Alex, depends on what you mean by over pruning?

Jades respond well to quite hard pruning; there are numerous threads on this forum about 'chopping jades' :) If you search for those threads, there are many photos there.

How much and where to prune would depend on what you would like the plant look like.

Here is one of my small contributions:

Before:

After (chopped not at the best time...):

Same plant recently:

Wow! I didn't think you could chop up a plant that extensively without killing it. To be honest with you, I've never actually done that extensive of a prune job. I guess I wouldn't really know how much would be necessary or how to even begin haha. I'd be too scared of killing it! Seeing how much you did, however, definitely adds some reassurance.

The issue is that the main stem is completely at a slant. How would you even chop it up in a way where it's upright once again? Prune it enough and then re-pot so it's upright?

I'd like for it to be bushy, but preferably upright. That's the issue with this as it's basically laying down off to the side.

If you don't want to do a extensive pruning, I'll sugest pruning the lower branches first, repot it and put more soil to stabilize the plant and place it where it can get plenty sunlight to encorage the grow of new branches and leaves in the top.

You can also cut the biggest branckes propagating.

Whatever you do, it would take months before it starts to look bushy. It's a matter of patience

Rina, thank you so much for the examples and photos. I truly appreciate your assistance and efforts as you've been extremely helpful. You've given me some great ideas and I will definitely put them to use. I was more afraid of killing it than anything else; however, seeing how much you could potentially push the limits, I'm a little more at ease. Obviously, I will still prune with some sort of care :)

Thank you Lorien as well for the input. I love these forums and always appreciate the kindness and help of everyone on here!

Alex, any questions - just ask. But look up 'chopping' threads to get more courage.

On the topic of Jades, albeit not necessary related to the one in my original post, this is one of my jades that I own myself. I have 2 pots, both similar-ish size, but the other not as tall as these guys. Do you think they appear too leggy? Should I do anything, such as pinching new growth off the top? Or would you say they appear perfectly fine in size? I wasn't sure if it was becoming too leggy or not. Picture below:

Also, is it fine for these 2 to share a pot? I know that jades are slow growers, but wasn't sure if I should bother placing them in their own pots. Could I potentially leave them together no matter how big they get or will I inevitably have to separate the jades at some point?

It needs more sunlight. I had a similar problem with mines. This a photo from octubre 2015

None of my jades were getting enough sunlight where they were before and looked very leggy and sad. In the first photo they had like 3 month in my window and the stem of the regular jade looked thicker than before and the compacta started to grow really fast

These ones are from a month ago

My regular Jade literally exploted with new grown and the compacta looks a lot bigger. I didn't do any prunning, just fertize it a little, let them get arround 6 hours of sunlight daily and bright light the rest of the day.

Alex

Yes, they a little etiolated - but that's what happens if they need to be indoors. Unless they get lots of light, the leaves will grow farther apart - you can see that more on your jade on tight. You can help to while indoors, by providing supplemental light (unless you have supper bright window). If you have access to outdoors, they would like being outdoors until it gets cold again. Pinching will help; getting rid of etiolated/stretched parts and letting it grow new branches during sunnier months. The etiolated parts will not change they need to be pruned off (unless it doesn't bother you :).

You can leave them together or separate - that is up to your preference. As they grow, they may grow slightly 'sideways' to get more space/light each (it happens with all plants, some more and some less). There are ppl that plant few in the same container creating a 'jade forest' and it looks great. In that case, it may be more important to do regular pinching and probably keeping them smaller, and turning pot regularly to make sure that all sides are getting similar amount of light.

I do not have access to outdoors, unfortunately, as I live in an APT. My window faces the west, if that helps. I noticed that closer to the window itself, there appears to be actual sun hitting one spot. Obviously, my entire room will get sunlight, but closer to one corner of the window there appears to be more sun coming in... if that makes sense. I can try moving them there to see. My other jade hasn't gotten leggy, but then I've only had it about a year. I'm unable to take a picture now, but can when I'm home.

