Hi, I have a Jade bonsai and it is growing too big. I have in a sunny window and it is beautiful and green, but it's kind of big for a bonsai. I am afraid to prune it as I think it's advisable to prune in spring or summer. I live in New Jersey and we are in the heart of winter right now.Does anyone have any advise?

Growing too big is not really a problem in the development phase of bonsai. The bigger tree, the bigger increase in trunk size each year.

Jades can be pruned any time of the year. The big questions is what you have, what you want it to be in the future and how long you want it to take. Without knowing your vision for the tree and a picture it is not possible to give any targeted advices.

Hi and thank you for responding to me. I am sending a pic.

Hi,
I am attaching photo of my jade bonsai. Please let me know if it is too big and should be trimmed.

How big do you want it to be?

For that size pot, I think it is too tall. On the other hand trunk is quite small still and jades do not reduce leaf size all that good. I would put the plant in a bigger pot, let grow wild until decent size trunk. Then trim back for a final design somewere in the range of 30-50 cm high. A few years work on ramification and after that I would consider it ready for bonsai pot again.

But that is just me. What do you want the tree to be? You are the artist and it is your tree.

Btw....is that plant potted in sphagnum? Not good, jades are desert plants and hates constant wet substrate.

Thank you for answering me. I do not know what the it is potted in as it was given to me as a gift. I am going to follow your advice and put it in a bigger pot and keep it as a jade plant and not as a bonsai at all.

do both, great thing with jades (or any succulent) is they are super easy to root cutting from. next time you cut a pieceoff just stick it in the soil and in a month or so it will have rooted in. that way have your cake and eat it too. I had one dwarf jade and just by trimming it i have 32 now. you can afford to learn experiment with that many.

That is a great advice. I have one in bonsai pot and 20 or so from different varieties growing in big pots for the future.

Excuse me, but your post implies that all succulents can be grown from cuttings. That is far from true. There are a lot of species that cannot. However most non-cactus succulents sold in ordinary garden centers can, including Jades.

apologies, yes my advice was a tad gun ho. but absolutely multiply the jades where you can.

Just in case you want to try to propagate, here are some routes: