Hey all me and @Hallow we're talking about Jade bonsai on another tread we are either working on or have plans for training and I wanted to make a thread for not only us but anyone else on here with Jade they are training into tree styles.

I have 5 that I have been growing for between individuals for the last couple to about 7-10 yrs now. Many are much older than that though.

One needs a lot of work, I neglected it but it's going to get a major prune and the 3 others are better along in their tree styles. I'll make separate posts of the individuals with before and afters to show how the work is progressing along inbetween prunings.

And I want to say with jades if they are well established don't be afraid to prune them very hard and even remove nearly all or all the leaves in one shot. I've done this with them many times and have good results.

Your previous thread comments led me to go to Google Images to look for 'jade bonsai'. They were there and those led me to watch a couple of YouTube videos, though the two I watched were using Portulacaria instead of a jade. What kind of wire do they use for training? Does it have to be taken off and redone regularly? Looks like it would strangle the stem as the plant grows unless the wires are flexible and will expand somehow.

Looking forward to seeing the plants you've done. At least one of the videos cut a huge plant back leaving only about half a dozen leaves. Scraped away a lot of upper roots, too, to expose the upper part of the root system. Unfortunately it didn't show how the plant looked a year or so later after the operation took place.

Here's my C. ovata 'Gollum' I have been training. I have used a combination of selective pruning and wiring, along with leave removal to get this upright/cascade look. I can't find images from many years ago when I first got it but here a few over the last couple years as it had begun progressing.

I also repotted it into a tall skinny pot a few years ago to get it to develop deeper roots to get it ready for cascade bonsai pots that way I do not have a succulent in a deep pot with only surface roots. And to slow me to start bringing down the cascade branch

Here's it after a growth period of about a year, I let it fill in. This was March 4th 2019


Here's it around 8 months later


And here's it today.



It will be repotted into this small cascade bonsai pot this week




As you can see I have been slowly able to bring the cascade branch down lower and lower. It's a slow process as jades like to break rather than bend like trees will do when training.

Nice job Connor!

needrain said:Your previous thread comments led me to go to Google Images to look for 'jade bonsai'. They were there and those led me to watch a couple of YouTube videos, though the two I watched were using Portulacaria instead of a jade. What kind of wire do they use for training? Does it have to be taken off and redone regularly? Looks like it would strangle the stem as the plant grows unless the wires are flexible and will expand somehow.

Looking forward to seeing the plants you've done. At least one of the videos cut a huge plant back leaving only about half a dozen leaves. Scraped away a lot of upper roots, too, to expose the upper part of the root system. Unfortunately it didn't show how the plant looked a year or so later after the operation took place.

Hey!! Yeah honestly Portulacaria afra make much better bonsai than jade probably due to their small leaves and more flexible branching, and you can develop branch pads more easily than with Jade. I'd love to get my hands on a decent one and train it into a tree form.

Bonsai wire is copper or a softer variety with I forgot what it's name is, I use the softer ones for Jade. You typically leave the wire on for around 6 month and then take it off and rewire it if needed. You wrap the wire not super tight, because if you do you will get scaring on the stems. I wrap mine a little looser on my jades than I would on an actual tree. Then allow it to start to thicken in that wired position, then remove it.

Some of my jades I have trained them in the Clip-and-grow method where I prune them hard to develop branching that splits in two so to ass get denser branching structure instead of longer shoot growth. It can seem kinda extreme but I works well. I have been doing this around every Six months to a year depending on how it grew out. That usually allows it enough time to re establish and fill back out.

DaisyI said:Nice job Connor!

Thank you!! Very much!

I can't wait! Where do I start cutting!


I'm not kidding. This guy has to come out of this pot this spring anyway. It started as a little 2" round bush.. and I clearly should have been moved 2-3 years ago.
First question.. when I take this planter apart it's going to come out as one root ball and the only way to repot all the species growing in it it to hack it to pieces. Can I just cut the woody stem and root that? or should I cut out that whole corner and take whatever roots come with it? I don't have any roots growing from the woody parts of the stem,

Do you think I can use the wire to train the woody stems over time, or are they just to established vertically and I should work closer to the green parts?

So @turbosaurus I would either choose to repot it or choose to prune it but I wouldn't do both at the same time And for sake of establishment I would take the whole thing apart and you can just cut the jades apart from the rest, rather than just re re-root it. The only reason I would maybe do that is if I wanted it to branch lower closer to the pot. And what you might be able to do is separate the two individuals in that pot and work on both of them

And with the wiring and pruning is not sure based on picture. Could you take a picture of it that is not backlight so I can see the structure of it better?

