Nice wide drooping Variegated P. Afra. but it kind of looks like more than one

hi,
i recently snagged a similar one,
it (seems to have) a much more 'draping'/trailing habit than my non-variegated ones too,,
ive been wanting to seperate them, one has a pretty thick stem at the base,,
not sure if i should get down into the roots comepletely, try to get some (most) of the roots, or just wack-em-off and restart as cuttings,,? then theres the whole pesky 'outta-season' thing,, lol

Im curious about your more upright one (the Christmas tree) any chance you could post a pic of it too Pls? ..funny how you refer to him as 'he', all my plants are 'her' lol

if/when you repot, will you bare-root him?
im no-pro, but i think some varieties just 'trail' a little more than others maybe,,,
i find them quite attractive as cascades.
Nice snag Antoinette! :)

Here's a link to a very scholarly article, all about P. Afra. More than you ever wanted to know, really. I found the sections Propagation and Containerized (in Part 2) to be very helpful.

I bought a pot of P. Afra var. in August, and so far it is remaining upright. There are 7 stems, and it is very young. Maybe they will trail when they are bigger. I will divide and repot them soon.
Lenore in Michigan

Here is a link that might be useful: Portulacaria afra Monograph

Here's my upright one. It's not a good pic but you get the idea =) At first I thought they just planted it stupid (the new one) & since I've seen plants that get top heavy appear to have a pendulous habit, I wasn't sure what was going on.

It seems though there is a prostrate variety & an upright variety. My upright guy has teeny leaves, about .25" to .5". The plant is very tiny though, maybe 4".

Great link though with fantastic info!!! Thanks! It's exactly what I was looking for.

SS, I'm contemplating the same thing. I'm sure this new one would lend itself well to a nice cascade type bonsai. I'm dying to see if it's a multi trunked or multiple plants, probably a little of both.

I will definitely bare root in a couple of days, to put in a gritty mix but I don't think I'll trim as yet. I think I'll let him go wild till next spring & then see what I've got to work with. Meantime, my cup truly runneth over as I also lucked into a lovely trumpet type jade with a fattio trunk XD I've totally reached my upper limit on plants this month and I would still like to locate a Hummel Sunset & Crosby compact. I've been holding out for mature plants as opposed to cuttings or 3-4" pots.

Can you post a pic of your plant that you're contemplating rooting, pruning etc? I'd love to see her!

Hi everyone, My variegated P Afra also trails like silentsurfer's. My green one grows upward. I prefer all my jade plants in a tree form but for some reason I find the trailing on this variegated P Afra very pleasing to the eye.
[IMG]http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r202/mico46/port1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r202/mico46/port2.jpg[/IMG]

Sorry for the pics not showing up. Trying again...
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wow, you've got quite the collection there -_- Now that I think of it, my little p. afra may not be large enough to drape because it's habit looked just like yours (before the naughty little dog knocked it to the ground & uh, well, broke his crown). Yours looks like a leaning 'A', maybe my wee one will develop a drape too. Time will tell.

If these guys tolerate more water than your average jade, does that mean there's less of a chance of rot? I'm planning to bare root & plant in gritty today. What have you got yours in?...love the bunny btw :)

Hi hookilau, my variegated P is in my own version of a gritty mix as all my other jades. I'm not sure about P Afra tolerating more water than other jades but I have always been very careful about over watering. I have a special drill bit to make holes in ceramic pots and I always add a couple extra holes to make sure I have good drainage. Because I top dress all my plants with stone I use a moisture meter and only water when the needle is at the lowest point of dry. After giving it some thought I think the reason my variegated is trailing is because when I planted cuttings that a friend gave me to root the cuttings had a lot of branches on them and a few of the branches ended up very close to the soil line growing sideways. I love the shape of your plant and I think re-potting it into a tall container would be great.

Very nice!

I think there is a more trailing or weeping form of variegated Port. afra.
However, it could also be lower light conditions. Time will tell.

I water my Port's (both green and variegated) much more than I water my Jades.
Even during the Winter, my plants will shed leaves if I don't keep the roots
appropriately moist.

Josh

I've been reading old threads & googling like crazy looking for a care sheet for these guys & then weeding through possible climate differences so I can't quite remember where I read that they like more water than Jades. Could even be from the link posted above, really detailed info there =) love it btw, lots of good detailed info about growth habits, etc.

Sorry 'bout the double pic, can't figure out how I managed to do that, lol! I keep toggling back & forth, sometimes I get turned around.

@ Josh: Thanks! This guy was in a well naturally lit greenhouse up high. That's how I almost missed it, I'm a little woman =) so I had to get the very tall & uninterested nursery person to come get it down for me.

I sure hope it's not from low light, cause I don't think I could do better in my house. My challenge is to get the sux close to the windows but protect them from the draft :( We have drafty old windows, boooo.

So I got me little friend re-potted. It was easier than I thought it would be but not having found a suitable pot while at the Garden Center, I put it in one I had available for now.

It's wide, and bowl-like but similar to the one it was already in, so I figured wth. I got a chopstick & worked as much of the damp potting mix from it's rootball that I could. It was surprisingly easy & it kinda looked like coir. I'd used the hose before to bare root but this was faar easier & less messy. Using the hose makes the roots want to stick together & difficult to work with compared to just the chopstick.

It turned out to be a single plant. I'm going to look for a suitable pot this winter while I try to figure out what to do with him in the spring.