The jade shown in the picture is probably 2-3 years old. In the past, I've even consider cutting them down, like at the base, just to make it shorter. I wasn't sure if this was a great course of action, however, so never went through with it. As I mentioned, I'm not as experienced with extensive pruning. I usually have only pruned leaves here or there. Would the problem kind of correct itself once more sunlight is given to them or would I need to do some cutting, nonetheless. Also, if I want to add any kind of supplemental lighting to help, do/can you recommend any good lights to look into? I'm not sure what kind of set up would be needed. Sorry for all the questions!

Alex

Once the plant is etiolated (stretched), it will not change - meaning it will not grow more leaves in between to fill up. After a (relatively) long time, and if receiving plenty of light and is getting all care it needs, the branches will thicken and it may be less visible. That is why pruning/pinching is recommended. There is some stretched growth after the winter for most of us - if one gets rid of these and let plant grow in better light, new growth will be tighter.

As for supplemental lighting - it all depends how far you want to go. You could buy specialized lights for growing plants either on line or from hydroponic store. They have very efficient bulbs (T5HO or even LED) and are more $ (4' T5HO with 4 tubes is about $200 or so).

I have some T8 fluoro tubes, few LED and lots of CFL light bulbs (min 23W that is equal to 100W incandescent). LED light bulbs are bit more $, CFL cost less. They are set up on timers, and during winter are on a lot (min.12 hrs - I keep mine on for 14 because it is dark in the basement).

Keep your plants indoors in most sunlight you can find. Light comming thru the window is quite less intensive than it would be outside, so more is better. If you add some lights, especially on cloudy days and if natural light comes in only for couple of hours, it will help.

Jades are quite forgiving comparing to some other succulents that will stretch much more.

Just as an idea from a bonsai guy: look up cascade style bonsai. You may not want to chop or replant to "fix" the angle.. I keep a couple in wall hanging pots and let them droop, or cascade. I like that style of bonsai. And jades are ok for bonsai depending on who you ask. This site has a bonsai forum. Its not as active as this one, but has plenty of help. Do a search for cascading jades and you may find insperation..I hope that helps.

Agree with Eric, jades are quite suitable for bonsai. It does require more constant pinching and pruning (and often wiring) , but once you tried some (pruning), you'll find out it isn't scary :)

Here is a quick google link to jade bonsai photos, you can see many styles (including 'forest' that I mentioned before:
-click here-

That may look bit scary, lol, but many techniques used to grow bonsai could be used to help your plant along.

The plant with small leaves that is used very often (and there are many photos of it in link above) is Portulacaria afra - has much smaller leaves. Sometimes incorrectly called Baby jade.

I have a question about the above photo. Obviously, I'm sure getting jades to look a certain way, such as the above, probably takes a lot of time and patience. I'm definitely completely fine with taking my time with these plants as I know it's a process. Anyway! My question is, my jade, in its etiolated state, could it grow to look like the picture?

To be honest, I thought my jades were fine and were simply going to be taller, as shown above. I was a little upset to hear that they were actually leggy due to lack of sun, not because they were simply tall lol. I'm glad I found out before they possibly took a turn for the worse. I'd much prefer them to be bushier, but I simply thought mine were going to look like the image. I'm guessing the ones in the image are specifically pruned to look that way and didn't just sprout up nice and tall, huh? I'd love for the actual bark/stem part of my jade to become tree-like and thick, as in the image. Guessing now mine will likely not get any thicker due to the lack of sunlight, right?

Your first question, I don't really know how to answer that. I assume you would be able to get it like that, but it would definitely lack health.

It does take a while to get a jade to grow that thick and well formed, and a bit of luck and timing.

Even with the sunlight you are getting, I am sure the trunk would widen over time.. A lot of light is good, though (but not sunburn!). The lower portion of your plants are already starting to 'crust up' as I like to call it- it is loosing the flexibility of young stems.