I was thinking, of going for a windswept mountain top look. Since I am lazy, I am thinking of putting it in a square pot and laying it on it's side. The branches grow up and went set normal it will look windswept. For now. Going to wait to prune until the stems get large.

Hallow said:I was thinking, of going for a windswept mountain top look. Since I am lazy, I am thinking of putting it in a square pot and laying it on it's side. The branches grow up and went set normal it will look windswept. For now. Going to wait to prune until the stems get large.

Please post a picture of it!! You can likely repot it now and do the pruning in a couple months after it's established

@LimitlessEarth join us here with your jade bonsai! Yours from the looks definitely needs to be repotted, pruned and styled again.

@hallow I've got a windswept style straight C. Ovata I will be posting today after I prune it. Wanted to wait to make the post to have a couple transformation photos in there

Smotzer said:

Please post a picture of it!! You can likely repot it now and do the pruning in a couple months after it's established

once I get it going I will. I tried a bonsi with the same plant before but ended up putting it a normal pot. But I'll start it again.
The branch on the right outlined with the oranges is where I want to start the Arial root project. I'll start it all in the next few days


This is the one I'll be using

Hallow said: once I get it going I will. I tried a bonsi with the same plant before but ended up putting it a normal pot. But I'll start it again.



This is the one I'll be using

Okay what I do to start it mine is removing a lot of leaves around the base of branches to reveal the branch structure that way you can have a better idea what to either remove, prune to develop branching, or wire. Also remove all the largest leaves, you want to promote small leaf growth also. Basically thin it out heavily! This will also make it able to be wired, the way yours is now there is no way it can be wired.

Do you have any fine tipped scissors? Here's two scissors of mine, the ones on the left were a gift from my master I studied under, the ones on the right are student scissors I taught classes with. If you don't have a pair I would be happy to loan you the white handled one.



Edit: I. Regards to the pot I think it's best to begin to style it first and let it Reestablish whole it happily is comfortable in that pot and then repot it into its smaller pot after. It will do better this way.

As soon as it's warm enough to get this outside I will repot and take decent pics. I think I'll repot first than come back w decent
Photos. Turn out I have a couple Gollum that are big enough to experiment.

I'd love to learn how they respond to wire training and branching out when cut so I can eventually (and carefully) work with this guy that I inherited and really care about.. but it's really demanding to make room for what nearly amounts to an indoor hedge every winter..

Smotzer said:is if I wanted it to branch lower closer to the pot....

How do you recommend encouraging low branching from an established woody stem? Do you nick them, or just top it? . BTW, I live in NY and October to tax day they are inside and don't have great conditions, but we're about to go outside... it's gonna be awesome!

Hhallow, yours looks so happy and dense, good job!

I'm okay with the wire.. I've done the electrical in my house and I make jewelry as a hobby, so I have plenty of feel for wire. . It looks like ~18 guage copper elec wire from Home Depot in the pics, but If you have a Michaels or Joanne store near you, Jewelry wire might do better for beginners. Its much softer so it's easier to move slowly and you can bend it with your fingers. you don't have to worry about breaking the stems if you haven't worked with copper directly if you use a softer metal. You'll need a heavier gauge ( lower numbers are thicker wire/ heavier gauge. High numbers are thin wire, low gauge). I'll probably start to train mine w 14 guage jewelry wire because it's stiff enough but still softer than copper and I have it on hand.

Started my Jade aerial roots project.

4" of the smallest pvc pipe I could find with a notch cut to fit the branch in on one side. Then cut in half the long way so I can take it off at a later date.


Duct tape it back together. Leaving duct tape over the notch as a cushion and to keep soil in.


Fight with it to get it in the right spot and keep soil from falling out.


And done!!


I almost forgot the very beginning. Have to wait for the plant to do this

Hey all sorry I've been sick during all this but I'm back! Hopefully I can get this thread back up and going and help some of y'all with your jades!

Turbosaurus said: Hhallow, yours looks so happy and dense, good job!

I'm okay with the wire.. I've done the electrical in my house and I make jewelry as a hobby, so I have plenty of feel for wire. . It looks like ~18 guage copper elec wire from Home Depot in the pics, but If you have a Michaels or Joanne store near you, Jewelry wire might do better for beginners. Its much softer so it's easier to move slowly and you can bend it with your fingers. you don't have to worry about breaking the stems if you haven't worked with copper directly if you use a softer metal. You'll need a heavier gauge ( lower numbers are thicker wire/ heavier gauge. High numbers are thin wire, low gauge). I'll probably start to train mine w 14 guage jewelry wire because it's stiff enough but still softer than copper and I have it on hand.

Hey! How's it going how's your guy doing? Not sure if you wired it yet but I am here to help you with that now that I am back and fully recovered!