Old thick 5" trunk Crassula Jade help shape into tree 20+ year old 4 feet tall

[dwhawk]

Hi all,

I just acquired this 20+ year-old Crassula Ovata Jade plant. Its biggest trunk is 5" across and is over 4 feet tall. I know this species isn't known for bonsai, but I'm hoping I can still give it a tree-like form with some hard pruning/whacking. You can see a 4" potted Portulacaria afra on the ground for reference. Unfortunately, it seems like the main leader grew a codominant branch next to it in a very similar thickness.

I'm new to shaping and working with something of this size, and hoping to get some advice from those more experienced. Is it not worth trying to turn this into a tree look? Which branches would you cut at this point? Would you try for a single-trunk or twin-trunk look? I've begun cutting some obvious branches and will have fun propagating them as they are quite thick.

Thanks for any advice. Cheers.

 

[leatherback]

Why not just enjoy the plant as it is?

 

[Tums]

I was thinking it looks good as a clump.

 

[Michael P]

I agree, especially in the first photo. It is already in "a tree look", much more than most old Crassula. If you want to give it "a bonsai look", try shortening the branches and bringing the foliage down and closer to the trunks. Either way it is a good looking plant.

 

[dwhawk]

I agree, especially in the first photo. It is already in "a tree look", much more than most old Crassula. If you want to give it "a bonsai look", try shortening the branches and bringing the foliage down and closer to the trunks. Either way it is a good looking plant.

How far down would you bring the branches? Like something like these orange lines in this picture or higher up? Also, would you take this branch off with the red line to create a more flat front, and not have that branch be coming forward?

Why not just enjoy the plant as it is?

Honestly, I would like it to be smaller for my space, so was hoping to not have it be as bushy. I also generally prefer a tree look over a bush, and was hoping I might be able to accomplish something like that with this.

 

[Esolin]

It depends on the look you want. If you want sumo, cut it near the red line or a touch higher. If you want only a slight smaller tree, cut at the orange marks. In my experience they tend to sprout as high as you let them, so don't expect much backbudding any lower than the knuckle below where you cut. That's where they tend to resprout from.

 

[Michael P]

I'm not a jade expert but I understand why you want it smaller--it probably weighs a ton. There are several discussions where people have pruned large Crassula to accomplish what you want to do. Try a search. A first step would be to shorten to the orange lines then let the foliage regrow. If it doesn't look tree-like enough after that, consider completely removing some of the trunks.

 

[Weta]

I made a mess of my biggest this year that I had planted in ground
One cut to close to the trunk that rotted back, late summer rain didn't help.