I hate squirrels. They climb our entire apartment building!!!! I live on the 9th floor and during spring and fall they are very active burrying and digging out food. So they go through all my plants during those times and make a mess. Ive found an entire nutty bar in its packaging at the bottom of one of my planted pots!!!! I usually move plants from indoor to out during spring and plant veggies. atm I have many hens and chicks (sempervivum) I want to move out but am worried about the darn rodents. Ill move them during late spring. They have even chewed through our balcony metal/plastic caging and roamed around in our apartment. So when we go out, we have to close the balcony.

Located in Toronto, Canada btw

This post was edited by NameTaken on Fri, Apr 5, 13 at 18:37

American, it's looking great!
I like what you've done. I'd probably leave it as is, and then make some cuts later this season when the plant is in prime growth mode.

Josh

What a day to discover this forum. Temp in Canada finally warm enough today to spring clean and I was just about to toss this out - until I saw this site - and the incredible plants you have grown. I was given this one in '83 as a housewarming....yes....30 years ago, and despite how inept I've been at nurturing it, it is still alive. Can you give me step by step? Cut back how much? Repot that? Cuttings? etc.....
Clearly I need advice.

If you read the previous posts in this thread, I think all of your questions are answered. In short, I'd cut most of that off, after depotting and separating the plants that you want. You could go for a smaller pot, too. Most of that growth is in response to less-than-optimal conditions and can be composted, or turned into new plants - that's up to you.

Hello Jaded4,

Sorry for the late response, but if you are still curious on what to do with your plant I can give you some suggestions.

If you want to keep the plant in the pot it is in I would suggest cutting off any branches that are hanging downward.

If you plan on repotting your plant, you could remove everything and see what you have. Any branches that can be repotted facing up would work, or you can make cuts on longer limbs that would be able to be repotted upright.

The main things you want to go for are eliminating any downward facing branches and try to get the plant into better sunlight. A Jade that is in a good amount of light will grow upright towards the sun and the leaves will also be more compact. The large green leaves that you have on your plant are growing that size to help gather sunlight.

Good luck!

Good advice, and well said, American.
Any chance of an update pic?

Josh

Hey greenman28,

I just went outside and snapped a picture of the new colorful growth :-).

Ah, don't you love it!

Josh

Sure do :-). Glad summer is here!

Here is an update on how this plant is coming along. It's doing great out in the summer sun =). It'll take some time, but it is coming along on filling in.

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Great pics AmericanGolden

I have so many Jade plants which I've just neglected in the Southern California sun...

I'm thinking of doing the same as you and whack a few down to create that thick trunk look.

Do you have any updates from the end of the summer? What location or zone are you?

Good morning yorkiemiki,

I went outside and took a few pictures of how the plant is coming along. To answer your question, I am in zone 5b.

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Coming along perfectly!
Are you fertilizing? If not, a bit of fertilizer will thicken up that foliage, and move it along even faster.

Josh

I have been lacking in the fertilizing department, but I have some Foliage Pro I need to start using. It's been a busy summer. Luckily the Jade's don't mind the neglect :-).

Next time you water...1/8 to 1/4 strength dose.
The difference is astounding.

Josh

Well here's the thread for me. I recently obtained a plant I'd been admiring for quite some time in the neighbor's yard... turns out they are moving and I couldn't believe it when they offered to sell it to me for $20 (the smaller one was free). Now I am eager to re-pot it and clean it up a bit, but wanted to double-check with some of the experts here first, as most of my work is with younger plants, correcting them as they grow. I haven't actually taken older stuff and made major adjustments yet.

I'm thinking I won't do too much to the major branches, at least not right away. I'll balance it a bit, but leave most of the top intact. My main concern is some ugly chewed-up spots on the trunk and a few of the limbs, as well as re-potting it. Just to be clear: I can just cleanly remove these wounds and it will heal over fairly well, right? Or should I go about it a different way? I just want them to disappear as neatly as possible.

My last question is about re-potting... would it be a bad idea to do a clean chop at the base of the trunk and then put the thing in a large bonsai pot, tying it down of course? What would I need to keep in mind, if this is what I attempt? Just cut it, let it callous, then put some root hormone on it?

Any advice would be great, thanks!

From the side.

The other side.

Close-up of the trunk and offending scars.

