Here you go, Toni.

"I also have a jade, however mine does not have as many stalks coming up from the soil.. Did you prune yours?
Mine has just one \"trunk" with long shoots going out from that. However I would like to "help" it along to look more like yours.

ANy suggestions??"

Thanks, Josh
I got Rose's thread sent to email. I usually check the little box that informs when a thread is responded to. You know which box I mean?
When I tried opening the Jade thread, it wouldn't open..think it's my puter.

Josh, remember my Afra, the one that went every-which-way? It got a haircut! It looks more like a bonsai now..I only hope it survives. I didn't prune any roots though..too scared.

Josh, thanks for helping here..Toni

Josh,

I pruned my jade and I am not sure if you have had any chance to see the picture. But, now that I see it I don't think it's too happy with me pruning it. Do you have any suggestions on what I can do??
Nae

Toni,
you're always welcome. I figured that such a long, picture-rich Thread might
be a bit much for your computer to handle, so I thought I'd lend a hand, as it were!

My Port. afras have lost so many leaves this winter.....
I think I severely under-watered them, fearing that they would develop root-rot.
They are re-growing leaves where the old leaves dried up, but they look lousy at
the moment. I did buy a NEW Port. afra (variegated) last week, though....it's
very small, but has great color and form. I'll post the pics this weekend. Thanks
for reminding me! You should post pics of yours, too.

Nae,
I promise I'll have a look at your Jade this weekend.
But even without seeing it, I know that it will get over the pruning very quickly.
For the time being, simply give your Jade as much light as possible and wait to water
until you see the little nubs of new growth. You won't have long to wait, I assure
you. Try checking the plant every other day, too. You know what they say: a
watched pot never boils. ;)

Josh

Josh, whatever, it was considerate of you to post the question. :)

Was your Afra in soil or soil-less? If non-soil, even here in cloudy Il, soil-less need a lot more water.
For instance, I bought a Peperomia at a local nursery. It's potted in some sort of brown pellets, they dry fast. If the Pep doesn't get a drink every 3 days, its leaves wilt. It's in a 3 or 4" plastic pot. Neighboring Peps, potted in soil, same south windows, need less water.

Why is it variegated Afra's are shipped much smaller than green? You and I got a var Afra around the same time, remember? It too looks sad..it stands 3" w/a couple leaves.
I found another, on Ebay, for .99..It's about 8" tall. Twice the size of the first variegated.

Maybe this will refresh your memory..Before and After:

{{gwi:520419}}

{{gwi:520420}}

What do you think? Toni
Good luck with your new var afra..

Sorry Toni, but if this is what you're calling Portulacaria afra, I'm sorry to tell you that's not what it is.

I'm not sure WHAT it is, some Crassulacae derivative, relative of Jade, but it is NOT Portulacaria afra. The leaf shape & particularly leaf size (relative to the other leaves) is all wrong.

Karen, perhaps it's my camera but leaves appear much larger in the picture..they are in fact, 1/2" L, bigger than an average Afra but I assumed its size was the result of living in a 3" pot 10+ yrs..No??
I no longer have the tag, but I remember distinctly..it read Portulacaria. Very odd. Could it be a different species? I never heard of Afras before getting the one posted.
You know, I've got the plant in front of me, and two other, Port's, now that you brought it to my attention, it looks nothing like my other Afras. You ARE right, leaves are long, Afra's round..hmm..

Do the leaves on this plant look similar to the other? I know, for sure, this us Port/Afra. Toni

{{gwi:520421}}

OK Toni,

Quit messing w/ my head. You've changed plants here, come on now. THIS is a Portulacaria afra. The other is not (the prior pic).

See how uniform these leaves are, especially in relation to each other? Also there's the most subtle triangular shape to them which doesn't appear in the other pic. Looks happy!

Toni,
whatever plant that is....it looks great with the pruning you gave it! Very
tree-like!

I've upped the watering on my Port. afras, and I think I'm seeing a difference.
The leaf-loss seems to have subsided for the moment. They are in a soil-less mix,
although the particles are a bit smaller than my course gritty mix (which I use
for outdoor plants, like maples and willows and osage).

