Portulacaria afra elephant bush

[hinmo24t]

Picked it up today for $20... .75" thick and bark. Found some decent nebari considering I slip potted it into new soil and just exposed the roots a bit for a grow out. 10" sitting on dry leca low layer.

Did I see theyre slow growing compared to jade does someone know?

Thanks

 

[hinmo24t]

Side profile

 

[canoeguide]

I'd say that they can grow much, much faster than Crassula ovata (Jade). Outside in summer, they can take heavy fertilizer and will pack on a ton of growth. Literal feet of stem growth is possible in a few months.

 

[LittleDingus]

Picked it up today for $20... .75" thick and bark. Found some decent nebari considering I slip potted it into new soil and just exposed the roots a bit for a grow out. 10" sitting on dry leca low layer.

Did I see theyre slow growing compared to jade does someone know?

Thanks

I have p afra and c ovata...p afra puts on new growth much faster than c ovata, but c ovata thickens quicker and more for me. My c ovata means more to me, though, while p afra is a weed to me. My experiences may differ just due to preferential treatment

If you're interested, here's my "for fun" thread demonstrating how fast p afra can grow.

[Dingus] For fun portulacartia afra progression from a single cell division

I've often claimed jade and fake jade (and many, many succulents!) can be cloned from a single cell. Since covid has me working from home these days, I decided it was time I did a little documentation to back up my statements :) "From single cell division" is a bit of an exaggeration. I...

www.bonsainut.com

Water is key. Keep them on the dry side and you can keep them the same size forever. Water them and they grow like crazy! Overwater them and they rot even faster

 

[hinmo24t]

Thanks. I'm rendering to my gollum jade, this, and one other eventual c ovata forest or clump in future. No more propping them for me.

 

[MrWunderful]

I do the exact opposite of what most people say to do with my portys.

I pound them with water and inorganic ferts (and organic ferts) while always cutting back hard and get significant growth, even in winter. Our winters our mild though and they stay outside all year.

Here is my thread where I discuss and document them : https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/developing-portulacaria-afra.46011/

 

[Carol 83]

I agree that p.afra do grow faster than regular jade and mine seem to want more water than the jades. In the summer I water it the same as my other trees and it grows like crazy.

 

[canoeguide]

I do the exact opposite of what most people say to do with my portys.

I pound them with water and inorganic ferts (and organic ferts) while always cutting back hard and get significant growth, even in winter. Our winters our mild though and they stay outside all year.

Here is my thread where I discuss and document them : https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/developing-portulacaria-afra.46011/

This is what I do as well - I don't know that this is the "opposite" of what people say. It's more a matter of whether the tree is in development or refinement.

As succulents, they are pretty much all clip and grow. When in development, you want to do more grow than clip, and when in refinement you want more clip than grow. This is probably true of most species and sounds like "duh" obvious, but I see a lot of people not really putting it into action.

The fastest thickening and development happens with lots of water and fertilizer, but also relatively long growing periods followed by hard cutbacks. I let mine grow all summer, cut back hard, grow all winter indoors, then cut back hard when put outside again in the summer. So they basically get two hard cuts a year and are encouraged through water and fertilizer to become wild bushes in the meantime.

The opposite happens once a port has a thick trunk and most of the structure that you want and you're ready to refine and maintain it. You slow down the water and fertilizer dramatically and constantly clip or pinch anything that exceeds the desired foliage profile. So you're clipping all the time and giving the tree only the water and fertilizer that it needs to survive - which can be not much at all.

In development, water and fertilize as often as possible and clip as infrequently as possible; in refinement, water and fertilize as infrequently as possible and clip as often as possible.