Portulacaria afra formal upright

[MattA]

After seeing one of these with really good ramification I decided I would try one for myself. A cutting was selected & the base split in quarters to encourage a bit of thickening at the base. It was planted in the ground for 12mths then moved to a pot for 12mths.

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The base has been resplit & replanted in the ground on top of a tile. I will let it reestablish then give it its first shaping prune.

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Current stats, trunk dia @ 10cmH 5cm, trunk height 80cm.

Matt

[Ray]

Matt, these love dynamic lifter, if you give it a handful it will power on! Looking good, I think You'll have a nice tree pretty soon.

[The-Calli-Kid]

I was unaware these can be considered bonsai until reading this post and doing some googling.. Thanks
I won't be rushing out to get myself one soon but i will definatly be looking more carefully at the couple of 10-15 year old jade's my dad has!!! (They have strong bonsai attributes!)
I'll get some pics if anyone is keen to see?

Cheers
Lucas

[TheNumber13]

Thanks for the images you have included. I had only heard of the base splitting in the 'dynamic fig' thread, so it is good to see someone doing it with a larger, more established tree.
I look forward to seeing where this one goes

[kcpoole]

Nice work Matt
Hey Lucas, There are quite a few Jade being worked on now, and the small leaf varieties are particularly nice.
The leaves reduce really well, and with tip pruning the ramify easily and are fast growers.
Have 2 in development, and if I get a chance I will take a photo and post to show

Ken

[MattA]

Ray, Thanks for the tip.

Lucas, Almost anything can be a bonsai & seeing others working with this species got me started, glad mine has made you look again. Your dads older ones sound like the perfect start, I have seen loads of old ones that would make good bonsai with a little direction, a good feed & water!

Pat, it was just a giant cutting & they are unkillable so I dont mind using it to experiment with different techniques.

Ken, All the attributes you listed are why I decided to give it a go. Who knows, in a couple of years it might be a presentable tree.

Matt

[kcpoole]

Hoe you don';t mind Matt,
Here is mine to show what can be done, Not that great specimens, but slowly getting there after about 2 years from cuttings.

[MattA]

Looking good Ken

[alpineart]

Hi MattA , I have seen quite a few of these done from mame to 2 man tree's .They really do look great .A member from another forum whom i lost contact with had every size and style possible .He continually plucked the leaves which reduced the size and ramified the whole structure in no time at all . I have one about 15 yo but as with a lot of things around here it has been neglected and needs a rework . This one will no doubt turn out a treat .

Cheers Alpine

[MattA]

Hey Alpine,

I have seen more than a few but it wasn't till a member of the newcastle club had hers at a meet, the ramification was fantastic...This one needs a few years growing, say 15 I think every beginner (& not so beginner) should have one, they are unkillable regardless of neglect & quickly fire up when given a bit of attention. I picked up a stump of one about 6mths ago, bit of girth to the trunk & no roots. It sat on concrete next to the driveway till a week ago, its now sitting out the back waiting to be planted, for all that it is still pushing growth and had even formed a small rootball in the dust that collected under it.

Matt

[Hornet]

Nice, we have a very large bush in the back yard, been considering taking a large cutting to have a play with

[alpineart]

Hi MattA , mate i have seen these with constant attention become fantastic in under 3 years despite the size of the tree.I'm inspired to move mine on into the world of bonsai instead of pot plant .

Cheers Alpine

[MattA]

Hornet, stop thinking about it & do it... I took a cutting from my parents old tree to plant at my first house, instant tree size, 25cm dia & about 1.5m high.

Alpine, I would really like a bit more girth on the trunk so wont be rushing this baby, couple years inground should do the trick

[Luke308]

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These are quite popular here in SA. These pics are all from the one show last year. They inspired me to start my own also. I had actually pruned my Jade in the back garden the weekend before, and the green waste bin had not been emptied. I rifled through it and found something that would make an interesting trunk, treated it as a cutting, 6 months later and it is going better than expected!! I actually took it to a work shop last week so it has had its first "style" if you could call it that. More like a drastic prune Hopefully it will look how I envision it in a year or two

[MattA]

Luke, You da man Thanks for posting these pics, the last one is my kind of crazy good. How bout a pic of your baby...