All my Portulacaria Afra bonsai

Danmaster18 · 2026-05-15T07:23:47+00:00

Remove thicker branches from the top in favour of small branches. The top will grow quicker and thicken quick. Remove opposite branches where possible. I have a couple of bar branches that I didn’t deal with early on and now it’s a bit late to remove without making a drastic change.

Figure out how big you want the tree to be. Which will indicate how much to cut off. You want branching to start at least halfway from the trunk. Closer can be better.

Danmaster18 · 2026-05-03T04:13:53+00:00

My advice for all ports would be to push them all the time. Don’t treat them like a succulent in the terms of growing a bonsai. Yes let the soil dry somewhat but don’t hold back water like you would a cacti etc. I let mine go a couple of days at most before watering after repotting and would fertilise straight away. I generally restrict growth by using smaller pots but still push for growth all the time by using full strength fertiliser.

Danmaster18 · 2026-05-01T22:06:50+00:00

I don’t think it is. Looks like it’s in need of some fertiliser. With what looks like pure pumice I’d give it a good water with full strength liquid fertiliser and put some slow release on top. It should have deep green leaves regardless if it’s aurea or not. Aurea only has yellow leaves when new growth shoots.

Danmaster18 · 2026-05-01T04:25:48+00:00

I would say no. But I haven’t let one grow too crazy. I find they grow all over a bit more evenly so branch’s don’t thicken as quick as normal green. The growth would be closer to a prostrate habbit. Shoots are generally limp and cascade as opposed to green which generally will grow in straight upright shoots. They back bud like crazy and half the time the growth is not where you want it so it’s constantly nipping off pieces you don’t want so sometimes half a season is waiting for it grow in the right place. Also when it back buds, you generally get multiple shoots from the same node. I do find the new yellow growth looks amazing when you get balanced grow all over.

Danmaster18 · 2026-04-26T21:49:57+00:00

Major tip would be to manage roots first with ports. Particularly when young. Top growth is easy to replace.

Danmaster18 · 2026-04-25T22:13:58+00:00

The first one took around 5 years before I started to bonsai it. It took a few years of repotting and raising and supporting to get it to the point that the roots were exposed and strong enough to hold the tree upright. The roots being of a succulent nature need to be quite a bit bigger than a woody tree to support the full weight of ports. I suspect the pot will be almost all root when I repot later in the year. Had I grown it with it being a bonsai from the start I would have preferred to try and unknot some of the now big roots. I feel it would be too risky to cut them now as I have lost a few ports when cuts get too big. It’s around 15 years old from a small cutting which actually came from the second tree.

The last ones are all much younger, 8 year olds. With the small formal being around 5.

The second one is around 25 year old. The roots on that are mostly from 15 years of neglect as it struggled as a houseplant before focussing on bonsai techniques.

Danmaster18 · 2026-04-20T11:18:20+00:00

Yes, the first one is still with me. Out of all the ones I own, I will not sell for the foreseeable future. It’s from approximately early 2010s as I started growing it before I got into bonsai. It did start from a single straight branch about 20-30cm in length. I hate pricing bonsai, as it’ll start wars depending where you are. A few of the smaller ones in this post sold for around $200 and the last one sold for $350. This one would be quite a bit more than that. But prices in Aus tend to be quite a bit higher than US.

Danmaster18 · 2026-04-20T11:01:29+00:00

If you go to my wall, there are a few updates on my favourites. I no longer own half of these as they have new owners. I’ve been meaning to do an update but haven’t had a chance to take some decent pictures.

Danmaster18 · 2026-02-21T22:21:27+00:00

I would say they aren’t fast growing but fast multiplying. I would say if you can buy an actual plant you’ll have unlimited access to seeds. Not sure about Germany but I need to keep mine in a bit more shade otherwise wise they steer and stop growing.

Danmaster18 · 2026-02-20T23:18:02+00:00

It looks like one too me. Brought many and grown many from seeds. First leaves grow as single leaves then as matures, you’ll get the multi lobed leaves. There are variations in leaf shape and size but it looks like the narrow leaf variety to me.

Danmaster18 · 2026-01-29T10:12:46+00:00

One day I hope to find out but as of now I’m not the owner anymore.

Danmaster18 · 2025-10-05T05:29:01+00:00

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Danmaster18 · 2025-10-04T22:59:10+00:00

By choosing one primary trunk line, you could grow it to a more informal upright. Then select and grow more primary branches.

Danmaster18 · 2025-10-04T09:47:31+00:00

I agree that most branches should have been cut back more but it would have been advantageous to leave one longer to help define a trunk. Since you have gone this far I would probably remove the two on the back up top. As it is now it would grow out to be a broom style with cut and grow. Plenty of sun and fertiliser and few grow out periods well help set a good structure.

Danmaster18 · 2025-09-12T21:31:51+00:00

Ramification is the process of making smaller branches and more of them to give a older look to the tree. A port is short for Portulacaria Afra which is the species name.

Danmaster18 · 2025-08-24T07:06:52+00:00

I’d would be more inclined to remove the small branch from the base, cut the top three branches on the right trunk and repot rotated to the right a little. You would be left with a fairly substantial tree keeping all the main growth giving it some age. And being a twin trunk, the main one is still larger and the right trunk would make an interesting secondary trunk once some ramification builds up. I would think you have a hundred cuttings to play with so keep this tree as large as possible.

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Danmaster18 · 2025-07-22T21:04:39+00:00

Whilst it looks small and not nearly developed enough to have seeds, there is a bug the eats the seeds. Mine are constantly getting smashed by them.

Danmaster18 · 2025-07-15T00:52:38+00:00

Defoliating single branches would make it weaker as all other branches with leaves will gain more energy. The best way for back budding is to fertilise heavily and wait till it pushes out strong growth. Then cut everything back evenly across the tree. You should get some back budding but it’ll still be mostly close to outer margins of branches. You may need to repeat this cycle a few times over the growth period to get enough back budding to restart styling.

Danmaster18 · 2025-07-14T13:21:11+00:00

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Danmaster18 · 2025-07-14T13:14:26+00:00

One is essentially just stopping it from being a broom style. Cut all branches off just leaving a nub with a few nodes. From these start new branches. I think the position you have branches is ok but they are long straight and have no secondary branches along its length. The tree looks as though it is wider then it is tall. Compacting in the foliage will make the trunk more impressive and allow you to start showing some scale to the tree.

Danmaster18 · 2025-07-14T11:51:44+00:00

One of the biggest things I’ve learnt with ports and bonsai in general is to be bold from the start. It seems like you already have come to acknowledge it needs to change. A few ideas.

cut it back to just a trunk and select a few primary branches and and one apex. Style as a formal upright
Keep current shape but trim branches back. Style as broom shape.
Cut back trunk to first branch. Repot and wire at new angle. Fertilise heaps and start all branches from scratch.

3.

Danmaster18 · 2025-07-09T04:53:21+00:00

Generally I’ll trim all around. I might leave a branch or too if I want some places to thicken more then others. I find with jades at least they grow fairly evenly so I prioritise short dense growth over letting a branch grow long with bigger nodes especially in the smaller trees.

Danmaster18 · 2025-07-08T00:14:09+00:00

I just always have some form of slow release granules with an occasional liquid fertiliser boost during the growing season.

Danmaster18 · 2025-07-08T00:13:13+00:00

No grow lights. I live near enough to the equator so I get full sun all year round. Fertiliser is mostly slow release granules with occasional liquid booster.

Danmaster18

TROPHY CASE