Jade can make a great houseplant, especially in a classic ceramic or terracotta pot.
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Growing Jade Plants: Lighting, Watering, Repotting, Propogation, and Pests
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鈥檛 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 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鈥檙e using clean clippers or scissors to take your cutting, which must be 3 to 4 inches long. If you鈥檙e using a leaf, it must be the complete leaf, that 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 callous 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鈥檛 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鈥檛, 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鈥檛 just get the surface layer of the soil wet, as you want to encourage the roots to grow downward for water, not towards 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掳 to 75掳F / 18掳 to 24掳C), but prefer slightly cooler temperatures at night and in the winter (down to 55掳F / 13掳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掳F (10掳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鈥攏ot 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鈥攊t 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鈥檛 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鈥檛 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 Organic Homemade Plant Fertilizer.
Repotting Jade Plants
- Jade plants don鈥檛 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鈥檛 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.
Catherine Boeckmann
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I did as u said about repotting, didn鈥檛 water for two to three weeks. The plant full and all of sudden the leaves and some stems would fall off at the lightest touch. Now the big trump is real bare. I don鈥檛 water a lot so what can do to make it grow. I wish I could send u a picture it.
How do the leaves look? Wrinkled, shriveled leaves indicate that it needs more water. Make sure that when you water it, you’re allowing water to soak through to the roots. To do this, either pour water into a dish and set the plant’s pot in the dish, allowing it to suck up water through the drainage holes; or water the soil until water comes out the drainage holes, then let the pot sit in the water for a few minutes until it soaks up the drained water. Once it stops soaking up water, dump out the excess water.
Additionally, make sure that the plant is in a location with good lighting. It will do best in bright, indirect sunlight. Without enough sun, it won’t be strong enough to hold itself up and regrow.
Hi there,
Almost 35 years ago my best friend's mom gave me a cutting from a jade plant I had admired for many years. Now that cutting has grown into an absolutely stunning plant that I honestly consider a member of the family! I am moving to the United States from Canada and have learned that all houseplants must be transported with bare roots -- no growing medium on the roots at all. I am happy to drive it across the border with a clean pot -- directly to a store to buy soil and repot, but will it survive? Really hoping someone can help!
We have a multiple Jades. One is around 30" diameter and has out grown it's large pot. We plan to transplant into a larger pot but realize by doing so, we won't be able to move the plant in the garage during winter season. We live in a moderate climate - but do get below freezing for weeks during the winter months. And on occasion we've had limited snow. Is there a way to protect the plant from frost and snow so we don't have to move the pot indoors? BTW during the winter with the plant in the garage on a lamp - we get beautiful small white blooms. This is a very happy Jade. Thanks.
Unfortunately, jade are not frost tolerant, so if temperatures reach below freezing in your area, you’ll need to keep your jade indoors or risk severe cold damage.
Jade plants don’t mind being pot-bound鈥攊n fact, it helps keep them small! Usually, you only need to repot if the roots start coming out the bottom of the pot or if the plant becomes top heavy.
Instead of repotting your jade into a larger, heavier pot, you could try root pruning. This is a technique commonly done with bonsai trees that allows you to keep a plant in its current-size pot while also giving it room to continue to grow. To root prune, remove the plant from the pot and prune off at most 1/3 of the roots. Cut from the bottom of the root ball, and try to remove the older, darker roots first, leaving younger, paler roots to continue growing.
When you repot, it’s important to use soil that’s fairly dry and that drains well, and to refrain from watering for 7鈥10 days. This will keep the roots safer from fungal disease like rot. For extra protection, you could dust the cut roots with an anti-fungal powder (find it in a local hardware store or garden center).
I bought jade plants for my office, but have no access to direct sunlight. Are there any other options for light?
A desk lamp with a 鈥渄aylight鈥 LED bulb makes for good supplementary lighting. The higher the wattage, the better. That said, as long as your office is brightly lit, the plants should do just fine, though they may grow leggy over time. If they do, then you should consider adding supplementary lighting.
I have had a jade plant for a couple of years. I left it out on my enclosed sunporch and the temperature was about 40 degrees. I decided to bring it into the house when I saw the leaves beginning to yellow. Now it sits in area with artificial light and temperature about 65. Is the leaves turning yellow a sign of too much water...not enough water...too much light...cold...what? Thank you.
I have 2 jade plants one is dark green and one is light green. Light green one isn't as full and healthy looking. they are in pots in same area outside (in Florida) so I don't know what would be causing this. Any advice would be appreciated.
We assume that you are providing the same care to both plants in terms of watering and fertilizing. Jade tends to turn lighter with more sun鈥攃ould the lighter-colored plant be getting more sun than the other? If it doesn’t look healthy, it could be that it got overwatered and is trying to recover from wet roots. Additionally, some varieties of jade are simply lighter-colored than others and have different growth patterns, so that could be it, too!