My two cents: don't chop it! Repot if you must, maybe trim roots if you want to put it in a smaller pot and get more compact growth, but please don't cut it at the base! I cringe at the thought.

If you trim off the scarred areas with a sharp, sterilized blade, they should heal cleanly. They may get a scab that may eventually just peel off after a few months, but you can cut them cleaner than they look now.

mgee,

Danielle's advice is exactly what I would have written, especially about not cutting the trunk. Don't do it unless you'd like a long, hard road rerooting (not a sure thing in itself) the trunk. All it needs is some cleanup, as she also advised you well on.

I agree, mgee...don't cut it unless you really like a long recovery during which much/most of the old foliage will be lost.

Also, don't worry about those "scars"....give 'em time, and they'll finish callusing and smooth themselves off.

One idea to entertain in the future would be the removal of one of the trunks in order to create a single-trunked specimen. Then, you could root the removed trunk and have a second large specimen. Just an idea. I like the Jade as is.

Josh

Nice update Americangolden...your Jade is coming along very nicely!!

Mgee...what a beautiful Jade and at $20 an astounding deal...Congrats and I agree with the advise here...I too love the Jade the way it is. Good luck!!

Thank you puglvr1.

The plant is still filling in at a good rate. Here is an end of September picture.

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It's just gorgeous. I have a jade that has beautiful bones, but I haven't done any major pruning for fear of messing it up. I have to be brave like you, and perhaps I'll be equally rewarded!

Yes! Now we're back in business!
Great update...hopefully this will encourage folks who've been bashful about whacking their Jades. Sure, there are many months of awkward new growth, but in the end it is completely worth it.

Josh

Danielle317,

It can be scary, but it is worth it. Jade plants are very forgiving as you can tell by the pictures. They respond very well to hard pruning. It is very neat to see pictures from start to current on plants that you do this to and I recommend to anyone that does a hard prune to do so to keep track of the plants progress. It is nice to share with others as well to show what can be achieved from this process.

Josh,

Thank you! I couldn't agree more with your statement. In the end it is completely worth it =). I will have to share pictures soon of all my other Jade plants that I hard pruned and how they responded. I think that they all look wonderful with much more compact and colorful growth from this summer.

I brought my plants in two nights ago due to cold and lots of rain in the forecast. It's been raining for days, and that is not a good combination with the cold night temperatures.

I put all the plants away in a spare bedroom in a bright window. Today I went in there to take a look at them out of curiosity and to my surprise, I have flower buds =)!!

I will keep this post updated when they bloom. Enjoy and I hope these pictures do justice for how ecstatic I am right now!

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First bud I found hiding inside two leaves.

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Congrats!
What a great surprise, and reward for your hard work and care.

Josh

Thanks Josh! I'm surprised how early the flower buds have set.

Congrats indeed!! I too can't believe how early your Jade is beginning to flower.That's very exciting!!

I thought I would share an update since it has been a while. The flower buds are showing up a lot more over the whole plant, and looks like they are getting closer to opening.

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Great job on this plant! I love how it has transformed and is now budding...woohoo!

This post was edited by Camellia1 on Sun, Oct 27, 13 at 13:11

AG- can we have a follow up or what?! I was so disappointed when this post stopped! I'd love to see how your jade is doing now, greAt job by the way. So neat to see the changes over such a period of time, keep em comin!

Here are some pictures jamie6788. Hope this gives you an update for the winter months. Enjoy =)

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I'll be doing some updating on this thread in spring which will be here shortly enough. I think I am going to do a little more whacking on this plant to get the shape better.

Wow, there are some pretty impressive jades in this thread! I'm impressed :)

I decided to "whack" my jade today because it had developed some strange growth - branches forming odd little dips and twists when they grew downwards and then sharply back up again, etc. I've had the plant for about 2.5 years and bought it from Ikea of all places, so I have no idea how old it really is.

Sadly, I found this thread and decided to take pictures after I butchered my poor plant, but I was hoping maybe someone could tell me if they think I did a good job and if I should take any more off, or if I should expect a dead plant in a couple of months. I'll also attach a picture of all the clippings (with a 30cm/approx. 12in ruler at the bottom for scale) so you can get an idea of how much I took off and how the branches had been growing.

Thanks for any help and advice!

