Caption
Jade can make a great houseplant, especially in a classic ceramic or terracotta pot.
Image Credit:
Olga Miltsova/Shutterstock
Botanical Name
Crassula argentea, Crassula ovata
Sun Exposure
Soil pH
Bloom Time
Flower Color
Plant Type
Planting
How to Plant Jade Plants
- Choose a wide and sturdy pot with a moderate depth, as jade plants tend to grow top-heavy and fall over.
- Use soil that will drain thoroughly, as excessive moisture may promote fungal diseases like root rot. An all-purpose potting mix will work, though you will want to mix in additional perlite to improve drainage. A 2:1 ratio of potting mix to perlite is great. Alternatively, use a premade succulent or cacti potting mix.
- After planting a jade plant, don’t water it right away. Waiting anywhere from several days to a week before watering lets the roots settle and recover from any damage.
Photo by trambler58/Shutterstock.
How to Start a Jade Plant From a Leaf or a Stem Cutting
As a succulent, jade plants are very easy to start from single leaves or cuttings. A stem cutting is a great method when a branch of your jade plant happens to fall off. Just put that cutting in the soil, and you have a new baby plant or a gift plant! If you have time, however, you can propagate from a single leaf!
Propagate before the weather gets cool. And make sure you start with a well-established plant.
- For a stem cutting, ensure you’re using clean clippers or scissors to take your cutting, which must be 3 to 4 inches long. If you’re using a leaf, it must be the complete leaf, which includes the small pointy bit that breaks off from the stem.
- Once you have your leaf or cutting, allow it to sit for several days in a warm place; a callus will form over the cut area, helping to prevent rot and encourage rooting.
- Gather your pot and a well-draining potting mix. Use soil that is slightly moist but not wet.
- Lay the leaf on top of the soil horizontally, covering the cut end with some of the soil. If you have a stem cutting, place it upright in the soil (prop it up with a few small rocks or toothpicks if it won’t stand on its own).
- Place the pot in a warm place with bright, indirect light. Do not water.
- After a week or two, the leaf or cutting will start sending out roots. Give the plant a gentle poke or tug a week or so after that to see if it has rooted itself in place. If it hasn’t, wait a bit longer, testing it (gently!) every few days.
- Once the plant seems to be firmly rooted, water it deeply and carefully. Use something like a turkey baster to gently water the plant without disturbing the roots too much. Make sure that you don’t just get the surface layer of the soil wet, as you want to encourage the roots to grow downward for water, not toward the surface.
- Let the soil dry out between waterings and keep the plant out of intense direct sunlight until it is well established.
Growing
How to Care for Jade Plants
Lighting
- Jade plants should receive at least 6 hours of bright light each day. Young plants should be kept in bright, indirect sunlight; large, well-established jade plants can handle more direct sunlight.
- Kitchens and offices with south-facing windows are typically great spots with just enough light, as are western-facing windows.
- Jade plants that are kept in low light can become leggy and top-heavy, making them susceptible to damage if they fall over or become unable to support their own branches!
Temperature
- Jade plants grow best at room temperature (65° to 75°F / 18° to 24°C), but prefer slightly cooler temperatures at night and in the winter (down to 55°F / 13°C).
- Note: Jade plants are not frost tolerant, so if you keep yours outdoors during the summer, be sure to bring it inside once temperatures fall to around 50°F (10°C) in autumn.
- During winter, move jade plants away from cold windows and keep them out of drafty areas. If exposed to cold temps, jade plants may drop their leaves.
Watering
- Watering jade plants correctly is very important! Improper watering is the number one issue that most people experience with their jade plants.
- When the plant is actively growing in the spring and summer, it will require more water than at other times of the year. Water jade plants deeply (meaning that the soil gets sufficiently moistened throughout—not just at the surface), then wait until the soil has mostly dried out before you water it again. This means that you could end up watering it once a week or once a month—it depends entirely on how quickly the soil dries out in the environment where you keep your plant.
- The plant may go dormant in the fall and winter, causing it to slow or pause growth entirely. During this time, it won’t need much water. Water it less often than in the spring and summer, allowing the soil to dry out fully between waterings. Large, well-established jades may not need more than one or two waterings throughout their entire dormancy period.
- Try to avoid splashing water on the leaves while watering, as this can expose them to rot in a humid environment.
- Jade plants can be sensitive to salts in tap water, so water with filtered or distilled water if your tap water is not ideal.
- If the plant starts to drop its leaves, if the leaves look shriveled, or if brown spots appear on the leaves, it indicates that the plant needs MORE water.
- If leaves become squishy and waterlogged, the plant is getting TOO MUCH water.
Read more about how to water plants for healthy growth.
