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Old 20-10-2008, 04:29 AM
kris anthem um kris anthem um is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2008
Posts: 58
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohmster View Post
Hello everyone. My mom received as a gift a beautiful Jade Bonsai tree
when I bought my car. The fellow was not all that honest about the Honda
Civic, all dash lights were burned out, including the check engine light
so many months later and money and repairs, the car still goes. But, my
mom's once beautiful and shaped Bonsai tree has gone straight to hell. I
tried to contact the car salesman, his number is disconnected, no
surprise there.

As a boy, I had an interest in Bonsai trees and tried to grow one,
without much success but I know that there is root pruning, limb pruning,
and wire shaping involved, even the car salesman had several trees with
copper wire wrapped around some of the branches. What do I do with this
Jade tree that is getting out of hand? How to teach mom what to do when I
don't know myself?

A picture is worth a thousand words so I made a small photo gallery of
pictures of the plant, the last two on the right show the tree when we
first got it and it looked good. The other 5 pictures from the left show
the tree as it is now, in desperate need of attention. Could someone,
anyone, please please show us what to do with this plant and bring it
back to it's former Bonsai day glory again? I think we have to put this
thing on a table, sit close to it, then what? Dump it out of pot and trim
root ball? How? Trim out of control branches, trim them back how far? Do
I need to wrap wire on the branches, if so where and how much and what
kind?

Pictures help, here are the pictures. Please be patient, they are on my
cable modem computer at my home and should not be that slow to load the
pictures. All pictures are click-able to show a larger size.
http://www.ohmster.com/~ohmster/bonsai/

How can I save this wonderful Jade for my mom or is it too far gone
already?

Thank you so much,
Paul and Mom
g_margie a/t/ bellsouth dot net
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~Ohmster | ohmster59 /a/t/ gmail dot com
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hi the main thing here is, do not panic the jade tree is a tough plant. the basic rule is take off the roots what you take off the folliage. sitting the plant on a table and having a good look is the best way to start. prune any dead/diseased branches first. then prune the rest to any shape you like ( ball shape?)now it is time to prune the roots( this should occur every other year or when plant stops producing new growth( jade plants handle being potbound very well ) so perhaps the poor health of your plant could be linked with the positioning of the plant or watering/feeding schedules. my jade thrives in a sheltered semi shaded area it is watered once daily and fed monthly with a pinch of blood and bone. obviously i have hardly scratched the surface on what u need to know.. i would suggest buying your mum a bonsai 4 beginners book...oh and the easiest of all to grow is the ficus or fig tree. cheers and god bless