KillerButts
Mame
Her name is Jacqueline.
My 62 year old family grown Crassula
- Thread starter KillerButts
- Start date
KillerButts
Mame
I have no degrees and little bonsai experience so take the following information with a grain of salt. If you plan on keeping a jade outside, possibly most of what I do won't be helpful. More experienced members could help you better. I offer the following to anyone who does keep them indoors at room temperature. Take a cutting and try first to see if the results are similar before applying any of my newbie information.
This is my family's Jade behind 3 leaf cultures. It was purchased as a window sill plant roughly 6" tall. I have been taking care of it for about 21 years. We estimate it's 62 give or take a year. In 1997 it was repotted by a family member in compost soil
. It suffered a massive secret root rot that ultimately claimed the entire rootball.
About 3 years of conventional remedies that one could try, all failed. Honestly a letter in itself all the different efforts. It was loosing about an inch and a half of the trunk each year. I would cut back past the trunk rot and try something else. I was eventually able to water layer it. Sure there is a name for that, but I have no clue. I did a full submersion of half the trunk in a bucket of A/C water runoff. Lifted and applied a tablespoon of rootone rooting agent on the base. Smoked a butt, trunk exposed with rootone applied and then put it in the bucket. This was done in late April and the tree was placed as described in a bucket of water for the entire summer till lows hit 60. Roots emerged in June from the base
.
Positions in past restoring attempts included full sun, partial (no midday) and partial noontime to setting suns from April till September. What I used in this last attempt was morning sun only and it took.
It was gently rested on top of and around a 5" diameter wet sphagnum moss ball and potted. The media I use around the sphagnum is 1 part perlite, 1 part potting soil, 1 part sphagnum moss. In a one gallon mix of this I add a hefty handful of store bought orchid mix bark and a 1/2 cup of activated carbon chunks. After a repot I add a teaspoon of Azomite to the mulch line.
This is my personal mix it was not given to me, it's just what I found her tissue cultures and branch cuttings liked most over the years and ran with it. I am still learning so much, but over the years this has worked for my jade and its cultures. Mentioning this media in the context of anyone who keeps an older jade indoors only. I have found it keeps a healthy root ball without fertilizer so I can enjoy the shape I have and keep a healthy plant.
Repotting for me, in this morning to noon window light only (no supplemental light) scenario has been every 5 years. I remove/replace only loose soil and try not to disturb the rootball. If any tap roots have spun around the base of the pot, I do tease those out and cut them at the edge of the root mass. They have never been much bigger than 1mm.
The second picture is the trunk of a branch cutting taken in 1996 when I moved. I have purposely allowed the jade to become past root bound by not repotting by about 9 years now. I enjoy the bark split look for this plant. Not sure if anyone has done this on purpose but I like it for this jade. I plan to repot it when I see bark actually fall off the trunk or close to it so I don't loose the pieces completely, and this restriction will stop moving forward.
The third picture is the trunk of a leaf culture taken in despair at the height of my original jade's darkest hours sometime around June of 2002. It was around this time I was seeing amazing root growth in the barky jade root ball around pockets of the sphagnum. So for the hell of it I used only sphagnum moss and no fertilizer. The results for me personally were jaw dropping. I was able to get the equivalent trunk size of the second jade in about 5 years. Now it's bigger than the mother jade in trunk thickness, but not in branching thickness, movement or bark color. Also in fairness JacqueIine lost her original rootball and a good 3' of trunk. Not pretending to have invented anything new there, I just discovered it on my own.
I plan to give its third repot, this time with a heavy tease and root prune of anything spun around top and bottom. Leaving the ball alone and placing it in a larger pot with my mix described. The plan is to keep it in it's "fat guy in a little coat" look.
