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21 year old Jade Plant 4ft tall Pruning Repotting Questions Concerns

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last modified: 28 days ago

Hi all,

I recently acquired a 20+ year old crassula ovata jade plant that's 4 feet tall and over 4" thick at the trunk. I want to set up this plant to be healthy and continue to grow and live for a long time to come.

1) I like the single trunk "tree" look to jade plants, and was thinking of trying that with this. I'm hesitant to prune so much off considering how thick the branches are near the base of the trunk. Should I consider such a drastic change to this plant? Or keep it more bushy as is? If trying to choose a side or view that would be the best as the "front", which would you choose given the pictures below?

I've never had a jade this big or old. Open to all advice and if I did hard prune I would propagate all the branches. Thanks!

Side 1:

Side 2:

Side 3:

Side 4:

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Comments (3)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
23 days ago
this thing has lived for 20 years. and your first thought is to completely mess with it.. WHY???

you are about 19 years late to a single trunk plant.. if you want one.. throw this one away.. and go buy such .. do not try to make this one such ...

do not repot.. unless you note an actual problem that requires fixing...

give it a year or two .... to get over transport shock. before you do ANYTHING ...

i cant tell if its the camera.. or what not.. if its off color.. a bit yellow.. give it some highly diluted water sol fert with each watering..

jade prefer to be VERY dry.. do you have experience dealing with them.. you WILL kill it with over watering.. give us more facts so we can help ...

ken
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
20 days ago
You can very easily prune your plant so it has a single trunk with virtually no concern that the pruning will cause the plant life threatening harm.

The trick to pruning jades and portulacaria is to leave a very short stub. You don't want to cut into the node on the trunkline that gave rise to the branches you're viewing as subordinate, or competing trunks. When you leave a short stub, sealing the wound is unnecessary because the wound will dry back to the first node proximal (closer to the roots or trunk) to the cut. Once the pruning is done, in 6 months to a year you'll be able to simply rub off the desiccated tissue with your thumb, making it difficult to tell it was even pruned. Cutting flush to the lower order branch (the branch the you're pruning is attached) or trunk will cause tissue to dry out in the immediate vicinity of the wound, such that the wound will be larger, deeper, more unsightly, and it will take longer for callus tissue to cover the wound.

I would advise that you carefully cover the existing wounds with waterproof wood clue, which will prevent the wounds from growing larger due to desiccation. Use a flat toothpick or similar item to carefully paint the wound only. Try not to overlap the wound and get glue on the periderm (bark); this, because it will make a lump when the callus rolls over the glue.

Al
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Separate threads would be better, but here we are. Shanesirish5, if you are nervous about the plant's health from chopping a large branch, don't be. If you are concerned about the balance and look of the plant in the future, it's hard for me to recommend that level of pruning through pictures. If you could start a relationship in a local bonsai club, you would probably find someone willing to look at the plant in person and give recommendations. I'm guessing this specimen would rate that kind of attention and effort based on what you've said. Spiritdancer2020, you can use the search tool here for 'gritty mixes'. You'll get a book's worth of manifold opinions, probably all of which work well for jades. At the VERY LEAST, a simple solution that keeps you from having to find a variety of ingredients (if time, money, desire are issues), buy a bag of cactus and succulent soil from a local garden center, a bag of perlite, and mix the two in equal measure. There's no indication where you live, so if getting any of these materials is difficult, tell us where you live and we can try to help. A friend of mine in Indonesia can't get what many of us would call common ingredients, but he is successful with builder's gravel and backyard soil. ez
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Thank you for the help, I am so glad to hear that the color is healthy. I did get rid of the rot but there was just a little and it was on the other trunk which I am not so concerned about. I inspected everything else and didn't find anymore rot. I was concerned that the off whiteish color was un-healthy in which case I would have a bigger problem on my hands, I'm glad that's not the case. Now, I just have to dry out the soil that is currently on the roots to get it out then I plan to put root hormone on the cut/broken roots and put it in a mix more suitable for a jade plant and keep it dry. Any idea how long I will need to wait to water it?
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thank you all i didn't doubt neither bill nor k it's just that i usually do what k advised but 1 drawback is that you should be free at the time when temp is @ 20 which usually doesn't happen as temp increases you start getting busy in your usual chores but what bill said sounds really logical and it fits in my lifestyle so that is great and i plan to experiment it as i feel that its always safe to experiment on a older plant unlike my cousin who says why should you spoil a established plant . but i feel established plants give you extra margin for error night temp has fallen to 42 deg F from yesterday at my place plants start waking from around 15 - 20 Jan but this year its been really pleasant till 2 days back so can't say till when it will be chilly my plan 3 ppl hold the trunk of tree and lift the plant along with it the pot will rise now a person taps the brim of pot so that it loosens and falls on ground now wash the rootball with a hose search for taproot cut off 2/3rd of taproot now search for dead adventitious roots cut adv roots 1/3 off now plant it in a new soil 30%coarse sand 20%manure [cow] 30%perlite 20%gritt now i have following questions 1 should i plant it immediately or should i wait for a day or two ,let the roots heal before planting? 2 anything wrong in the above plan? 3 laura u said to use a bigger pot that was because i can be free from re potting for next 4-5 yrs or was it something else [ i am looking for a bigger pot ] ? 4 branch pruning when should i do that? thank you all anurag
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Hello Vlad, more natural light would also benefit the plant in many ways. If you have a sunnier spot move it gradually over the coming week as a sudden increase in strong light can burn...as you found out earlier on : / They are very resilient plants, it should now do well for you in the coming seasons, a great recovery story btw! I would nip off the top two sets of leaves now as it will soon sprout branches...that's what I would do anyway as I personally find they put forth growth at any time when stimulated by decapitating and I tend to do things sooner rather than later!.....but obviously the call is yours. Gill UK
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gardenfanatic2003
18 days ago
@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 generally speaking, when jade plants are getting the appropriate amount of light, their leaves will turn more of a light green or gold. Jades with dark green leaves are usually either being overfertilized or aren't receiving an appropriate amount/intensity of light, or both. However, there are different cultivars of jade which have slightly different leaves, so it's difficult to know for sure without knowing the specifics of which jade it is. Most jade plants that I see posted on plants forums or groups are very etiolated, but that one isn't, so for its first 20 years it received appropriate light. Can't say if it currently is since they grow very slowly and it likely hasn't had time to respond to its current light situation. Seems like many people place them where "they'll look good in the room" rather than where they'll receive the light that they need.

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