How Many Varieties of Portulacaria Afra Variegated Are There?
I picked up three different Portulacaria Afra Variegated from several different suppliers, and they are quite different from each other, as shown in the photo. How many varieties are there? Is there any variety where the base color of the leaf is not greenish?
As an aside: I have never encountered a succulent that can live so long with zero water. The topmost plant in this photo never received a drop of water - while planted in the very dry gritty mix - for three months after the last rain.
I also found a fascinating article online that made this claim:
"Portulacaria evolved to become especially water efficient during photosynthesis and respiration, holding onto its stores of moisture. In the process, it became one of the best natural carbon sponges in the world. It’s better at capturing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and fixing it in its own fibers and the soil than nearly any other plant. This is known as carbon sequestration. Acre for acre, Portulacaria afra is more effective at removing carbon from the environment than the rain forest. To improve the air quality in or around your home or to combat global warming — plant Portulacaria afar!"
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Portulacaria afra - June 2010 re-pot
Comments (37)Thanks, Xuan! Hey, Jose! I fertilize more frequently and at higher concentrations (half-strength) during the warm months (April through October). During the winter, I do fertilize - just very lightly. The trunks and branches will become woody with time. As far as pruning is concerned....well, I have a design in mind, and I make cuts that will encourage that design. I try not to let branches get too long or thick, particularly those that I plan on removing in the future. When I make a cut, I also try to imagine how the other branches will grow to hide or obscure the scar. Josh...See MorePortulacaria afra 'bonsai'
Comments (27)Hi Toni - Thanks. Not seeing the P. Afra and being able to see trunk girth, size, etc. it is hard to give specific advice. In general, though, if you want it to thicken up before you stage it for bonsai, it would be best to get it healty and growing more freely than plunking it straight away into a bonsai pot. In fact, I often keep my plants growing in stock pots for varying periods of time before I bonsai them. That allows it to get some root growth to start in the stock pot - but I also start lightly pruning it with a general design in mind (unless you need to thicken up some branches, in which case you may want to let them grow more freely). When you prune, it is pretty easy to anticipate the branch direction from the prune - you will get buds at the base of the remaining leaves at the point where you pruned. Then, when you are ready to stage as bonsai, you will likely need to root prune to get it to fit in the pot. So, do the typical succulent routine for this - prune and let it callous over a bit before you water. Sorry, I don't have any direct experience with that type of begonia. If you want some real inspiration for P. Afra as bonsai, Google "Jim Smith Portulacaria Afra" and check the images that you find. You can also find some good care information here: http://www.knowledgeofbonsai.org/species_specific/smithport.php Tom...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 MorePortulacaria afra in nothing but pumice (or turface, or...?)
Comments (35)I noticed some wrinkling starting on the leaves of one and just went ahead and watered them all. Each stem is in it's own 4" nursery pot (the kind with lots of good-sized holes on the bottom)s i had been putting the pots on various saucers to catch the water that came out of the bottom, but to try to clean up the area I put down a double layer of bounty paper towels and transferred them to that. To my surprise, the paper towel began sucking what seemed like an awful lot of water out of the pots. Since they had stopped drop-draining a while ago I assumed they were pretty fully drained but the paper towel told a different story. So now my question is, should I keep putting the containers on a paper towel or is this pulling too much water out of the soil too quickly?...See Morewestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
3 years ago@luci It would be nice if medio-picta developed some of the albino leaves showing in this photo
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
3 years ago
Emily (5b)
3 years agoThe only site that really even notes its existence is this one https://garden.org/plants/view/781062/Elephant-Bush-Portulacaria-afra-Manny/
I learned about it a while back when someone posted on here about this variety they bought called 'Manny'. It seems to be relatively rare, and isn't mentioned among the variations on wiki or other sites.
There's also this photo I found from a tumblr page, that has a description of the plant on the pot. It seems to be like its a mutation of the rainbow bush variation, with thicker leaves and striated variegation.
Emily (5b)
3 years agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
3 years agolast modified: 3 years ago
luci (CA, 9b)