KingJades' Jades Progression (and Portulacaria's too!)

[KingJades]

I decided to start a progression page to track my Portularia and Jades progressions. I don't exactly have a ton of trees and they're all starting out. I'm relatively new to bonsai, which essentially means that I have no clue what I'm doing. However, I do have a deep love of biology and an engineering degree so hopefully I can keep a plant or two alive. Also, jades are hella hard to kill but I will successfully kill them along the way. You've been warned.

This thread will be blog-style. Depending on if people care or are remotely interested, maybe one day I'll start a real jades blog. Doesn't seem like anyone is doing that. If you know of anyone doing that, let me know. I NEED TO READ IT. But, no one cares what I have to say or what I do so it won't ever actually matter.

I'll number my trees and number the posts to try to organize one tree's story from another. It might be hard to follow since all of the trees get mixed in the same progression. Just follow the numbers. New trees will be added along the way.

I sell plants on Craigslist (mostly trees that I don't think have a future in bonsai) and cuttings, so don't be shocked if we see plants go away and phase new plants in as we continue on. I also sell cuttings for reasonable fun and profit. Succulents are all the rage right now. Lots of college kids + a fad = $$$$$.

My cuttings will one day allow me to finance a real tree! Or at least buy some cool pots.

Let's get on with it! Feel free to interrupt, ask questions, give advice, or call me an idiot for what I do.

 

[KingJades]

Tree #1
This is my largest tree. I got it from Lowe's in one of those $24.99 bucket of succulents at the beginning of August. I always check those to see if there are any actual good plants available and I found this huge guy in amongst the other decent Ports. The trunk is about 1", which is super big for Lowe's stock around here. The problem with getting plants in a bucket is that the roots get all tangled and it's a mess to get the roots out. Needless to say I lost most of my roots along the way, then I cut off essentially all of the other roots. I potted into a clay growing pot since it was big and reasonably presentable. Hey, I gotta try to look at least remotely presentable along the bonsai path. This is about looking good, right?

I potted into Miracle Gro Cactus Mix and watered a tad to get the soil to settle. The leaves went super wilty for a few days, and I took this photo of it.


Accidental root pruning on these guys makes leaves wilty. So does cutting all of their roots off!!!

I got a Craigslist order for some jade cuttings, so I took some of the longer shoots that seemed to be in the way and rooted them as cuttings. $$$$$
I cut the nub off and allowed the tree to rest with minimal other actions.
Added some Osmocote and let it rest for a weeks with occasional watering.

Flash forward about 5 weeks to Sept 11, 2016!
Here's how the nub has healed! Starting to close up neatly and the two main branches are pulling in toward one another. The nodes on the tree have been growing out and we're extended on pretty much every branch!

Keep your mind out of the gutter, will ya?

Long term plan for this tree is to thicken up and then make a real plan. Probably some kind of informal upright.

 

[KingJades]

Tree #2: Cascade
This post will be a lot shorter. I got this one in the same bucket as Tree #1. I forget whether it was upright when I got it or if it was already fallen over like this, but it's definitely had a break in the trunk and dropped close a 90 degree angle. We make formal uprights when that happens, right?

Sucky photo, but it's all I got. Who knew I'd be talking about these things?

I did absolutely nothing to it for 5 weeks and just stared intently trying to figure out how to make a tree out of this. I've never made a cascade before! I did my first wiring on this guy today, but I'll have to take photos later since I was an idiot and forgot to photo! I'd say my wiring was "non-traditional" but it should get some movement going on those wispy whips that are just dangling here. Looks sorta like a bird, right? Will post photos as soon as I take them.

 

[fredman]

LoL...I like your style mate. I voted up there, just for the hell of it We all learn as we go...!!!

 

[Redwood Ryan]

This is neat. I recently bought a cork bark Baby Jade cultivar, so I'm interested.

 

[GSCarlson]

I voted "you suck and we don't care" just for the fun of it. Nothing personal. I picked up a neglected, near dead jade at an estate sale over the summer, which is quickly coming back to life, so I will be following your jade blog.

 

[fredman]

Did this one yesterday. Cut loads of roots off, and screwed it to a plank. I'm expecting it to sulk some. Will see...

 

[KingJades]

Did this one yesterday. Cut loads of roots off, and screwed it to a plank. I'm expecting it to sulk some. Will see...
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Cool! Let me know how it goes!
Your jade has some pretty good flare at the base going on.

 

[fredman]

Yes I was pleasantly surprised when it came out the pot. It was beneath the soil line...
This was a 1 1/2" cutting I took off the top of the tree in the photo. I stuck it in the pot filled with fine pumice. It grew in the pot for a year. I then recessed the pot in the grow bed soil for another year. It filled the pot and grew out into the soil bigtime....
The flair I imagine is a subsequence of the cutting growing roots all round, similar to a air layer.