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He's in the gritty mix & I thought I'd better not water just yet, it's cold here tonight anyway. I only lost about 4 1" pieces off a few tips, but that was it so we'll see how he does =) It's easier to see his branching from beneath but difficult to photograph.

hookilau, you did very well. Glad to hear it was easy for you. I like your choice of a pot very much. The plant looks good and it's great on the stand. It has a nice root ball on it and I was happy to see that it's a single plant. ENJOY !
Mike

wow hookilau
Great job! it looks amazing. i lreally luv it in that pot,, i would'nt've imagined it was a single plant? now im wondering...
and its a Lot bigger than i thought (bigger than mine)
thanks for the pics btw, ...dunno bout 'drafts' , but i think my (succulents) here are enjoying the cooler nights? I really luv it just the way it is. (but for future reference in the Spring~) i see an informal upright, and lotsss of cuttings! ..maybe lol
dang, i guess youve set the precident now. :)
(pics of mine, an etoliated non-vari parent -just to throw ya-, and a cpl cuttings from parent)

mi co has a nice little collection goin on there!
yea, actually drilling drainage holes pre-empted a cpl things on my do-list today, swore i wouldnt bother w/that anymore, do you use a hammer drill mi co? its kinda tedious...
nice link btw! kinda forgot about that one, appreciate the reminder :)

hey Josh
i thought they seemed a bit more 'thirsty',, good to hear confirmation from you guys :)

Oh yes, they are definitely more thirsty than Jades ;-)

Hookilau, great re-pot and nice trunk on that plant! What a score!
In the Gritty Mix, you need to water! Keep the mix moist while the roots establish themselves.
The plant might start shedding leaves if the roots dried too much in the process.

Josh

I am so glad I saw this...my lovely plant was starting to trail and I started to think this was mechanical damage (I sometimes hit it as it's near the bed). Nice to know that that's ok. :)

here is a shot of these for sale at local nursery

Holy P. Afra :)

=) Thanks Mike! I'm glad it was a single plant too, though I expect there'll be plenty of cuttings come this Spring! You've got some beautiful monster Jades there, did you grow them yourself? I have several recently whacked Jades that are (after about 2 wks) beginning to show little green nubbies.

@SS, yeah, it's pretty wide. Like a big ol' spider, lol! All of the growth emanates from the center so it was kind of awkward working underneath it and trying not to break off anything. The pot it's currently in is 10" wide.

I totally see an informal upright! It's only about 4" tall at the center before it starts to drape & the size of the trunk is just under an inch or so. I only just started studying forms & styling so any advice is greatly appreciated. I see you've got quite a collection going there too! Can't wait to see what your plans are for them.

Chuckling @ Goddess!

Josh, thanks for the nudge, I watered him today :) He looks pretty good so far (fingers crossed). I'll be sure to pay close attention to learn his water needs. I used to over water, but now with the gritty, I tend to under water, lol! I'll stick a skewer in.

@ Lzrddr, mmmmm...looks like sweet minty cannnndy. You'll have to excuse me, I have 'deli pathology' =) I love plants en masse, lookit those purty lil guys in the upper left hand corner!

Thanks for the compliment on my jades hookilau and yes I did grow them myself mostly from very small plants or cuttings. The large stump in the center of my bay window is just now starting to grow leaves again. I too whached it back about three weeks ago. It's 18 inches from the soil line to the top. I was very nervous when I rooted it but thanks to reading a lot on this site it rooted just fine. I have another large stump that is bigger and taller than that. It's 25 inches from the soil line up. I have to admit that I cheated on that one. I was visiting in California and a friend who I was visiting had a hedge in his back yard that was close to 5 feet high and went along about 20 feet. I dug it out of the ground with a nice root ball and drove home with it. I cut it back to no leaves before I drove home. It's forming a nice canopy now and I have it in another room but soon I'm going to make room in the bay window so I can have it there. I love my jades. I have other large plants in my collection, a tall pony tail, a Madagascar palm, a couple tall Euphorbias, and a huge Christmas cactus that is over 3 feet wide. It's very old. I'm 66 and it was in my grandmother's house in Vermont long before I was born. I love my plants but have always favored my jades. I wish that I had a large greenhouse so that could have more. This is a pic of the CC cactus. The pot is 14" wide.
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Good googly moogly. That CC is impressive, I bet it's a sight when in bloom, huh?! I wish I had a greenhouse too o_O and it better have heat and a powder room cause I'll just order in & never leave it!

I'm partial to Jades too. I'm developing quite an appreciation for their versatility as well. I'd love to see more of your collection. I wouldn't call digging a nice one out of the ground cheating, that would fall more under the heading of lucky duck, lol.

I have a few large ones too but I bought them from a nice lady on CL who had like 30 of 'em in her shady screen room. She had whacked a large jade & rooted all the cuttings. They were all really thick but though she pinched them, they were still super top heavy.

I bought 10 of 'em & whacked 'em up too. I've got about 20 cuttings in addition still drying. The rooted plants have started to grow little green nubs so I'm pretty stoked.

I found a neat site with bonsai principals for proportion & basic forms for styling that helped demystify the process a bit. Now the trick is to stop the naughty little dog from absconding with my plants!

He's partial to unrooted sempervivums. He plucks them out of the dish and brings 'em to me hoping to trade for a treat. Oops. and yes. I taught him that o_O

Antoinette

Mi_co, just for accuracy, what you have there is a very nice and full Thanksgiving Cactus -
Schlumbergera truncata.

Josh

Hi Josh, Thanks very much for pointing that out. It's the only holiday cactus that I have and I never really never gave it much thought. I just assumed that it was a Christmas cactus and that it had a habit of blooming early around the middle of November. It often blooms again towards the end of January but with a lot less flowers. I did a search for photos and it's definitely a Thanksgiving cactus with it's sharp points. Thanks again, as I live, I learn :) Here is a close up of the plant pictured above. Mike
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