What are the best ways to keep your home and garden green?
Grow low-maintenance plants. And guess what – the jade plant is amongst the most effortless plants to grow and maintain.
You can keep jade plants almost everywhere. They can stay indoors with indirect light, or they can grow in your outdoor garden with direct sun.
Suppose you have a fully grown jade plant, and you want a new plant.
Did you know you don’t need to buy baby plants because you can propagate new plants from your previous ones!
Learn easy and simple steps to jade plant propagation and you will soon have a full garden of jade plants.
Related post: Crassula Varieties: 20 Different Types of Jade Plants
Table of Contents
Jade Plant Propagation: Two Methods by Cuttings
As you may know, you can propagate jade plants. However, the process could feel a tad daunting. Worry no more.
If you are apprehensive to get started, you will find everything you need to know about propagating jade plants in this article.
What is the most common propagation method to use? It is propagating a plant by cutting a part of the branch and planting it into another pot.
However, there are two different types of jade cutting methods that you should know before propagating your jade plant:
Related post: Basic Care Tips for a Jade Plant (Crassula Ovata)
Stem Cuttings Method
The stem cutting method is a popular method. You can grow healthy plants by using this method, but how do you accomplish that?
Well, here are a few things that you should follow to propagate your plants from jade cuttings:
Step 1: Look for a thick stalk of the plant.
Step 2: Once you have located a nice stem with fleshy leaves, it’s time to do some cutting. Cut out the stem three to five inches long. After that, be sure to remove the leaves a few inches above the end of your clipping.
Step 3: Put the clipping in direct sunlight. After a few days, you will notice the lower half of the stem cutting will turn light and brownish. That’s how you know the magic is happening!
Step 4: Fill a pot with any old potting soil. If you want to be a little extra, then you can use fertilized soil. Make a small hole in the soil and gently place the jade stem in the soil.
Step 5: Are you a little impatient? Want the new growth to speed up? Try using a rooting hormone. Using a rooting hormone can surely do wonders! It will speed up the rooting process, and you can have a fully grown plant in only a few weeks.
Step 6: Pat down the soil around the jade stem and water sparingly as the baby plant starts to grow. Voila! There you have it the resulting plants become a new jade plant!
Jade Plant Leaf Cuttings
Now that you know how to propagate a jade plant from a stem cutting, let’s discuss how to grow jade plants from the jade plant leaves.
You can grow a new plant from a single leaf cutting. I know it sounds hard to believe, but it’s possible, and here’s how!
Step 1: Fully examine your jade plant and look for fine, thick, and healthy jade leaves. Once you set your eyes on a good-looking jade leaf, the next step is to cleanly cut the healthy leaves from the stem.
Step 2: Transfer the leaf snipping to a pot filled with general potting soil. Now, it’s important to leave it alone. We are now going to root jade plant cuttings.
After a few days to weeks, you can observe the rooting jade plant cuttings on the soil. This is when you know you’re making progress!
Step 3: The next thing you need to do is to keep an eye on the rooting of the plant. You’ll notice that the original leaf will degrade, and the jade cuttings will transform into pretty jade plants that you can keep.
Step 4: Once you have seen the jade plant cutting grow, you can move it to a new pot. Here’s a little tip: use fast-draining soil or soil with low soil moisture so that the excess water can drain out. Too much water can slow root growth and lead to root rot. Trust me, you do not want that!
Tips For Growing Better Jade Plants
I see that you have got a green thumb – good for you! But learning a few more tips won’t hurt!
Place It In Direct Sunlight
These plants love the sun! The best time to grow these is in the summer as they do well in the heat of the full sun.
But beware! While jade plants do well in full sun, too much sun can also damage them. So, what should you do? If you live in an extremely hot environment, move the plants indoors to prevent rotting.
Keep It In Low-Humid Environment
These fellows do not like excess water, that’s for sure! If you’re noticing dropping leaves, that’s because you are keeping your plants in too much water.
Jade plant roots need minimal water to ensure that the propagation is a success.
Use Drainage Holes For Fast-Draining
If you aren’t great with limiting watering, then you should consider opting for a pot with plenty of drainage holes. This will prevent water from accumulating, and you can live your life in peace without worry!
The best solution to this is to get yourself a self-watering pot. We suggest this self-watering planter as we use it for a lot of our indoor houseplants. Let me tell you it works very well. We don’t worry about over or underwater the plants. Plus, the plants seem to be thriving.
- SELF-WATERING, 2-WEEKS+ DEEP RESERVOIR: No more troublesome wicks that clog...
- SELF-AERATING, HIGH DRAINAGE, MINIMIZE ROOT ROT: No need to keep poking...
- WATER FROM THE BOTTOM + NO MORE OVERFLOW: Each planter comes with a clip-on...
Use Ready-Made Soil
If you’re having trouble creating the perfect soil for your plant, try using a potting mix. These pre-made mixtures are already filled with nutrients that are beneficial for your main stem or leaf cuttings.
The best pre-mixed soil we have used is this succulent potting mix. We have used it with some excellent results as some of our succulents have started to bloom.
- 🌻 FRESH, ORGANIC — This Specially Formulated Succulent Soil Mix...
- 🔎 PROFESSIONALLY MIXED — From the Growers at Perfect Plants Nursery,...
- 💦 WATER MANAGEMENT — This Succulent Soil Mix Drains the Perfect Amount...
FAQ
Is A Jade Plant Toxic?
Jade plants are toxic to digest. In dogs and cats, they can cause massive harm. At the same time, they can be slightly toxic to humans if eaten.
Can I Grow A Jade Plant In Water?
The answer is yes! While you can grow a jade plant in water, it will ultimately die in the end. It’s best to grow it in a less wet environment.
How Do You Grow A Jade Plant From A Broken Stem?
Yes, jade plants can be grown in this manner just provide the same care as you would when propagating from entire stem cuttings of leaf-cutting.
Conclusions
Most plants are great no matter what they are, however, it is well known that jade plants are considered lucky plants.
Now that you know how the basic steps to propagate your plant, you can now grow your own and have new jade plants in your garden.
Whether you choose stem cuttings or leaf cuttings, we hope that his primer will give you guidance on how to propagate your jade plants.
Good luck and let us know in the comments how you do in propagating your plants.
Looking for other Jade Plant care articles? Read further about:
- Saving Your Jade Plant From Dying
- When and How to Repot Jade Plants
- How to Water Jade Plants
- What are the Benefits of Growing Jade Plants?
References
Lindsey Hyland grew up in Arizona where she studied at the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center. She continued her gardening education by working on organic farms in both rural and urban settings. She started UrbanOrganicYield.com to share gardening tips and tactics. She’s happy to talk about succulents and houseplants or vegetables and herbs – or just about anything in a backyard garden or hydroponics garden.
Just a question about propagation—when you sprout the leaves, and they have those cute tiny new leaves, how do you plant them? Old, calloused end down into the soil, or everything into the soil except the new leaves? I’ve sprouted 100 of those little things, and they do well until I get them to soil and then nothing happens! After a few weeks of nothing, they just shrivel up. I’ve cried tears! What am I doing wrong??