth out?

Here's a rough virt showing how I think and hope the new trunk would come through:

I'm definitely new when it comes to styling so I wanted to collect thoughts and ideas for the best way to approach this. I'm not sure if either of those options are possible or would work for what I'm trying to do!

Help appreciated!

 

[Cypress187]

That long branch won't get taper like you drew (not by itself), you need to cut it and grow a new leader (over a few years / chops / leaders if you want it higher).

 

[KingJades]

That long branch won't get taper like you drew (not by itself), you need to cut it and grow a new leader (over a few years / chops / leaders if you want it higher).

For sure, there's a little chop mark on it which is where I'd cut it back to! Every branch on this bad boy comes off at some point when I start design prune for placement and taper. Right now the goal is to get that lower trunk thicker and get the zig zag region starting to thicken up. I think I keep the tall branch for now while that's starting, but prune up high on it to force secondary and tertiary branching to feed trunk thickness.

On that note, I'm not sure if growing out nodes on existing branches helps to grow thicker or if cutting back and regrowing out helps more. Anyone with experience with these techniques on p. afra?

 

[aml1014]

For sure, there's a little chop mark on it which is where I'd cut it back to! Every branch on this bad boy comes off at some point when I start design prune for placement and taper. Right now the goal is to get that lower trunk thicker and get the zig zag region starting to thicken up. I think I keep the tall branch for now while that's starting, but prune up high on it to force secondary and tertiary branching to feed trunk thickness.

On that note, I'm not sure if growing out nodes on existing branches helps to grow thicker or if cutting back and regrowing out helps more. Anyone with experience with these techniques on p. afra?

Growing is the only way to get it to thicken, when the trunk is to the thickness you want, at that point you begin pruning back and growing out to get the taper you desire!

Aaron

 

[KingJades]

Growing is the only way to get it to thicken, when the trunk is to the thickness you want, at that point you begin pruning back and growing out to get the taper you desire!

Aaron

I guess my question is if I need growth, does it all need to be on the plant at one time or is it the act of growing that gives me the girth?

Is one of these better than the other for thicker trunk? I just made up 8 to keep number simple.

Option A: cut back and grow 4ft, cut back again, grow 4 more ft, cut back to style.

Option B: grow 8ft taller, cut back to style.

Sounds like option 2 is best?

 

[aml1014]

I guess my question is if I need growth, does it all need to be on the plant at one time or is it the act of growing that gives me the girth?

Is one of these better than the other for thicker trunk? I just made up 8 to keep number simple.

Option A: cut back and grow 4ft, cut back again, grow 4 more ft, cut back to style.

Option B: grow 8ft taller, cut back to style.

Sounds like option 2 is best?

You have the right idea, the longer the growth continues to extend the thicker the trunk will be, when pruning consistently, you'll get some girth but not very fast.
I'd let it grow until the trunk base was where I wanted it , then let it grow out, for example 4 feet then cut back, allow to grow 2-3 feet then cut back again. If you let each section get as tall as the last section, you'll lose the taper you want.

Aaron

 

[KingJades]

You have the right idea, the longer the growth continues to extend the thicker the trunk will be, when pruning consistently, you'll get some girth but not very fast.
I'd let it grow until the trunk base was where I wanted it , then let it grow out, for example 4 feet then cut back, allow to grow 2-3 feet then cut back again. If you let each section get as tall as the last section, you'll lose the taper you want.

Aaron

Thanks, for your help! I'll let everyone know how it's going.

 

[eferguson1974]

Good thread, I have a few jades and enjoy them. When I see a cool one for bonsai, I buy it. Theyre cheap here. Ive been wodering what to do with mine. So this is good info, timely for me.

 

[KingJades]

Follow - up question.

I realized from the second picture that this main trunk has a reverse taper in it just above the soil line. It's not just an optical illusion! Obviously, I have a lot of growing to do on this, but is there anything I can be doing now to try to start progression to reversing this effect or do I just leave it alone and see what happens? I do have a bud directly above the narrow region, so perhaps I can try to encourage a pair of branches to start there?

I know I have a large chop coming at *some* point in the future, so maybe I just put all of the corrections off until then since I might pop a bud down there following the major reduction.





Bonus: I have another one with REALLY bad reverse taper in it. I already have a lower bud that popped in the right place, but I think I need to remove at least one of the large branches up top to stop the taper from worsening. Suggestions? A somewhat ambitious approach is to grow it out for rapid trunk thickness (ignoring the reverse taper), then lop it off right above low branch and regrow entire tree. The top can be used for cuttings. A Portulacaria "air layer"!

Older photo but pretty representative.



Another angle - you can barely see the low branch that has budded.


I definitely need to take newer photos of these....

 

[KingJades]

Here's how the nub cut has been healing. Another few weeks and it will be gone gone gone!

No dirty jokes. Yes, I know what it looks like.

Also, decided that the second plant with the bad reverse taper is just going to grow out like a shrub as a mother plant for a while, and then I'll trunk chop to below the taper. Meanwhile, I wired some movement into it so that the cuttings I take already have movement in them.

 

[Lobaeux]

That's probably a really good idea.