Here's that little Port. afra I picked up. I really like the three vertical
branches in the middle of the plant. I'm not sure how this one will be
styled....perhaps as a low mound.

{{gwi:520422}}


{{gwi:520423}}


{{gwi:520424}}

Josh

Karen, LMAO! Of course it's a different plant! Remember I said, wish I'd kept the tag? The last plant/Afra (pic) has a label.
But Karen, Honest to God, the plant, whatever it is, had teeny-weeny leaves..For some reason, 2-3 yrs ago, they grew large, while in the doggie planter, 3" diamter hole.

I notice something else..For some reason, green Afras have larger leaves than variegated. I have both, leaves on the true green are larger, at least 2 times. Why is that?

It's too bad we didn't have access to websites, a place to store pics back in the 90's..maybe some people did, but we surely didn't.

Karen, thanks for pointing it out, I think. lol
Now I have to figure how to Edit Flickr. Change older pics of my wanna-be-Afra..

Josh, you're so lucky you can keep plants outdoors. The sun is shining on your Afra. Your pic was taken recently, right? Your new Afra is very pretty, nicly variegated.

What do you do with excess cuttings when you shape? Toss or root? I have problems discarding extras, ya know? But don't want duplicates either.
What size or how tall does your Afra get before shaping? You've already decided how you want it to look; I don't understand. lol. Guess you have to have an eye for styling.
Josh, what happened to your other variegated Afra again? Do you find varigated fussier than green?
Here's my new var Afra..if you can think of a style, let me know..please explain how you'd go about pruning if it was yours.

{{gwi:520426}}

{{gwi:520427}}

BTW, Karen, if you're reading this, they're the same plant, different angles..lolol

Josh, I think my other var Afra is a goner..it looks terrible. It was placed atop another plant, (pachypodium) next to a west window. I think it was too cold for such a small specimen..the Pachy's doing fine, but not the baby afra..oh well, lose some, win some.
Anyway, if you can please explain shaping, please do. Do I start now, while young? Does it require root pruning? Please say it doesn't. lol. Ect. Thanks so much, Toni

Hey, Toni, nice plant!
Seems pretty tall, and with a sturdy trunk. The only thing I'd recommend at
the moment is that you train (re-pot) the plant upright; but that's just personal
opinion. You could do anything with it, really. I happen to be fond of vertical
trunks, so that's the direction my advice tends to go!

I still have my other Afras, but I couldn't pass this one up! Also, I didn't prune
it - that's how I found it at the nursery. I'm going to let it grow for a while,
just to see how it shapes up. Who knows, it might surprise me. The good
thing is that it's a single-stem cutting, rather than multi-stems rooted in a
single container. This way, I can lower the mix level to reveal the root-flare in
the next few years (...assuming it survives, of course).

I have a hard time tossing cuttings...even if they're just Jade leaves, as you know!
Remember that pot of leaves of started? 18 starts in that one container. The only
cuttings that aren't looking good are the Port. afras. Not enough moisture, I
think. Here's a shot of two other Afras, from January 10th:
{{gwi:520429}}

Josh

Josh..twin Afras..lol..so cute..how many Afras in all? You must really love variegated Afras..Or are you trying for different shapes? Do you have green?
You did a great job on your standard Jade, was it last summer? Autumn? I forget..
Are you planning on keeping the entire bunch of Jade cuttings in one pot? Good luck! I'm contemplating, unpotting a multi-trunk Jade, removing one, (which means cutting into roots) shaping tree-like, (with, ahem, someones help, not to mention names) and placing remaining forest back in its/their pot.
Yes, I remember the day you started Jade cuttings..what size are they now? Do you have a picture? Did you add Afra's in the same pot? I can't recall.

How do I train the variegated Afra upright? Do I cut the one stray branch?
The Afra is in a 3" pot because it was nearing winter when I bought it, the room is cold, and I fear rot.
The longer stem stands 9", shorter, 4".
To repot so it stands upright means the rootball will be potted crooked..lol..Do you know what I mean? Plants from this seller were rooted in peat pellets, little plugs, shipped without soil. I can angle the rootball..think that'd work? or are you talking about wiring? I have one piece of wire, purchased years ago, on a hunch. Weird huh, who'd have thunk???

