Pruning My ‘Golden’ Dwarf Jade Bonsai (Aurea Portulacaria Afra)

[@bonsaisn]

Your dwarf jade plant is very beautiful, thank you for sharing

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Thanks for visiting! These plants do make great shohin and make bonsai.

[@BlueJayBonsai]

I'm really enjoying your channel Tom! I love portulacaria afras!

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Blue Jay Bonsai!! I am so honored that you are enjoying my channel. I am of course a BIG FAN of your channel and Ports as well! Watching your channel and Nigels were very influential in my getting back to bonsai and also becoming obsessed (that is for sure the right word) with Portulacaria Afras.

[@arawakbonsai]

I love this channel

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Thanks so much for watching and the great feedback on my channel!! 😀

[@OrcadianOtter]

Beautiful tree

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Thanks so much for watching!! 🌳

[@tc0xdeadbeef]

Love this channel, and great to see content from Seattle!

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Glad you enjoy it! And thanks so much for watching!!! I ❤️ Seattle, great weather for bonsai. ❤️🌲

[@n8tyler]

So a question Tom, is Dwarf Jade a part of the Portulacaria family or is PA a in the Jade family? There seems to be varying opinions which seems odd to me...The PA Aurea really looks nice and so vigorous...The bark and root structure is so interesting to look at...Thanks...

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Great question. The most difficult part of working with portucalaria afra as bonsai is the naming! Dwarf Jade although it has jade in the name is commonly used to refer to portulacaria afra / skepboom / elephant bush / ? and is completely different from any Crassula variety jade. They look similar, but differ is so many ways other than both being succulent. Crosby Jade is a small leafed Crassula Ovata variety that is also commonly called Dwarf Jade which adds to the confusion as well, but people often call any small leafed Crassula a dwarf jade. So, it's confusing for sure, but if you grow both plants then you can easily tell them apart. Portulacria Afra gets much more woody trunk, grows many more branches, can take more water, grows more aggressively, grows lots of roots quickly, has much smaller leaf size, readily reduces leaf size as a bonsai. It also likes a warmer environment to grow and propagate. Crassula also has many excellent properties as bonsai, but in different ways. Their trunks thicken very quickly, they can go longer without water or care, are easy to find, and work very well for forests. They grow even in cool sub optimal light environments and will reliably flower if you keep them outside as long as possible in fall. I grow them both in the same soil. Both great "jade" plants, but in very different ways. Thanks for the great question!

[@peterbatyi1844]

Beautiful tree! I love tis plant! Namaste 🕉🕉🕉

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Thank you!! It’s an all around great plant for bonsai. Thanks for watching!! ❤️🌲

[@dkstott29]

Beautiful tree. Never heard of this variety. ❤❤

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Thanks for watching Dave! It’s a cool variety for sure. 👍

[@nataliearonson5669]

Have you considered cutting off the bottom branches and making more into a classic shape?

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Great suggestion!! I am still growing this out, so anything is on the table. It is thickening up nicely with all the foliage, so I will probably do that for another year or so and then look at moving it forward. Thanks for watching! 😀

[@nickw8665]

What do you use for pest control on your ports?

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Indoors, I most often use 70% isopropyl alcohol and just keep hitting it with that until they are gone. Outdoors I’ll either use alcohol or just spray the tree with a jet of water which usually moves them on. Outdoors the birds, etc pretty much keep them pest free. I generally only have mealies indoors in the unheated area that I need to watch for and a few aphids that always seem to sneak in on the trees in the fall. Occasionally spider mites. Again, just the 70% alcohol makes pretty short work of them. Check out my channel I have a video on how I do it. Thanks for watching! 😀

[@michaelmason4206]

Love them, PAs skews me

[@CoffeeandBonsaiwithTom]

Agreed! Such amazing trees to work with as bonsai or even potted plants. Thanks for watching the channel!!! ❤️🌲