portulacaria afra - SPEKBOOM - 2 1/2 year progression

acquired a tiny cutting jan 2012





sept 2013:
from this pot



to this one



and may 2014



and aug 2014
in pot by dasu

Wow Kevin

That is great my friend. It suits the pot sooo well.

Without you knowing, you actually styled it true to form...the way they grow in nature. There is always a branch, normally the heaviest that bends down towards the ground, which later forms an new tree.

Tell me did you snap any branches when you wired and bent them?

Love and Light

THANK YOU ANDRE !

yes i believe that the branch i am holding in the one picture met such a fate...

and while i learn valuable lessons, the branch is no real loss as it became another tree...
i have since learned a bit more about wiring and to treat these with gentle manipulations...
not unlike the way we treat the fairer gender  

but now it misses the warm weather, as do i...

the view out my office window this morning:  

Andre Beaurain wrote: Without you knowing, you actually styled it true to form...the way they grow in nature.  There is always a branch, normally the heaviest that bends down towards the ground, which later forms an new tree.

and i also thank you for this as it will help me in future decisions on my other spekboom

as always, love and light back to you too.

Kevin, dude we need to have a converSATION! I want to know how you achieved such fast growth. Is it the 'mist' like Andre used in his award winning landscape? ("Don't cut on me, bro- go get me a big mac!") Really nice styling, too. Thought the pot looked familiar- love it, and used to own one just like it from DaSu until the wind knocked it off its perch. Smashola! Really, want to talk about growing the Portulacaria.

Andre, do you mean that a branch hangs down and takes root? If so, can there be multiple plants all connected and genetically identical?

thanks david !

heres a high-koo

mist-less growing
yields vigor
while misted styling
reaches for ground

and you have my personal email so shoot me a line
also let me know about that invitation and info i sent you

if you end up as "one of us" i would have no problem mailing you a cutting...



of the spekboom, of course.

Precarious wrote: Really, want to talk about growing the Portulacaria.

Andre, do you mean that a branch hangs down and takes root?  If so, can there be multiple plants all connected and genetically identical?

Yes absolutely..  There is a name for such a"phenomenon "  but that braincell left me.



The plants encircled are all from one plant, so in other words clones.  Very difficult to draw with mouse... hi hihi



This bush is already in the second stage of developement.  The apical branches are actually the bottom branches form the original apex that now thouches the ground, one can see the small trees coming up allround the bush..



I will write a tutorial on the Spekboom and Jade tree one day....

Love and Light

Fascinating!  Now I've learned a new word- spekboomveld.

Hi Kevin,

It is not a bad job at all. Congratulations.

Budi

!!!!!!!!!

Budi S. commented on my tree !!!

sorry to act like a blushing school girl
but many sincere thanks Budi !!!

I have seen Kevin's trees in person, and will say the photos don't do them justice. They are some very nice, very natural looking trees. Not easy to do with such young material. Very nice and very well done.

THANKS LEO !

Nice plant and potting! I have several going - not yet mature. I also have the variegated version in a semi cascade style still developing. I know there is an antipathy towards variegated bonsai, but where does this fit in the wild? Does it grow naturally with the standard green leaved plant?
It certainly grows just as easily from cuttings and leaves. I like to know where my plants originate. Cheers. Rick.

WoW that is a beautiful little spekboom. Amazing growth you got in such a short time. Well done it looks very natural...
I left SA 10yrs ago but cant forget all those special trees. I cant stop myself from wanting to style everything in an African style. I have a spekboom that i'm styling flat/ umbrella (will see). Its about 15yrs old. 3 inch by 3ft.
Got it in a pot in the ground to ramify. It grows veeeery slow here in NZ

Freddie...

Jeay got the pics sorted    

Variegated bonsai, to me, appear to show leaves partially in shade, partially in sun. It provides an extra contrast. For what it's worth.

Nice trees all.

fredman - it will be interesting to see how yours progresses along its way...
is it a pierneef (sp?) style that you are aiming for ?

if you would like to start a separate thread for your tree, i am sure that some folks (like andre) can offer some suggestions...
and even thogh i am new-ish to this, i too would like to offer a couple,
but would prefer to do so on a new thread and allow this one to fade away...

I've posted it here especially for you Kevin. I've seen on other threads that you like Spekbooms to.
I haven't decided on a style yet. For now I just let it grow out some. It will either be flat or umbrella....
Have you tasted it yet? Chop a few leaves into the salad and see what you think...

Freddie

thats what andre said but i didnt know if he was serious...

was he ?
are you ?
if so, i will...

but if i end up dead i will haunt you and andre.

