[Jade] Neophyte needs help for mom desperately!
 

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
--
~Ohmster | ohmster59 /a/t/ gmail dot com
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[Jade] Neophyte needs help for mom desperately!
 

It is probably too late.

First, remove the rocks. They are probably glued on and no water is
getting to the dirt and the plant.

Second, until you get new growth, don't do ANYTHING except water when
the dirt is dry. Use a chop stick and stick it in the dirt. If it
comes out dry - then water until water comes out of the bottom of the
pot. Wait 30 minutes and water again until the water comes out of the
bottom of the pot -- do not water again, until the soil is dry. Give
it lots of light. Do nothing else until you get it growing again, if
that is possible.

Then use Google and study all of the Bonsi sites you can find. It
started as a beautiful Bonsai and today it is barely alive, if it is
alive.

If it does start to put out new growth - then post again.

Hal

[Jade] Neophyte needs help for mom desperately!
 

Hal wrote in
:

It is probably too late.

First, remove the rocks. They are probably glued on and no water is
getting to the dirt and the plant.

Second, until you get new growth, don't do ANYTHING except water when
the dirt is dry. Use a chop stick and stick it in the dirt. If it
comes out dry - then water until water comes out of the bottom of the
pot. Wait 30 minutes and water again until the water comes out of the
bottom of the pot -- do not water again, until the soil is dry. Give
it lots of light. Do nothing else until you get it growing again, if
that is possible.

Then use Google and study all of the Bonsi sites you can find. It
started as a beautiful Bonsai and today it is barely alive, if it is
alive.

If it does start to put out new growth - then post again.

Hal

Thank you Hal for your help but the plant is FAR from dead, it is way TOO
live I think. Did you see the pictures of the plant here?
http://www.ohmster.com/~ohmster/bonsai/

I reduced the size of the shots to 640x480 but can post the larger
pictures if it helps. Mom is an avid plant enthusiast and the soil is not
dry and the rocks are not glued down. The plant is in South Florida, gets
plenty of natural light and watered regularly. We are in Bonsai zone 10a,
find zones he
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html?

The problem is that neither one of us knows how to prune the plant or the
roots. That is the kind of help I need and if and when to wire up the
branches to shape them. The two pictures on the left of my bonsai page
show the plant when we first got it, all nicely shaped. The 5 pictures
from the left show the plant today.

So it is putting out new growth, WAY too much of it and I am posting back
here again. Somebody help please with pruning instructions for Jade
Bonsai trees, roots, leaves, and limbs need pruning. I just don't want to
kill the plant and there must be a method to this pruning that is not
harmful to the plant. Like how much to do at a time, how to trim roots,
when to trim limbs and how much, how often, etc. Any links or directions
would be appreciated. Thank you.

Sincerely,
--
~Ohmster | ohmster59 /a/t/ gmail dot com
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(That is Message Body, not Subject!)
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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

Neophyte needs help for mom desperately!
 

On Oct 19, 7:29*pm, kris anthem um kris.anthem.um.
wrote:
Ohmster;819390 Wrote:





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
--
~Ohmster | ohmster59 /a/t/ gmail dot com
Put "messageforohmster" in message body
(That is Message Body, not Subject!)
to pass my spam filter.

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

--
kris anthem um- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I agree with this advice, and will only add that it might not be a
great idea to wire it. I believe jades tend to break if you bend them.