Josh, like you, I prefer vertical. Leaning has character but there's something about erect specimens, especially once trunk thickens..

1. repot? What size pot? It's in 3".
2. Cut shorter stray stem?
3. Repot plug in an angle to stand erect? or wire?

A local nature area, Botanical Gardens, has a bonsai garden..oh my God, they are beautiful!!! They're also chained..lol..I had pics, but when my last puter broke, I hadn't posted to Flickr, pics were lost.
One bonsai looked like a mini forest. Several, old trees, planted in an ornate bonsai pot.. Above were signs stating their ages and history.

If you have a pic of your rooted Jades, will you post it? Thanks, Toni
Thanks for all the time helping me, too.

PS. Wonder what happened to Rosebacopa2..lol

Howdy!
Okay, for your Afra, just re-pot at an angle and re-fill around the crooked
root-ball in the same container...unless you want to use a slightly wider and
shorter container - maybe one inch wider, and one inch shorter. And I'd
probably just leave the stray branch for the time being.

Another thing that I like about vertical or upright plants is that I can pack
more of them on my windowsills! Sprawling, vining, and cascading plants simply
take up way too much real estate (unless they can hang out of the way like Hoyas)!

My big pot of Jades is really more of a "nursery." I don't plan to keep the
Jades there for too long. I pruned the Afra on the right in the pic above, and I
gained two cuttings as a result. I callused them, then added to the Jade planter.
We'll see what happens. Anyhow, I don't have any recent pics, but the Jades are
all sending up plantlets. Thanks for reminding me, though....I should be
taking pictures. Depending on how this planting goes, I might divide all of the
plants into their own pots....or, I might do a mini forest-planting.

Josh

Josh,

I wanted to say thank you for all your tips on growing my jade. It is doing pretty good, the new nubs are starting to grow in.

Hopeful very lovely jades. They are really beautiful.

Josh and Toni,

GREAT Pictures!! I especially love the variegated!!

Toni, you did an outstanding job pruning your bonsai , I really like the shape much better!! To think you were afraid to trim plants, you shouldn't be anymore after that great pruning job, LOL...

Josh, you could try a cascading look for your new Var. Port. Afra...it already has somewhat of that shape growing?Just a thought, but either way you decide, I'm sure it will look great!

Since we are posting pics, here's my Port. Afra that needs a haircut really bad! For me, these plants don't like full sun, everytime I put it in full sun, it starts to sulk, the leaves shrivel up a little. They also like a lot more water than my other Jades/Succulents. So now I just put them under my palm trees, where it gets filtered sun most of the day...and they love it there! I already have some of these in bonsai or small pots, so maybe I will just let this one go wild and crazy...and see what happens!
{{gwi:520431}}

Thanks for the pictures!!

Josh, I'll get to it today..I've got a bunch of plants to work on, including a bare-root variegated palm that arrived from HI today.

I agree vertical takes less room, big time. My plants are pretty close together as it is..if only they were able to live outdoors year round..sigh.

Josh, I don't have shorter pots. I've been looking for shallow containers online, (for other plants) but they're hard to come by. Where do you find them?

Ohhh, a forest scene would be gorgeous..are you seriously thinking about it? I hope you go for it.

Inlove, thank you. I guess your specialty is Hoyas, right? They too are beautiful plants, especially when in bloom.

Pug, do you know how big Afras get? Tall? If you let yours 'go wild' lol, wonder if it'd reach the sky or stay 'x' height..hmm.

Pug, trimming leaves isn't the only problem..it's the roots I fear..lol..
Saw a show where a man pruned a citrus and jade. He cut 1/3rd roots and 1/3 foliage on both plants. I guess it needs to balance.
I have a Begonia Richardsiana that's been in the same pot, 2 or 3 or 4 yrs..lol..The top has been pruned many times, but never touched its roots. It probably need fresh soil too..think I have a pic, lol, let's see.
{{gwi:520434}}

{{gwi:520436}}

This begonia grows fast. It gets Superthrive once a month, and all purpose fert, about 3 times a year. Blooms in spring-summer. Do I dare clip roots? lol

Pug, your plant is so full, very pretty, maybe you should let it grow, see the results..Toni