On my watering regimen I let the leafs tell me when to water. When a mature leaf is well hydrated and healthy, it takes on a stiff, swollen appearance like a ripe fruit. What I do is look for a horizontal resting leaf with these characteristics and watch it over months of watering, till it sags from over the hill age. If it begins to sag slightly and appears to not be a swollen, I know it's time to consider looking at the rest of the tree. These mid height, horizontal, healthy and swollen leaves tend to be the first to sag without the rest of the jade showing any other signs of dehydration. Next I confirm there are no leafs that are wrinkled, with a soft cell pliability when slightly pinched. If this is the case on the mid to lower half of the trunk, on say 15% of the leafs, I have hit the optimum time to water in winter. In summer I don't wait for wrinkles, just confirmation that my marked horizontal leaf has sagged slightly and that some of the lower leafs have a soft cell wall.
On my pruning I caution the grain of salt comment again as my fertilizer abandonment, soil enhancements, lighting and watering play major rolls in how my jades grow. I also have fairly hard water, yet another variable.
I found halfway up the growth on these jades they like to throw a downward bud (picture 4) on a maturing limb. If I cut it I can create back budding more often than cutting back any other branches, both locally and elsewhere on the tree. Unsure why this happens but I take advantage of this on the younger jades. On Jacqueline I let one grow. Because if I cut it, I will most likely shoot another somewhere else I can't keep it. That's what kept happening anyway.
When a new shoot emerges (picture 5) I am able to get two bracts to push, after the 3rd internode is stub pinched right above the node. Too close and you might dmg the node, too far and the cut will callus and seal causing swelling at the node effectively chocking one of the 2 out of pushing (picture 6). Sometimes a pinch above the second internode shoots 2 but for me it is rare at best (lack of nutrients prolly). This will occur with success at the top apex of the dominant trunk I have found.
Shaping has been difficult due to my lack of bonsai experience. On the cultures I have tried an intense pinching at the areas described at the first and second internodes. Lots of options, thickening of the trunk and a more tree shape workable to bonsai standards (picture 7). Cuttings (picture 2) while dense preferred to form staggering vertical trunks and not many horizontal branches (on their own). These didn't like a first or second internode pinch. They seem to like a broom style or wind blown.
Wire has a poor surface coverage/pressures on this tissue even just a simple anchor from one branch to another without a wrap scars them. For me I use grafting tape and leverage, gently over months February~April. Another option I have been using is growing sacrificial branches to throw weight in the direction I want (the branch I am keeping) to grow. Once I get the movement I stub cut it (picture 8). This works on Jackie best cause the bark is too old and I am skurred
I might break a limb.
Lastly, in the remaining photos kiki paste has helped me get back buds even on Jacqueline's trunk. Applications on knuckles and horizontal branches have had little success, maybe 10%. But it's been more like 75% on vertical branches and trunks. I hope this is of some help, and would love to see other care regimens posted here with photos.
This is my family's Jade behind 3 leaf cultures. It was purchased as a window sill plant roughly 6" tall. I have been taking care of it for about 21 years. We estimate it's 62 give or take a year. In 1997 it was repotted by a family member in compost soil
. It suffered a massive secret root rot that ultimately claimed the entire rootball.About 3 years of conventional remedies that one could try, all failed. Honestly a letter in itself all the different efforts. It was loosing about an inch and a half of the trunk each year. I would cut back past the trunk rot and try something else. I was eventually able to water layer it. Sure there is a name for that, but I have no clue. I did a full submersion of half the trunk in a bucket of A/C water runoff. Lifted and applied a tablespoon of rootone rooting agent on the base. Smoked a butt, trunk exposed with rootone applied and then put it in the bucket. This was done in late April and the tree was placed as described in a bucket of water for the entire summer till lows hit 60. Roots emerged in June from the base
.Positions in past restoring attempts included full sun, partial (no midday) and partial noontime to setting suns from April till September. What I used in this last attempt was morning sun only and it took.