Fertilizing
- Jade plants don’t require high levels of nutrients and should be fed sparingly. Use a diluted mix of a standard liquid houseplant fertilizer or a fertilizer made for cacti and succulents.
If you prefer using your own fertilizer, you can use our homemade Organic Plant Fertilizer.
Repotting Jade Plants
- Jade plants don’t mind being root-bound in a small pot. In fact, keeping them root-bound will keep the jade smaller and more manageable.
- Repot young jade plants once every 2 to 3 years to encourage growth. With older jade, repot once every 4 to 5 years or as necessary.
- Transplant in the early spring, just before the growing season begins.
- After repotting, don’t water the plant for a week or so. Wait at least a month before fertilizing so as not to burn fresh roots accidentally.
Photo by Mauricio Acosta Rojas/Shutterstock.
Types
There are many types of jade plants available—from the standard, green-leafed jade to a number of variegated varieties. Here are a few exciting jades to keep an eye out for:
- ‘ET’s Fingers’ has tubular leaves with red tips. An oddity!
- ‘Hummel’s Sunset’ has beautiful yellow- and red-tipped leaves.
- ‘Tricolor’ has leaves variegated with white and cream.
More Like This
At what point is a jade plant not considered "young" anymore and can handle direct sunlight? Mine is a year and a half, and I want to move it out of the screened patio to the open patio so it gets more light -- but it would be a lot of direct afternoon sunlight. Is it too new for that still?
That is plenty old enough to handle more light! New plants that are less than a few months old or those that have been freshly planted should be kept out of direct sun for a bit so that their roots can settle in properly.
Your plant should be ready to move into more light, but you will want to do the move slowly. Going from shade to full sun will shock a plant and cause it to lose its leaves or worse. Perhaps move it onto the sunnier patio during a string of overcast days, or keep it on that patio for only a few hours a day, gradually increasing the amount over 10 days or so. Essentially, the plant needs time to acclimatize to its new environment. Also be sure to make sure to adjust your watering habits if the plant is getting more sun; the soil may dry out faster. But always test the soil before watering!
I have a jade that is maybe 10 yrs old. I have started 3 other plants from this one and gave them as gifts. But mine now is so big and can’t seem to hold its weight. All the branches hang down. For years I have tied them up to each other, and to a decorative arch. But it’s become too much weight for that. Others I see seem strong and upright. What can I do to make it stronger ?
Have the same issue as laurie
Hi Laurie,
I had the same problem with mine, the branches also started to hang down because it grew so fast. I started to prune it more frequently to make the main branches thicker and stronger, it works great! Pruning is very important if your plant grows quickly if I'm not mistaken.
Hope this helps
I have a giant Jade plant which is about 25 years old and 1.3m in height and extremely heavy. It flowered for the first time 3 years ago and has done so each year since. It is not not looking as good as it did and losing more leaves (drying out and dropping off) and getting a little bit leggy. I'm wondering if it needs a bigger pot and is root bound but at the same time I know they like a smallish pot. Watering is carefully regulated to ensure it is never wet. Does anyone know if I should re-pot it and if the legginess is just due to old age?
I have a 13 year old Jade which is about 2ft tall and very sturdy. It is loosing leaves and many leaves are being eaten. It has a few cobwebs on it and I have removed some very tiny spiders. But what is eating it and how can I stop it?
Is it on the ground or on the pot?
If it is on the pot, as my experience, I moved the pot to another spot, then I cut off the damaged leaves. It took a long time for many new ones to come. Meanwhile, make sure that it get enough water. As I have seen, some leaves were drying in summer because I didn't water them regularly. ( But don't worry, it won't die, even you leave it somewhere in the garden and forget it, it's still grow 🙂)
Eaten leaves caused by small snail, or slug (as happened in my garden), or maybe spiders, you can find out more on the internet.
Cheers,
Spider mites, perhaps?
Jade plants are the easiest plants to have. Upside, you can forget to water for months and they will survive. The down side is too much water and they will crash and burn. Best pot to put them in is a large mouth clay pot. Put the plant on one side of the pot and train it to grow to the other side. It helps to keep the plant from falling over. Make sure this is the pot you want to keep the jade in for many years cause jade does not like to be moved. If you put them outside, partial sun is needed cause jade leaves will scald. Bring them back in if the temps go into the 50's as jade cannot take cold. My jade is so old I don't remember when I got it. It has lost leaves only to have them replaced with a rosette of leaves around the branch where the leaves popped off. I spray a very weak solution on liquid fertilizer on it when it is in the house overwintering. Cleaning leaves with a weak vinegar solution once in a while helps it keep bugs and dirt off the plant. FYI...if you take the plant out of an overwatered pot before it keels over, let it dry for a week or two and then repot it in dry soil, you might be able to save it.
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