Some Dwarf Jade Bonsai Pruning Guideance

[Chisai Ki]

Hello, all!

I have a dwarf jade bonsai that I am quite fond of. It has grown a LOT this summer and I am pruning back the last of some runaway growth. I have a question on what to do with some stems that did not grow new leaves or branches, as well as what to do with some large leaves...


See the triple dead-end stem? There are two leaves on each side of the three-pronged dead-end, but no new growth developed. This is an area where the tree needs more growth. How do I fix this? Do I cut the branch farther back?


See the large leaves in the center of the picture? Should those be removed?

Thank you for all of the help!

 

[JoeWilson]

For the triple dead end, I would wait and see what happens. Since there are leaves there, there's a good chance it will send out shoots sooner rather than later. You can cut that back, but you'll be setting it back, and it will likely be shaded by the other branches. Typically, shoots will form where there's a lot of light, so if you want to encourage it to grow from this spot, trim anything that overhangs it or shades it out. Those leaves or that branch immediately above it, for example.

You can remove the large leaves if you want. It looks like a healthy tree, and P. afra can handle complete defoliation. Which is to say, it probably won't notice if you take them off. You could go in and prune half the leaves - starting with the biggest ones, and it would probably put on a bunch of new growth.

Opinions differ on whether heavy pruning or leaving them alone encourages growth more effectively. I've tried both and they hum along either way, so I don't think either method is a bad choice or particularly risky.

 

[Chisai Ki]

I am getting the itch to just cut off the triple dead ends. I kind of do not want the large knuckle left there thinking it might look goofy down the road. If i do trim it off, the tree should sprout two new branches from the trimmed branch, correct?