Corkbark Portulacaria Afra #1

Corkbark Portulacaria Afra #1

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Progression Photos:

I found this guy abandoned at a wholesale nursery in a 1 gallon pot for $10, jealous I know. I noticed the cork bark on it and grabbed it immediately. Here are a couple of photos of the trunk from different angles:img_4501img_4498

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This is the hollow that is most likely going to be the front of the tree. It will make a great trunk for a bonsai tree regardless of what I choose to be the front, but I wanted to accentuate that hollow and the other lower branch that comes off of it.

As Portulacaria Afra are known for, they can be propagated extremely by cutting branches off and letting them root before watering them. I knew that I could be pretty extreme with the initial repot, especially if I left a lot of foliage.
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All of the downward growing roots were cut off leaving a small amount of fine roots.
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I then left this tree in shade outside and didn’t prune any branches during the process of the repot. I’m using the photosynthetic ability of the leaves to serve as a reservoir while it establishes roots, and as a way to help it establish quicker.