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Nice hacking. In about a week a simple twist should remove the discolored, deformed shapes at lower foliage.

Could also use better lighting . Low light is what caused the deformed longer growth you had just cut.

I thought about starting my old thread, but since there were so may on the same subject I figured I would use this one just as well. If this one dies then I guess Ill start a new one but for now this will work great.

So in 2010 at my 20th HS Reunion an old friend from HS whom Ive been friends with on facebook for quite a long while now, brought me a gift. She knows I'm a big plant nerd...etc. She has a HUGE 5-6 foot or so tall Jade tree which she pruned up as it was just getting too large. Well she had multiple medium sized plants from that pruning a few years prior to 2010, and she wanted to give me one. I think the parent tree is a good 20+ years old now and it thrives. Anyway I received a very nice about 1 foot tall branch with multiple branches, as a new plant at our HS reunion. It has been growing nicely, but did start to get slightly etiolated (stretched out) from wintering indoors. It was not bad as it gets full sun all day long in winter in a south facing window, but still, indoors does effect it a bit.

So a couple weeks ago I decided to chop it good. It was a bit top heavy, and I wanted to get it to grow more bushy and even more tree like than it already is. In just two weeks it is already sprouting lots of new branches. I was not expecting it to do so this quickly, but its got LOTS of tiny new branches emerging. I also ended up with about 20 new plants that I am going to start (they are rooting now), pot up, and give away.

Anyway, below is the result of the hack. I did leave a couple of small branches on one of the two main trunks as you'll see. Hopefully this hack job will prove good for the plant, and also help it to look even more like a mini tree than it already does. The small branches low on the trunk are going to be removed once it really branches out again, and the small one in the pot was a branch I accidently knocked off and just stuck in the soil to root. It is also going to be removed soon.

Id love to hear from everyone and see what they think of how I did and also hear any suggestions you all might have for improvement.

First two photos are just the entire plant from different sides.
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Next two are close ups of a couple of the branches with plenty of new growth pushing out.
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The resultant new jade plants in the making. There are about 20 in these bowls and will be potted up this weekend and given away as gifts. Many have already rooted.

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Was it sun hardened before you hard pruned ?

I'm not sure what you mean by "sun hardened". It spends 3 seasons outdoors in full sun. It's in a south facing window and gets direct sun for several hours (4-5) per day when wintering indoors. Is that what you meant?

I know better than to take a plan't thats been out of direct sun all winter and put it into direct sun straight away. I harden those off with sun by doing it gradually over a couple of weeks. It works great with all of my plants that are over wintered indoors and do not get direct sun. This Jade however, gets direct sun, year round, even in winter. Is that what you were asking? Thanks.

Hey, just thought i would see if there are any updates to this excellent thread! Love the Jade pictures!

Hello hottomato99,

I will provide some updates on my Jade soon once I get it back outside and have some free time again :).

Ahoy. Not sure if linking other threads is frowned upon here, but to save some time, I'll direct you all to a related topic that I started last week:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3086507/large-jade-advice?n=20

It would be fantastic if I could get some feedback on recent cuts that I made to a large jade, as well as reactions to what I proposed as a potential alternative, and more severe, approach with the marked photos (particularly the image that I posted around 4pm EST on 5/27). Thanks in advance for joining the conversation!

I don't know what anyone else thinks about these photos but, I see some real potential for these plants to go "bonsai-style." Best of Luck! - NJC -

Here is an update on how this has all filled in. I think now that everything has filled in it could use another trim to shape everything up.

I think I'd let it continue bushing out for a while longer. Specifically, I'd wait for the upper canopy to begin to come together and touch, then work the center branch into the high "pad" and develop the sidemost branches into their own asymmetrical pads.

It's going to be a mighty Jade in a few short years.

Josh

Now that you mention that, after looking at it again I think that may be a better idea.

Great to see the update on the plant, nice and compact growth. Hope you'll post more photos in the future...Did you get rid off (meaning 'gifted' or similar - not compost!?) many young plants grown from all the cuttings you had?

Rina

Josh

Leaving the center branch the highest?

Rina

Hi rina,

All of the cuttings from this plant that were salvageable have been shared and traded with other gw members. Hope all the cuttings are doing well.

I'll have to see how it all fills in once the top gets more compact.