How to prune Jade Plant to make it look good (Pictures of Jade Plant Pruning)

Pruning and shaping of Jade Leaves from the seedling stage

The Jade Plant grows relatively fast and is easy to branch. Generally, old stumps with better shape control are the result of long-term care, continuous pruning, and shaping.

If you let it grow naturally, it will only continue to grow taller due to the apical dominance of the plant itself, and will not naturally grow into a better shape.

Therefore, when the branches and trunks are still relatively soft during the seedling stage, they should be pinched and topped in time to maintain a good plant shape through human intervention.

If you wait until the branches have become woody before pruning, not only will the wounds be large and the pruning marks too obvious, but it will also be difficult to shape.

How to shape and prune the Jade Plant

During the seedling stage, the main tasks are pinching and topping, which are mainly to break the apical dominance, promote branching, and make it grow as parallel as possible.

The small old stump period is a critical period for pruning and shaping. At this time, not only have the branches become semi-lignified but also have grown a basic outline.

You can consider the general pruning direction based on the original plant shape and your own aesthetic taste. At this stage, you can prune out a basic framework, such as cliff piles, umbrella-shaped, spherical shapes, which are relatively simple to learn and more suitable for novices.

Among them, cliff piles need to be coiled and pulled with soft aluminum wire to make them grow in a biased manner and appear flowing. The umbrella type and spherical type focus on pruning.

   After the basic shape is taken, you only need to prune off the newly grown side buds at the lower end of the branches, as well as the overgrown branches, thin branches and overly dense branches on the leaf crown that are unsightly.

The old Jade Plant stump that is kept under control belongs to the category of bonsai. When repotting, it is advisable to use red pottery, coarse pottery and other flower pots with good air permeability, and match them with some rocks, mosses, etc. for decoration, which can better highlight the charm of the bonsai.

In the old stage, the Jade Plant has basically taken shape, the branches are becoming more and more woody, the toughness is decreasing, and the growth rate is also slowing down. It is not suitable for large-scale pruning and shaping to avoid breaking the trunk and branches. Just maintain the original shape and continue to control and maintain it.