Jade plant care is fairly easy! Jade plants, also known as Crassula Ovata, are succulents, from South Africa. Succulents are extremely drought tolerant, and jade plants are no exception. My jade plant has even survived almost two months without being watered before, so forgetful plant parents rejoice!
Lighting Requirements
Lighting is perhaps the easiest part of jade plant care. Jade plants can survive in most light settings, but they will be happiest in bright light. The best spot for a jade plant will be on a window sill so they can soak in the light all day.
Jade plants that get plenty of sun will even get a little extra color. If a jade plant gets enough stress from the sun it will develop a red edge to the leaves.
In lower light settings, jade plants will start stretching towards the light. There will be more space between leaves on a stretched out plant, causing it to look more leggy. Due to their growth pattern, it can be trickier to spot, but if possible, give them more light if they start to stretch toward the light.
Watering
Jade plants are really simple to water. Jade plants like a little neglect when compared to other plants. You are much more likely to kill your jade plant by overwatering it than you are by underwatering it.
Watering frequency for jade plants can vary a lot, depending on its environment. A jade plant is sitting in a south facing window, in a dry climate, it’s going to need water more often than another jade plant sitting in a dimly lit room in a humid climate
In order to know when you should water your jade plant, you need to pay attention to the soil. Only water jade plants when their soil is completely dry. You can check this by sticking your finger in the soil and feeling for moisture. Their drought tolerance is a part of what makes jade plant care so easy, so if in doubt wait to water!
Potting and Soil
When looking for a pot for jade plants, a drainage hole is a must. Jade plants are hard to kill, but the one thing they are
very sensitive to is root rot. Root rot is common in plants grown in pots without drainage holes, so for jade plants, a pot with a drainage hole is a must.
You’ll also want to watch their soil as well. Standard potting mix retains water pretty well, but jade plants doesn’t like having “wet feet.” They will be happiest in a fast draining soil mix, specifically designed for succulents. Most places that sell succulents will sell succulent soil mix as well.
Jade Plant Propagation
Jade plants are super easy to propagate. You can propagate them from a cutting, or a leaf. For those of you who don’t know, you can grow an entire new plant from the cuttings of an old one!
I’ve personally never had much luck with leaf propagation for jade plants, and it takes much longer than starting with a cutting, but if you want to try, go for it!
Leaf Propagation
For leaf propagation, you need to carefully pull a leaf from the plant. Make sure the base of the leaf is intact, as this is where it will start to root, and if it is damaged, it won’t root, and you won’t be able to grow a new plant.
Lay the leaf on soil, and spray the soil around the leaf with water. I spray leaf cuttings twice a day, usually once in the morning, and once in the evening. The humidity created by the water evaporating out of the soil will signal the leaf to put out roots in search of water.
Once your leaf is rooted in the soil it will start growing a new baby plantlet from the base of the leaf. Eventually the mother leaf will dry, and the new plantlet will be ready to graduate from daily spraying, to a normal watering schedule.
Even if you do everything right, there isn’t a 100% guaranteed success rate with this form of propagation. This means your leaf may never root, and it will eventually shrivel up and die, or it might root, but not put off any new growth. If you run into these problems, all you can really do is try again and hope for better.
Stem Propagation
If that process seemed like a lot to you, I suggest trying to propagate via stem cutting. All you need to do for this method is take a cutting from your jade plant. Leave your cutting somewhere safe to dry for a day or two. When the wound from where you cut it is dried over, you are ready to proceed.
Take your cutting, and plant it in succulent soil, and you’re pretty much done. Water it like a normal jade plant, and it will root on its own, and start putting off new growth when it’s ready. I have rarely ever failed with this propagation method, and I highly recommend it!
Jade Plant Care Problem Solving
My jade plant is losing leaves even though I watered it.
If your jade plant is losing leaves, or withering, even when you water it, your jade plant might have root rot. In order to tell, you will have to take your plant out of the soil. If the roots look dark brown, or black instead of white, your jade plant has root rot.
Jade plants are super sensitive to root rot, and the rot will move from the roots to the stem of the plant pretty quick. In order to save your jade plant, you will need to cut out all of the rot. If any part of the plant looks darker than the rest, is noticeably softer, or starting to shrivel, cut it off. Don’t worry if you end up having to cut off all the roots, your jade plant is super resilient and it will put new roots out soon. But it won’t survive if you leave any affected part of the plant.
If you cut any part of your jade plant, don’t water it for at least twenty four hours. Jade plants will absorb water through the wound from where you cut it, and you will start at square one, with root rot. I tend to leave mine out of soil for a day, and then when I can see that the wound has hardened over then I replant it.
Root rot is caused by overwatering, so keep that in mind going forward. You will want to keep watering your replanted jade plant, you just might want to water it less than you were before.
My Jade Plant Isn’t Branching Out
I love how my jade plants look when they start to branch out, but often times jade plants will be perfectly happy to just keep growing one tall trunk with no branches. If you are patient enough, it will eventually start to branch out.
If you aren’t patient, don’t worry, there is a simple way to make your jade plant start branching. All you have to do is prune it. Just cut off the top inch or so, and hang on to you cutting because you can propagate that!
Cutting off the top of your plant will stop it from putting all its effort into growing from the top of the plant, and it will start pushing out new growth lower on the trunk. Encouraging it to branch out will help give it a fuller, more bushy look if that’s what you desire. Don’t worry about pruning your jade plant, this won’t damage you plant.
My Jade Plant is Putting Out Roots from the Trunk
If your jade plant puts out root from the trunk don’t worry. These are called aerial roots, and they can absorb moisture from the air. If they don’t bother you, you can just leave them, but some people don’t like how they look.
If you want to get rid of them, you can simply cut them off. Aerial root can be a sign that your jade plant isn’t getting enough water. If that’s the case, try to water them more thoroughly rather than watering more frequently.
