Bonsai Supplies

Pumice for soil mix cactus succulent bonsai

For sale is the pictured pumice which has been cleaned and floated in water to remove other rocks and soil. You get very pure pumice only. The pumice size is approximately 1/4 to 3/4 inch in diameter. Pumice will be sent in priority mail flat rate box.
I have found pumice to be superior to perlite and vermeculite which tend to break down (turn to powder) and float to the top of the soil with time.

THIS LISTING IS FOR 2 GALLONS WEIGHING APPROXIMATELY 8 POUNDS. Pumice completely fills a priority

Price: $ 15.99

Related Bonsai Soil Products

Bonsai trees are a great way to have a healthy thriving plant as well as exercise some of your creativity and one of the best plants to start with is the Baby Jade. A Succulent bonsai, this plant is sometimes called the Elephant Plant or the Small Leaf Jade and is native to South Africa. It is quite tolerant to under watering and is a good beginner plant for home or office.

Baby Jade is a rather new bonsai which develops quite quickly and, unlike other types of Bonsai, can go for long periods without water. It can grow to 3 or 4 meters in the wild and being a succulent, it stores it’s water is the trunk, branches and leaves.

This lovely plant is easy to care for and style and great to look at too! The young plant has green bark which turns reddish brown and then slate gray as it ages. It has fleshy round leaves that range from pale gray to blue-green to dark green which are complimented by reddish colored stems. It blooms with tiny star shaped pinkish purple flowers. The trunk and branches can be droopy and make lovely long cascades.

The Baby Jade Bonsai is a tropical plant the doesn’t do well in climates that get below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. If you live in a warm climate it will do well outdoors in full sunlight, but if you are in a colder area it is best to keep your Bonsai inside in the winter and Baby Jade will the fine as long as you provide it with enough light. Watering should be done regularly – water until the soil is moist and let the soil dry between waterings. Don’t add too much water so that there is a standing puddle in the pot.

Pruning and shaping your bonsai is part of the fun and you should be sure to let the soil dry before you cut off roots or heavy branches. After you have made any cuts, water sparingly until the cut heals over. If you want to stop a branch from growing longer, remove the terminal bud. To shape the tree, pinch the buds and branches that are growing where you don’t want them. Be sure to pinch gently with your fingers. Baby Jade is a fast grower and will need to be pinched quite frequently during the growing season. Use a 1mm aluminum wire to rotate branches and leaves.

You should repot your Baby Jade bonsai every 2 years. This is best done in the early spring. Befor repotting, dry the soil out thoroughly. After repotting, keep Baby Jade in a shady spot until you see some new growth and once you do start to water it again as usual.

Mini-Jade (Portulacaria afra) Bonsai Guide

Also known as the small leaf jade, portulacaria afra, are excellent bonsai for beginners and their ability to conform to most bonsai styles make them popular with enthusiasts as well. They are great for beginners because they grow very quickly, can be kept indoors, and can go a long time without needing water. This is because succulents store water in their stems and leaves. They also give clear signs when they need water which is helpful to those just starting out with bonsai growing.

Mini-Jade Characteristics

Young shoots of the portulacaria afra start out as green and may turn red depending on sun exposure. Later mature branches will develop a gray color with rough texture. The shape of the leaves can best be described as a circle crossed with a teardrop. They grow perpendicular to the branch.

Watering

One needs to be really careful about overwatering jade. I find they can get root rot, especially in winter, very easy if overwatered. Often times this will first manifest itself in leaf or entire branch drop. One of the good things about them is they give you clear signs about when they actually need to be watered. Their leaves will begin to flatten and then wrinkle. I’ve found that when growing indoors waiting for the signs of this are safest to prevent these kind of issues. If you plant your mini-jade in a very fast draining bonsai soil mix in a good amount of sun or indoors on a bright windowsill this is less of a problem.

Light Requirements

Portulacaria afra can be grown both indoors and outdoors. If grown indoors they like being close to a natural light source. Placement near an open window usually works best. If this is not possible then keeping them in a room that has bright fluorescent lights usually works as well. One just needs to be concerned with overwatering more in those situations. When kept outdoors they tend to grow very fast in full sun.

Temperature

As they are a tropical succulent, mini-jade do best in USDA zones 10-11, but will also grow in most areas where they won’t be exposed to temperatures below 50 degrees F.

Training

It is very hard to train a small leaf jade by wiring branches. Their branches tend to be very brittle and might snap under the pressure. Pruning in the direction of preferred growth and pinching is more effective. Do not prune immediately after watering. Cuts flat with the bark are reported to heal with less scarring than concave, but I’ve not noticed any horrible scars when using a concave pruner myself.

The branches will naturally droop from the weight of the water they store in there leaves. Many people take advantage of this characteristic by training them into cascade styles.

Jades can be propagated by cuttings from pruned branches.

Soil

Jade will do well in most bonsai soil mixes, but prefer those that are very well draining. Your soil mix should have less organic materials and no peat. Their roots will rot easily if left wet for long periods of time.

Portulacaria afra Pests and Problems

Scale will wreak havoc on a jade. Root rot can also develop when the tree is watered too frequently with not enough light. The tree will show stress from both scale and root rot by dropping leaves and branches.

Learn more at http://www.mellobonsai.com/care/Mini-jade-bonsai.aspx