~palmsandsnow

I did notice the lower part getting brown, or "crusting up," as you put it. I was wondering if this was indicative of them beginning to turn brown/tree-like. I was hoping that's what it meant at least! I've always been fan of tree-looking plants, such as the image I posted.

Trees in above photo are definitely pruned regularly and most likely the branches were wired to get that twisted look - that is bonsai technique, and I am not knowledgeable to suggest how to :(

And yes, your jades could look like the ones in the photo above - with enough info and patience...

Here is post borrowed from Al (tapla) about when is the best time to prune:

tapla

Do
your heavy work, like repotting and hard pruning a week or 2 before the
summer solstice. At that time, the plant's energy reserves will be high
and the plant's food-making potential peaking due to photo-period
duration and light intensity, and the timing offers your plant the
potential to recover faster than at any other interval of the growth
cycle. If you get into the rhythm of pruning around the solstice or a
little before, all new growth should have short internodes, which helps
keep plants full and compact. Eventually, the plant moves into fall and
internodes lengthen. This is the growth you'll remove next summer so ALL
the growth you keep will always be compact. This is important even if
at some point you decide to cut the plant back really hard, because even
back-budding will be tighter, given the fact that latent buds break
from old leaf axils immediately above old bundle scars.

Learning how to work in sync with the plant's natural rhythms is not
only good for the plant, it helps you feed that nurturing bone you have,
which is why most of us grow plants. It's just one of those little
things that raises the plane on which you're able to interact with your
plants, which allows you to get more from the growing experience.

Al

You can get trunk thicker. It will take some time so need to be patient. If you let all branches and leaves to grow 'wild', until the trunk gets thicker - after, you can prune anything unwanted off.

How much of an effect does fertilization have on jades? I used to do it more regularly, but then I'm now afraid it was too much (at the time). I haven't fertilized my plants in a long time, like maybe a year. I now see that some plants only need it about less than a handful of times and only during growing months. When I first started with plants, I wasn't as aware of that... I wasn't killing plants left and right though, don't worry! Haha.

I bought some standard cactus and succulents fertilizer from home depot. Is that stuff okay? I had the misfortune of using their soil for the longest time early on, too. I've since learned that it isn't the best and moved on to better soil. Wondering if the same can be said for their liquid fertilizers, too.

Thanks, Rina, that post was very helpful. Looks like I'll definitely have to plan out how I am going to approach this plant!

Thank you as well, palmsandsnow, I appreciate the input

I never used cactus fertilizer, so can't comment. I am 'guilty' of not fertilizing succulents...recommendation is for ferts with 3:1:2 ratio of NPK (like FoligePro 9-3-6, or Miracle Gro 24-8-16; 12-4-8). Here is explanation about fertilizers, again from Al (tapla):

tapla

The
formulations are exactly the same ratio (3:1:2), though they may vary
slightly in micronutrient content. A fertilizer that is listed as 12-4-8
is 12% N, 4% P, and 12% K, by weight. 24-8-16 has double the %
nutrients in 12-4-8. If you follow container directions for dosage,
you'll be delivering the same amount (by weight) of fertilizer in either
case. It's just that the directions will have you using twice as much
12-4-8 as you would 24-8-16 (again, by weight) to achieve the same
strength solution. Since the amount of product is doubled when using the
12-4-8 (when compared to the amount of product used when you use
24-8-16), halving it yields the same strength solution as halving a
24-8-16 solution.

I like to think jades in gritty mix benefit from fertilizer like all plants, though some recent pictures of some succulents in this forum (harry and dave's sedums - here http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3899854/fertilizer-effects?n=13 ) have me wondering how easy it is to overdo it.

I've been fertilizing my Jades with foliage pro regularly, with 1/4 - 1/2 strength (1/4 - 1/2 tsp/gallon) over the winter, they've been under under quite bright lights. I plan to ramp up the dosage once the weather is nice and they move outside. So far no signs of etioliation but not enough time to really tell yet, I haven't had most of them for that long. New growth looks to have shorter internodes than older growth, but, it's still new so have to wait and see.