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.
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Comments
I have had my jade plant for almost 4 years now. It looks really healthy, but its larger stems seem to not be able to support themselves and hang down. They are large stems and have lots of leaves on them, so I was wondering if I am suppose to support them somehow or if it is not getting enough water? If I am suppose to be supporting it, I was wondering how I should do that?
I have a jade that has a 2/12 trunk about 1/12 ft. Tall. A lot of leaves have drop off and has it looking naked, so should I cut some of the trunk and replant them or should wait until summer and leave it in the sun and hope the leaves to come back.
The leaves will not regrow from the places they were before. Many larger jade plants naturally look a little "naked" due to their thick, leafless trunks and green canopies, so we would recommend embracing the somewhat naked look and letting new leaves grow from the top of the plant or its branches.
Cutting the main trunk is risky, as there's no guarantee the plant will survive. However, if the plant has multiple branches or trunks, then you could try cutting one off and replanting it in order to start a new plant.
Hi,
Recently my jade plant started loosing its leaves and the main stem just fell out of the soil when I touched it - the roots were gone like somebody ripped it out even though it was standing in the same corner for months where nobody touched it. The remaining leaves still look healthy though. Is there a way to save it?
My Jade has white sticky mold that is growing like crazy. What do I do? Thanks for your help.
I have about a dozen cuttings I've transplanted from a mature jade plant. All are healthy and have strong roots, but they are growing more like vines than "trees" - long, thin green trunks with single leaves. How do I prune /trim/ train the plants to branch out? Should I simply pinch back the firs few leaves at the top of the stems?
my jade plant has started to get top heavy, what is the best thing or way to stake it that won't hurt the plant? thank you
I have a jade that developed a small, dark growth that looked like a tiny artichoke on one of its leaves. I went on travel and the plant lost some leaves, including the one with the growth, while I was gone. The plant is healthy and spent the summer outside. Any ideas what this growth was? It was about the size of the eraser on a new pencil. I can't find any info on what it could have been.
The description doesn't ring any bells, unfortunately. Could it have been an insect? Jades form flower stalks at the end of their branches, rather than on the leaves themselves, so it sounds like it wouldn't have been that.
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No, it's not necessary to dry out the soil artificially. Just wait until most of the jade's soil has dried out naturally to water the plant again. It likely won't need a watering every week, so you'll need to keep it on its own schedule! Keep a close eye on it for the next few months so that you can get a feel for how often it needs water. Also keep in mind that a large, healthy, growing jade will need water more frequently in spring/summer than it will in fall/winter.