Welcome - I don't think you posted before...
I would imagine the original plant is quite large, would you pls. post a photo of it?
I would just cut off all the 'parts' that are hanging downwards. They all could be potted up - soon you;ll have many plants! The stem itself could be pruned as much as you like - leave some of the top 2 branches, or even prune off. Do you have idea how you would like this plant to look eventually?

Hi there, thank you for the welcome and the input! I just joined today. :)

Here's the big plant. The central trunk is about five inches across. It's lopsided from not being turned (I've done that now), and it needs repotting, but is too heavy for me to handle at the moment, so that will probably have to wait until after I've cut it back. I'm very wary of doing that now, because we don't have super long summers.

I like tree-like, bonsai-ish jades, so I'd like to work towards that with all of the cuttings! There are three, and they all look pretty similar to this one. I was thinking of cutting back to a "Y" shape so they're a bit more stable, and going from there. But I wasn't sure if I should wait until they're rooted or not.

Rhiannon, welcome to the forum. Very nice plant. Your cutting seams a bit big, I would as Rina suggested cut the "upside down" tips off and root them. Then all should be well. I have never been able to get mine to grow as large as yours. I should be getting advise from you, LOL!

Fred

I believe I would prune (chop) the main trunk as seen in the first pictures of this thread:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3127061/a-few-jades

This way you are less likely during repot to snap off a branch you really wanted to keep. Then I would, as rina suggested, remove the other trunks during a repot. Do all of this at the same time, b/c a jade will tolerate this well if reasonably healthy, which this one looks to be.

If you want, after the repot of the nearly naked main trunk, you could post pictures requesting advice for further bringing out the bonsai look. And, of course, you will have dozens of new babies to care for if so inclined. Fortunately, jades can stay out of soil for many days with no problems, so no rush in getting all of the cuttings squared away. My fingers are itching to be there helping on such a project!

ez

p.s. to enhance a bonsai-look for the main trunk, try to find a pot to put it in using bonsai guidelines rather than the typical taller-than-wide pot. Pot depth approx. equal to trunk base diameter and pot width approx. 2/3 the expected height of the tree. That would put the pot size at somewhere around 5-6 inches deep and 16-20 inches wide.

ez

Thank you all again!

There's actually just the one trunk in the pot - well, it has a big branch/secondary trunk coming off it to the left at the bottom, as you can see. Apart from a few seedlings, everything else is the downward pointing limbs I cut off after taking the pic, which had swung upwards again. I think I'm going to leave the second trunk/lower left branch on. It's about as thick as my forearm so I don't want to start hacking it off as I think it might be hard to root (for a beginner anyway!) and I quite like how it looks. Other than that, I think I will follow all your advice and post again once I've taken some off the main plant.

I have read as many jade whacking threads as I could get my hands on - so inspiring. Those jades in the thread you linked, Rina, are amazing! I've done what you all suggested with the cuttings, so fingers crossed they will all root!

Ez - that is a great point about the pot dimensions. I hadn't really noticed until you mentioned it, but all of the jades I've seen in shallow pots as I've been looking through posts here have been the ones that appealed to me! It's really pleasing somehow. Is it wise to prune roots at the same time as pruning and re-potting, or would you leave it to settle a while and then prune the roots later?

Pruning roots and branches while repotting actually go well together. Remember to cut away any damaged roots also, and to let root wounds form callouses for a few days before repotting in new soil. This necessitates thinking ahead about how/where you will let this large plant lay/hang/stand while out of the soil. And as to new soil, what are your thoughts as to what to use?

It lives in my garden room at the moment which has plenty of space and light from three sides plus above, so it can hang out there. I'm going to have to enlist help to do all of this, because I can't lift it on my own, and I think laying it on its side would break off a lot of branches. Thanks for the tip about letting the roots heal, I hadn't thought of that!

As for soil, I've done my research so I know how important to use a gritty mix it is! However, I can't get hold of the componants for that where I am, and it's done fine in the soil it's in for 35 years. I don't want to repot it into crappy soil though, which sort of defeats the point of the whole thing, so I originally thought I would use a mix of grit and cactus soil, which I have plenty of. My concern with that is the size disparity between the two particles, it seems like they wouldn't work well together. So I might keep searching for better materials.

Consider ordering from this source:

http://www.kaizenbonsai.com/shop/bonsai-soil/kaizen-bonsai-soil-mixes

specifically, premium bonsai compost number 3. They are in Great Yarmouth. Any ol' soil for any ol' plant, but this isn't any ol' plant. Best to you.

ez

What kind of grit do you have?
Can you get perlite locally?
The link above shows a good looking mix, if you have just one plant it may be way to go (I can't tell if it is expensive or not...)
Rina