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Some plants can still do well for you, even if you aren’t a green thumb. Succulents are a prevalent group of plants that are easy to care for, even if you don’t have the best luck with plants in general. Of those succulents, one of the most popular is the Jade Plant, also called the Money Tree or Friendship Tree.
Jade Plants are great for beginners as they are very forgiving of neglect. They also grow slowly and can live for many years while helping to purify your indoor air and increase the room’s relative humidity.
We’ll take a closer look at the Jade Plant and its care and how you can propagate it successfully and re-pot it once it grows too large for its current container. You’ll soon find the vibrant little Jade Plant may be the perfect houseplant for you even if you have bad luck with other plants.
The Best Health Benefits of Jade Plants
Keeping houseplants isn’t just a way to make your home or office more appealing to look at; they can also provide genuine health benefits too. Unsurprisingly, being locked inside a small room or office all day while working or studying can lead to allergies and other respiratory issues.
Studies have found that indoor air quality can be much more polluted than outdoors, leading to significant health issues for those who spend much time cooped up in those spaces.
Alternatively, other studies have found that a wide variety of houseplants can absorb and filter many indoor air pollutants, such as fumes from paint, mold spores, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and more.
Jade Plants are an excellent plant to have as an air purifier since they have many broad leaves. This extra surface area provides more room for absorbing pollutants than other plants.
Additionally, Jade Plants can help increase the relative humidity of a room. Being surrounded by dry air daily can lead to chapped lips, flaky skin, dry nasal passages, and nose bleeding. Increasing the humidity even a tiny amount reduces these ailments in some individuals.
If studies can see noticeable differences with just a single plant, imagine how much better it might be with multiple Jade Plants around your home or workplace.
How to Care for your Jade Plant
For example, Jade plants aren’t as demanding as orchids or lilies, making them an excellent starter for anyone who might not be 100% confident in their plant-keeping skills. If you make a mistake or forget to care for your plant once in a while, you can rest assured it won’t lead to an instantly brown and dying plant.
Room Temperatures Are Best
If you are comfortable in the temperature of your room, chances are your Jade Plant will be too. These tiny plants love temperatures around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, but you can let them drop down to the mid-’50s at night with no ill effects.
One of the biggest things to remember is that Jade Plants are prone to cold shock and frost. While you can keep your plant on a patio or deck during the warmer months, be sure to bring it inside and protect it from cold snaps.
Even indoors, ensure your Jade Plant is protected from a window or door icy drafts. A temperature below 50 degrees Fahrenheit will stress the plant, leading to poor health, browning, and dropping leaves over time. Jade Plants do best around 70 degrees Fahrenheit but can suffer health problems when temperatures fall below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jade Plants Love Bright Lighting
As with most plants, the right amount of light per day is vital for their health and well-being. For Jade Plants, try providing 6 to 8 hours of bright sunlight daily. For older plants, direct sunlight is fine, but indirect sunlight is best for young plants or those recently re-potted.
Artificial lighting that provides a full spectrum of UVA and UVB rays is also suitable, though keep an eye on your plant’s growth. If the light is too low or not kept on long enough, the plant may not develop a thick enough stalk and look top-heavy. If not supported, a top-heavy plant can break itself from its weight.
Quick Recap: 6 to 8 hours of bright sunlight or artificial light per day is best.
Keeping your Jade Plant Watered
Watering is probably the issue if you have trouble with your Jade Plant. While these plants are not overly demanding for their water needs, they can benefit from seasonal changes in watering habits.
For example, during their average growing period, the spring and summer, the plant will put a lot of energy into producing new leaves, more extensive roots, and a thicker stalk. They will benefit greatly from heavy watering that thoroughly soaks the entire amount of soil they are planted in.
You can water much less during the cooler months and after their growing season. Since your Jade Plant will likely go dormant during this time, watering once or twice a month is usually plenty. However, keep an eye on the soil, and if it looks overly dry, give the plant a bit of a drink.
Quick Recap: During the spring and summer, thoroughly water your Jade Plant multiple times per month. There is usually plenty once or twice a month when they are dormant.
Should You Use Fertilizer?
Luckily, Jade Plants are not demanding when it comes to nutrient levels. While they can benefit from fertilizer, it is unnecessary for a healthy Jade Plant.
If you choose to use fertilizer, ensure you find a fertilizer specifically made for succulents. If you cannot find this locally or online, you can use a standard houseplant fertilizer, diluting it twice or twice, and sparingly add it to your plant’s soil.
Easy Ways to Repot and Propagate Jade Plants
Whether you want to give one large Jade Plant a bit more room to grow or turn a large plant into a collection of smaller plants, re-potting and propagating this hardy succulent is extremely easy and fun for plant-keepers of all ages!
Giving your Jade Plant More Leg Room
While Jade Plants thrive very well even if they are in small pots and become root bound, there are times when moving your plant to a larger pot can be beneficial, such as when the plant has grown so much that it is starting to become top-heavy and tip the old pot over.
- Select a sturdy pot that provides a good amount of weight to prevent tipping over
- Add a good amount of well-draining succulent or cactus soil to the pot
- Remove the plant from its old pot and brush off the old soil from around the root ball
- Use your fingers to rustle the roots and separate them slightly
- Place the plant in the center of the new pot and cover it over with new soil
- Let the plant rest in this new pot for 2-3 days before watering
Propagating your Jade Plant
Propagating is a great way to turn one large Jade Plant into several new smaller Jade Plants. And since this plant is succulent, making more is straightforward!
- Ensure your mother plant is well-established and healthy
- Snip off a 2-inch length of stem that has 1 or 2 leaves on it
- Place this cutting in a warm room and let it sit for 48 hours to callus
- Find a small pot that your Jade Plant will look comfortable in
- Add a well-draining cactus or succulent soil to the pot
- Ensure the soil is moist but not soaking wet
- Place the 2-inch cutting vertically into the center of the pot
- Provide the new cutting with indirect light and warmth
- Give the plant one to two weeks to root before watering it lightly
5 Quick Propagation Tips!
- If you don’t want to take a stem cutting, you can use broken leaves or leaf cuttings to start new Jade Plants similarly!
- Giving the cutting or leaf around 48 hours to callus helps prevent rot and stimulates the plant to start producing roots from the cut area.
- When allowing a new cutting time to root, don’t water the plant during this time. Excess water may lead to root rot on the newly forming roots.
- Keeping your newly propagated potted stem or leaf on a seedling heating pad can help speed up the growth rate of the roots.
- You can gently tug on the cutting after one or two weeks to see if it has started developing roots. But don’t worry if it takes several weeks for roots to form.
FAQs about Jade Plants
Conclusion
Jade Plants are lovely-looking plants to have in your home or office. They are small to medium-sized and won’t grow so fast that they become a nuisance even if you are short on space.
Additionally, they can be very forgiving if you forget to water them once or twice or don’t want to mess with fertilizing them.
Jade Plants have been a part of various studies and research papers to prove that they can provide genuine health benefits when kept in your home or office. Not only can they help purify the indoor air of your room or cubicle, but they can also help increase the room’s relative humidity.
Their hardiness and health benefits make them an excellent plant for anyone that might not have the greenest thumb. They can also live for a very long time, making them great for passing down through the family generations as time passes.
Regardless of why you decide to get a Jade Plant, you are sure to have many long years of enjoyment from this striking green succulent.
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