Portulacaria afra (Baby Jade)

K3JAE

Hi all;

As a newbie to Bonsai I need a little advice.

I purchased a Baby Jade (Portulacaria afra) and received it 5 days ago. It was beautiful when it arrived.

Now since it's arrival I have watered it once thoroughly and added a few drops each day. I also placed a few Osmocote fertilizer pellets into the soil the day it arrived and place it outside most of the time. Have brought it in during nights as temps still dipping at or just below 50° F.

I was inspecting it today and have noticed that a few of the little leaves are now going yellow mostly near middle of tree. Additionally some of the leaves are showing black around their edges mostly at top of tree. I touched one yellow leaf to see if it was stable and it fell off with minimal resistance.

It receives sun most of the morning and filtered sun in afternoon. By filtered I simply mean the sun is being hidden by a tall tree and a few small rays come through. I have moved the tree to a more shady spot today believing possibly the tree is receiving too much sun.

I misted it today at about 3PM but that may have been a mistake as it was in partial sun at time. No misting now until evening or early morning... Promise.

Attached is a picture of the tree 2 days after it's arrival.

What do I need to do to correct the yellowing./blackening of leaves?
Did I over water/fertilize it?
Will moving the tree daily cause it to stress?
What is minimum temperature the tree should be allowed to tolerate outside?

Attached Images

babyJade_med.jpg (70.8 KB, 51 views)

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John

Bonsai Guru... riiiiiight...
But I'm gettin' there... in about another 100 years I should be right around the bend from it.

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nsmar4211

No more water......period...until the oldest (biggest) leaves just barely start to wrinkle. Depending on the temps and humidity, that might take a week!

P. afra don't need to be misted, they're succulents and get by on little water.

Put it outside and leave it there, moving them changes the light levels and they stress and drop leaves. As long as it's not freezing outside they are fine. If it's going to freeze, then bring it in.

It sounds overwatered. Underwatering causes all the leaves to wrinkle and get thin and then dry out and fall off (hard to do). Overwatering is yellow and black leaves.

As for fertilizing, treat it like any other plant, use a water soluble fertilizer weekly during growing season, monthly during not. If you've got osmocote in the soil, you're good for 3 months with no fertilizing.

Congrats on the new tree! I've got several.....errr....hundred (mostly cuttings) myself, I like the p. afra because you can't kill it through neglect. You can kill it easily by overwatering it though. As for light levels, let it have sun. Shade will make it leggy and sparse. Your original spot sounds perfect!

If you use the search feature and do a search on Jades, you'll find a couple recent threads with some pictures on them. Welcome to bonsai......

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subnet_rx

Yeah, I have a couple of jades and they are so simple you almost forget them. It not having water actually makes the roots grow to try to find water. You can wait till the leaves start to wrinkle or just make sure the soil is fairly dry before watering. They also love a lot of light. They grow naturally in rocky slopes and dry riverbeds of Africa, so try to mimic that environment.

K3JAE

Thank you so much for the info. No water until leaves start to wrinkle. It is supposed to storm over next 48 hours locally so have placed the tree on my porch where no rain shall enter. Once the storms pass will place it back to its location (about 6-7 feet from where it is on porch).

No need to fertilize then until August. Great. After storms pass put him back in original location and just leave the little guy alone for about a week then check for water need. (makes calendar note).

MUCH appreciated both of you who responded!

__________________
John

Bonsai Guru... riiiiiight...
But I'm gettin' there... in about another 100 years I should be right around the bend from it.

nsmar4211

Oh, one important (kinda....) thing: what's the soil like that it is in? Little rocks? Or like regular potting soil? I've seen them planted in a really peat y mix that is heck to rewet and not so good for plants...

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subnet_rx

I'd check it every day or every other day for water. If you let it go too long, some of those wrinkled leaves will fall off. They also do not need a lot of fertilizer. I'd imagine keeping a tropical is going to much more complicated for you in PA than me in MS.

K3JAE

The Soil, honestly is unknown composition. The decorative rock was not moved/removed to peak at soil. Guess I should check that eh? It is in same container/soil when it arrived a week ago. I purchased it from BonsaiBoy in N.Y. ~shrugs~

__________________
John

Bonsai Guru... riiiiiight...
But I'm gettin' there... in about another 100 years I should be right around the bend from it.

nsmar4211

The yellow leaves probably will fall off. However, P. afra will recover if given a chance... and by given a chance it needs to be not watered for a while. The best growth I get is when the plants are allowed to dry to the slightly wrinkling point and then watered well. Buds pop out everywhere! I have plants that fell under benches that weren't watered for many weeks that were fine... and I live in Florida where it's a lot hotter than PA .

And you'd have a tough time over fertilizing a p. afra with osmocote . I don't mean plant it in straight osmocote, just follow the package directions. Jim Smith (a well known name in P. afra) told me that the plant would take everything you can throw at it and more, unlike most succulents and unlike regular jade. Regular jade you can over fertilize a lot quicker- ports are different. Some people do 1/4 strength water soluble fert. every time they water, Im too lazy to mix it up that often though LOL.

I've never lost a portulacaria plant bigger than two inches from underwatering it. I've killed several from too much water standing in the pot.

BTW, are there holes in the bottom of the pot?

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K3JAE

I'll check it daily. As for growing a tropical here, it will be an adventure.

__________________
John

Bonsai Guru... riiiiiight...
But I'm gettin' there... in about another 100 years I should be right around the bend from it.