Portulacaria afra Bonsai project pruning?
I am starting to try and grow a Bonsai project but I have a question that I cannot find the answer to. How tall do they need to be before pruning is started. These are 4-5 inches tall but I already see changes I would like to make.
Comments (11)
cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5
8 years agoDaniel Graham
8 years agoRelated Discussions
My Portulacaria afra (Elephant's Food, Elephant Bush) Is dying. P
Comments (28)Post a picture, Rosemary. Without sunlight, these plants will struggle. Also, they need to be kept moist or they will drop leaves. I made that mistake when I started growing these. I treated them like other succulents, withholding water indoors during the winter, and mine dropped all their leaves. It wasn't until I began keeping them consistently watered that they thrived indoors. Josh...See MoreIt this Portulacaria afra were yours...
Comments (14)I haven't pruned my little guy yet, but I will.... In the meantime, I snapped these pics of my other Port's. As you can see, I'm attempting to grow two in a tree-like fashion....though the going is slow.... My favorite of the bunch....looks miserable over the winter, however. Loses most leaves. Another style of tree: This container is my stock-pot of extra Port. afra. Grown in mass, in almost pure Orchid Bark, in terra cotta. This container does the best over winter. And, lastly, a quick shot of my green Port. Once this Port. bushes out again, I'll most likely top it by 1/3 and then begin removing branches (a la Tom's advice). The opposite branches are very apparent. Josh...See MorePortulacaria afra, picture thread
Comments (50)Right - leave a little stub at the cut and don't let anything grow off of the stub. You want it to dry up and fall off - sort of like a scab. If you're going to root the cutting, after it's separated, clean it up with a straight edge razor blade or fresh utility knife blade. Be careful not to use anything that will crush the vasculature of the plant - like loppers, anvil or even bypass pruners when you rem ove the cutting from the rooted part of the plant. Use a fine tooth saw and make sure there is nothing ragged hanging from the proximal end of the cutting - that's where the rot (fungal infections) start and why you clean up the proximal end of the cutting with something very sharp. Also, right after preparing the cutting but before the cut dries or calluses, dip the end in flowers of sulfur, cinnamon, or another antifungal preparation suited to your application - and prune any branches you leave on your cutting back hard. Last tip: There is nothing that says your plant must rise from the soil perfectly perpendicular. In fact, if you want movement in the trunk, it should not exit the soil perfectly vertical and then transition to a trunk with movement. Figure out what angle you want the cutting to exit the soil at, then make your basal cut so it's horizontal. IOW - it won't be cut 90* to the trunk axis. Al...See MorePortulacaria Afra care question
Comments (13)Thanks everyone for comments. Here's my tree and what I did: Once full of leaves, now pretty bare, about 8" tall. I bought it about 6 months ago. A closeup on a branch, showing some desire to leaf out again. I decided on a repot into more water retentive soil, keeping the 1/4" bark but replacing the granite with 1/4" pumice, still 1:1. Once unpotted, nice fine roots are seen to look quite healthy. The pine bark is nicely moist, with roots wrapped around it. All looks well. Hmmm, I probably just jumped the gun and the plant was shocky from the move inside several weeks ago. Oh well, hope it survives the second shock of a repot. Back in it goes. I will water immediately b/c the gritty mix I use falls away so easily I'm not worried about damaged roots that need to callous over. Here's what the new soil looks like, courtesy of Bonsai Jack's. They clean and pre-sift it. Nice. From what I've read, pumice holds onto less heat than granite, so hopefully a better environment for the roots come those 100F days of summer Assuming it survives my care :-\ of late, the intention is to thicken up the trunk considerably through lots of growth, then trunk chop it to about 6 inches and attempt to grow it in the form of a baobab tree(and put it in a much smaller pot). Here is the tree I am using for inspiration, courtesy of google images: ez...See MoreDaniel Graham
8 years agoDaniel Graham
8 years agoDaniel Graham
8 years agorina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoDaniel
Rocks on the bottom do not help.
Drain holes (I am assuming you are talking about typical plastic pots that plants come in from the stores) should be enough. Plastic pots are fine, and the size you have in the photo is plenty for the size of cuttings in the large containers.
What needs to be changed is the mix: cactus mix is usually not well draining in spite of being advertised as such. It contains too much peat that is fine and hydrophobic - it either stays too wet or dries out as hard as rock.
Succulents need well draining substrate. It should be quite gritty and mostly inorganic. Many of us use mix of grit, perlite, turface or scoria, pumice.
You may get good info on this site by searching for 'gritty mix' and reading about it.
If you want immediate help with your existing mix, I would suggest sifting the cactus mix thru the kitchen sieve. Use only what stays in it. Mix this with equal amount (50/50%) of perlite (easy to get from many stores&inexpensive). This mix will be much better draining.
Give your seedlings as much light as possible and grow them as Jeff suggested - until they at least double in size, or more.
Rina
Daniel Graham
8 years agoDoes this look better. While I was out buying the pots I found different soil that seemed like it would work better. Cactus/succulent. It was already pretty heavy in perlite but was not enough. This is what the soil looks like and how the plants are potted now.
cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5
8 years agoDaniel Graham
8 years ago
cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5