It was gently rested on top of and around a 5" diameter wet sphagnum moss ball and potted. The media I use around the sphagnum is 1 part perlite, 1 part potting soil, 1 part sphagnum moss. In a one gallon mix of this I add a hefty handful of store bought orchid mix bark and a 1/2 cup of activated carbon chunks. After a repot I add a teaspoon of Azomite to the mulch line.
This is my personal mix it was not given to me, it's just what I found her tissue cultures and branch cuttings liked most over the years and ran with it. I am still learning so much, but over the years this has worked for my jade and its cultures. Mentioning this media in the context of anyone who keeps an older jade indoors only. I have found it keeps a healthy root ball without fertilizer so I can enjoy the shape I have and keep a healthy plant.
Repotting for me, in this morning to noon window light only (no supplemental light) scenario has been every 5 years. I remove/replace only loose soil and try not to disturb the rootball. If any tap roots have spun around the base of the pot, I do tease those out and cut them at the edge of the root mass. They have never been much bigger than 1mm.
The second picture is the trunk of a branch cutting taken in 1996 when I moved. I have purposely allowed the jade to become past root bound by not repotting by about 9 years now. I enjoy the bark split look for this plant. Not sure if anyone has done this on purpose but I like it for this jade. I plan to repot it when I see bark actually fall off the trunk or close to it so I don't loose the pieces completely, and this restriction will stop moving forward.
The third picture is the trunk of a leaf culture taken in despair at the height of my original jade's darkest hours sometime around June of 2002. It was around this time I was seeing amazing root growth in the barky jade root ball around pockets of the sphagnum. So for the hell of it I used only sphagnum moss and no fertilizer. The results for me personally were jaw dropping. I was able to get the equivalent trunk size of the second jade in about 5 years. Now it's bigger than the mother jade in trunk thickness, but not in branching thickness, movement or bark color. Also in fairness JacqueIine lost her original rootball and a good 3' of trunk. Not pretending to have invented anything new there, I just discovered it on my own.
I plan to give its third repot, this time with a heavy tease and root prune of anything spun around top and bottom. Leaving the ball alone and placing it in a larger pot with my mix described. The plan is to keep it in it's "fat guy in a little coat" look.
On my watering regimen I let the leafs tell me when to water. When a mature leaf is well hydrated and healthy, it takes on a stiff, swollen appearance like a ripe fruit. What I do is look for a horizontal resting leaf with these characteristics and watch it over months of watering, till it sags from over the hill age. If it begins to sag slightly and appears to not be a swollen, I know it's time to consider looking at the rest of the tree. These mid height, horizontal, healthy and swollen leaves tend to be the first to sag without the rest of the jade showing any other signs of dehydration. Next I confirm there are no leafs that are wrinkled, with a soft cell pliability when slightly pinched. If this is the case on the mid to lower half of the trunk, on say 15% of the leafs, I have hit the optimum time to water in winter. In summer I don't wait for wrinkles, just confirmation that my marked horizontal leaf has sagged slightly and that some of the lower leafs have a soft cell wall.
On my pruning I caution the grain of salt comment again as my fertilizer abandonment, soil enhancements, lighting and watering play major rolls in how my jades grow. I also have fairly hard water, yet another variable.
I found halfway up the growth on these jades they like to throw a downward bud (picture 4) on a maturing limb. If I cut it I can create back budding more often than cutting back any other branches, both locally and elsewhere on the tree. Unsure why this happens but I take advantage of this on the younger jades. On Jacqueline I let one grow. Because if I cut it, I will most likely shoot another somewhere else I can't keep it. That's what kept happening anyway.
When a new shoot emerges (picture 5) I am able to get two bracts to push, after the 3rd internode is stub pinched right above the node. Too close and you might dmg the node, too far and the cut will callus and seal causing swelling at the node effectively chocking one of the 2 out of pushing (picture 6). Sometimes a pinch above the second internode shoots 2 but for me it is rare at best (lack of nutrients prolly). This will occur with success at the top apex of the dominant trunk I have found.
