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Old 8-May-2008   #10
AMKhalid
bonsaiTALK Adept
 
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Join Date: Mar-2007
Location: Greater Toronto Area
Country: Canada
Posts: 211
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Here is my one and only Portulacaria afra aka miniature Jade.

Nothing wrong with these trees they are decent for bonsai and I appreciate them because most tropicals do terrible in my house over the winter.

Also, not many other bonsai you can bring into the office to show off!

I got this about 6 months ago as raw nursery stock. First pic shows after rough initial pruning (note how much was removed - it was a bush).

Second pic is what it looks like now. I am trying to get more movement into the secondary trunk to amplify what the main trunk has. This might have to be done with chopping it and training new leaders because it is tricky to bend this trunk.

Final pic is the pot I just got for it. Handmade stoneware by Chuck Iker. I love this pot and it is exactly what I wanted for this tree. It has some faint greenish hues which are not visible in the pic and is actually a bit darker than it looks. It is about 1/2 - 2/3 the size of that ugly pot it is in now and I will pot it once it starts growing vigorously in the early summer.

I enjoy working with this tree and I think in 2-3 years it may be a decent elegant twin trunk.

p.s. some thick branches still need to be removed obviously from the pic but I am waiting to better understand how this tree grows and buds back before finishing them off. One thing I found amazing about these trees is how they heal pruning scars. Since the branches are segmented, when you prune a thick branch, I leave one segment which dries out and falls off in a month or two. The resulting scar is perfectly flush with the trunk and just... disappears quite quickly. I removed lots of very thick branchs from this tree just a few months ago and you can barely see the scars.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg portu-1.jpg (28.2 KB, 54 views)
File Type: jpg portu-2.jpg (20.7 KB, 62 views)
File Type: jpg pot.JPG (14.2 KB, 28 views)
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