Its very true. Here is some interesting  info about it. Down the bottom end is talk about its culinary use. The second half is in English. I read it a while ago and have since ate it in salad a few times. Chop it in strips and add it to a green salad.  
Its eaten by lactating Mothers but I just do it for the fun

http://www.spekboomfoundation.co.za/about.html

Rick36 wrote:Nice plant and potting! I have several going - not yet mature. I also have the variegated version in a semi cascade style still developing. I know there is an antipathy towards variegated bonsai, but where does this fit in the wild? Does it grow naturally with the standard green leaved plant?
It certainly grows just as easily from cuttings and leaves.  I like to know where my plants originate. Cheers. Rick.

Dear Rick

Sorry I missed this question.

The Karoo Desert National Botanical Park near Worchester, Western Cape, experimented with the Spekboom for years, They hybridized the smaller creeping forms and two variegated forms. 'Foliis variegtus' and 'Medio Picta'. They also produced a yellow form called 'Aurea', (but one does get a yellower form in Garcia Pass in Riversdale), The prostate form is called 'Prostrata'....clever.... hi hihi hi

So Im sure your plant originates form There.

Love and Light

Thanks for that , Andre. I can add it to my dossier for publication posthumously! Until then I'll steer well clear of your "prostrata" and hope it doesn't get anywhere near mine! Cheers. Rick.

From that tiny cutting?! Whoa! Magnifique!  

Sorry to butt in.. But I don't think its worth making a dedicated post to my recent mini jade adventure

I bought a mall bonsai... (I shouldn't be doing this anymore right?) LOL  
but I saw something big in this little guy...   I will probably grow it in the office... or maybe not I might just release my work stress too much on him... LOL    I transplanted it to one of my nicer pots..

And as for  the mall bonsai pot (blue green), I made use of an abandoned office plant/s  in a bottle, the aerial plant has departed but there were long stalks of Mini Jade Rainbow so I made something for my mom .. hope it will look like a more proper twin trunk by Decemeber...
And made two more for myself, a cascade using Salvation Army find Japanese tea cup  and a literati which hopefully could be my office plant sooner.  

Hope they all establish.. I followed planting guides online..
1) Let them try out in their current pots
2) Take them out and continue drying out of the soil for two days , in the shade.
3) Plant them in new pots and support well.  
4) Don't water for few days
5) Gathered all of them in one tray

The ones that I made myself from the abandoned mini jade rainbow are looking dried and wrinkled.  Do I water now? Do I put a hydration tray under all them?

i follow none of those rules when doing cuttings and repotting...

when repotting, i just repot like normal and water immediately with superthrive (as jim shakes his fist at me from above)

when doing cuttings, i just whack it off, hit it with rooting hormone, stick it in some dirt and water it with superthrive...

works well everytime and that has been ALOT of times (especially with the cuttings)

Superthrive?  Interesting... Can this be used for other of my trees?  I hope its available here in Toronto.

Could you guys recommend a good rooting hormone?  

Also, for the cascade I tried making, it is now very thin where I made the 180 degrees bend... Any advice on how to heal this spot? I am worried it will just break off by the plant drying out.  Structurally, it is supported by another object for now.

Thanks for the advices again

Andre Beaurain wrote:

Precarious wrote: Really, want to talk about growing the Portulacaria.

Andre, do you mean that a branch hangs down and takes root?  If so, can there be multiple plants all connected and genetically identical?

Yes absolutely..  There is a name for such a"phenomenon "  but that braincell left me.



The plants encircled are all from one plant, so in other words clones.  Very difficult to draw with mouse... hi hihi



This bush is already in the second stage of developement.  The apical branches are actually the bottom branches form the original apex that now thouches the ground, one can see the small trees coming up allround the bush..



I will write a tutorial on the Spekboom and Jade tree one day....

Love and Light

Really nice work Snake on this bonsai... Even If I don't know how Spekboom grows and shapes itself in the wild, something about your work feels right.  

I am now doubting the styling of my favorite mini jade below.  I am well invested in it and planted it in one of my good pots, thinking that it will stay there forever and I will just snip to shape it, maybe some light wiring.    I thought of keeping it cute and simple like a little deciduous broom, but now I feel I will regret that decision because it's pretend.

I have a naturalistic lava rock?  looking rectangular pot that I still have no plans for.  Maybe I should put it on this one now, slanting? Still upright? on a rock? With one more as a twin trunk?  

Also, since I am redoing this as early as next week, is there a technique for it to develop nice big well spread nebari?  I think I've read somewhere last year that you chop off something at the base... Maybe just wishful thinking ? LOL

If you guys could share some photos or links to the natural forms of spekboom in the wild, I might just find the right direction for my little guy.  Merci!