Caption
Jade can make a great houseplant, especially in a classic ceramic or terracotta pot.
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
Tall and skinny stems are typically a symptom of insufficient lighting. Your jade plant may not be getting enough light, or the light it does get is not intense enough. Try moving the plant to a location where it will get at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight. To avoid having your plant grow lopsided, rotate its pot every few weeks.
Hi, Shari: You have a number of options here, but it sounds like one of them should be a little pruning. We assume that you have been turning this plant and that the unbalance isn't simply the result of sunlight differential. As far as keeping it upright goes, yes, you can stake it. And/or, you can do what we have been known to, which is put a brick or rock on the light side of the pot. For pruning, look at the plant as a whole. Never take off more than 25% at a time (every 4-6 months), if necessary. You don't have to take off that much. Don't get radical. When you do prune, do so right above a leaf node (out of which leaves are growing). Whatever is still above the leaf node will die, and then more robust growth will restart from it. In this case, you might consider counterweighting or staking and at the same time pruning the "weak" side of the tree with the idea of encouraging it to eventually even out. Thanks for asking, and good luck!
Hi Laurie,
Unfortunately, there isn't a way to prevent mealybugs from infesting a plant, only managing or dealing with them once they are there. However, mealybugs are held in check somewhat by populations of beneficial predator insects outdoors, so there is less of a chance when your plants are outside. If you do see mealybugs, the best way to treat your jade plants is to directly dab the bugs with a cotton swap soaked in a diluted 70 percent isopropyl alcohol to 30 percent water solution. If there is a larger infestation, spray with a spray bottle containing a solution of 10 to 25 percent isopropyl.
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