Shaping has been difficult due to my lack of bonsai experience. On the cultures I have tried an intense pinching at the areas described at the first and second internodes. Lots of options, thickening of the trunk and a more tree shape workable to bonsai standards (picture 7). Cuttings (picture 2) while dense preferred to form staggering vertical trunks and not many horizontal branches (on their own). These didn't like a first or second internode pinch. They seem to like a broom style or wind blown.
Wire has a poor surface coverage/pressures on this tissue even just a simple anchor from one branch to another without a wrap scars them. For me I use grafting tape and leverage, gently over months February~April. Another option I have been using is growing sacrificial branches to throw weight in the direction I want (the branch I am keeping) to grow. Once I get the movement I stub cut it (picture 8). This works on Jackie best cause the bark is too old and I am skurred
I might break a limb.Lastly, in the remaining photos kiki paste has helped me get back buds even on Jacqueline's trunk. Applications on knuckles and horizontal branches have had little success, maybe 10%. But it's been more like 75% on vertical branches and trunks. I hope this is of some help, and would love to see other care regimens posted here with photos.
Attachments
Last edited:
leatherback
The Treedeemer
No pictures at hand.
The rotting you describe and dificulty getting it to settle and create new roots are linked to not letting it dry out well. If you take a sharp knife and cut smoothly across the trunk let the plant sit straight up for a few weeks in an empty pot and then backfill the pot with fairly dry substrate it will root.
I have.mine in coarse mineral substrate. In summer it gets watered when the rest of the plants on the patio are watered: multiple times per week. Fertilized every few weeks. I get backbudding all over the plant and have reached eith my latest addition nearly 2 inch thick trunk in three years or so.
In summer i have it outside though. In winter it moves inside and for weeks on end it sits dry in a cool room, only to start watering again in the new year. At that time it will have dropped a part of the leaves, opening up the plant.
The rotting you describe and dificulty getting it to settle and create new roots are linked to not letting it dry out well. If you take a sharp knife and cut smoothly across the trunk let the plant sit straight up for a few weeks in an empty pot and then backfill the pot with fairly dry substrate it will root.
I have.mine in coarse mineral substrate. In summer it gets watered when the rest of the plants on the patio are watered: multiple times per week. Fertilized every few weeks. I get backbudding all over the plant and have reached eith my latest addition nearly 2 inch thick trunk in three years or so.
In summer i have it outside though. In winter it moves inside and for weeks on end it sits dry in a cool room, only to start watering again in the new year. At that time it will have dropped a part of the leaves, opening up the plant.
KillerButts
Mame
"The rotting you describe and dificulty getting it to settle and create new roots are linked to not letting it dry out well. If you take a sharp knife and cut smoothly across the trunk let the plant sit straight up for a few weeks in an empty pot and then backfill the pot with fairly dry substrate it will root."
Tried that 2 times, once in morning light only and another in setting sun only. Both failed. It was really, bad. The rotting portion of the trunk had a consistency of a rotting banana. I might have to post all the efforts. Had a grandfather tell me to put it freshly cut past the rot in mashed potatoes. Honestly tried so much. Only submersion/morning sun and a tablespoon of rootone on the trunk and in a basically RO water did the trick.
Tried that 2 times, once in morning light only and another in setting sun only. Both failed. It was really, bad. The rotting portion of the trunk had a consistency of a rotting banana. I might have to post all the efforts. Had a grandfather tell me to put it freshly cut past the rot in mashed potatoes. Honestly tried so much. Only submersion/morning sun and a tablespoon of rootone on the trunk and in a basically RO water did the trick.
leatherback
The Treedeemer
Jade lovers delight
Many of us have crassula ovate, a.k.a. Jade sitting around somewhere in a corner. And although we know it will never be a bonsai, still, they are fun plants. So I thought.. What not make a thread about jade. Your biggest, ugliest, oldest, youngest, techniques, experience, etcetc. I'll kick of...
