Hey, Joe.

I usually wait to water until I see new growth at the tip of the cutting.
Generally, the lower leaves will shrivel as the cutting reclaims the moisture.
That said, you might wish to provide a small amount of moisture after one week.
In the past, I would wait to water up to three weeks on occasion, but now that
I've begun using turface and gritty mixes, I find that cuttings (without roots)
will sometimes become severely dry. Typically, my cuttings form roots before
I pot them. With these, I pot - then water about 3 - 5 days later.

I would moisten the Portulacaria afra mix, as these plants require slightly more water
than Jades and are woodier plants in general.

Josh

Man, it's been almost a month, and I have no usable roots on my jade cutting. I say usable because a few little roots formed high up on the cutting, but obviously that's not of any use. There is some new growth wanting to form in the truck of the cutting as well, but not on the branch tips. I have the cutting in dry gritty mix....should I maybe water it at this point? I'd hate to rot it though, because this cutting has some good shape, and I'm dying to get this thing growing. How the heck long am I going to have to wait here?

Joe

Joe,

for the jade it can take a long time, i think that humidity and the level of hydration of the plant at the time of cutting has a lot to do with that. i do think that watering a cutting in a gritty mix is fine or even beneficial. i usually do. i think it may point the plant in the right direction on where it touches the medium, and where i want it to grow roots. if i do not, i have found that the roots grow from the lowest point or random nodes. maybe that helps. i grow succulents for the fact that they teach me to be patient. again, and again.

Doug

Joe,

I agree with Doug - rooting a cutting needs patience.

I have a little cutting takes 6 weeks recently just to send out a tiny white tender root, and its leaves are so shinking that I thought it may die before it's able to root. I have the feeling that they need 2~4 weeks preparing for rooting, then a little damp can stimulate them to send out root. Since a month already passed, I guess you can use a little water now (or even a little very diluted fertilizer, since gritty mix has no built-in nutrients as potting soil). Then leave it along, don't look at it everyday - otherwise you will have to press down your urge of digging it out to see if it has root yet. :) ( I have to confess, I did it too much.)

Once it has root and the mix is damp, the leaves will look a little bit more shiny. Then it works very hard to develop its root system, so for a while you won't see any new growth.

Wish you luck with your cutting rooting experience. :)

Lily

Hi Joe,

I fell in love with these plants after my mother-in-law gave me a cutting last year in a mostly peat potting mix in a pot with no drain hole. I managed to save about half of the cutting (a couple of branches fell off and I had to shorten it due to rot) and it's now rooted and making some nice leaves and a new branch.

Back in March, I stuck some small (2-3 inch) cuttings - a Hobbit and a couple of Hummel's Sunset - in some grity mix in 2 inch terra cotta pots. I watered at 2 weeks, then at 4 weeks, and have watered once per week since then. Like you, I'm still waiting to see some signs of growth. All of the cuttings have begun to shrink and a couple of leaves on the Hobbit have dried and fallen off.

Last week, my 2 year old dumped one of the Hummel's Sunsets. The plant wasn't hurt and I was able to get a look at the roots when I re-potted it. There were 7 or 8 roots between 1/2 and 3/4 inch long. I would expect to start seeing some growth soon.

Please be encouraged. Based on what I've read here and my experience, you're on the right track.

-Tim

Well, I go ahead and water then. I've grown jade for many years, but never tried to root a bigger cutting like this one. I also have a variegated jade cutting as well, about 2 weeks along, so I'm pretty siked to get that thing going too, because I've never been able to find the variegated jade, and I've been looking for the better part of 10 years. This cutting was "borrowed" from a 6 foot tall, 10" diameter trunk variegated jade at a greenhouse. With a price tag of $1500, I passed on actually buying the plant.....

Joe

when I root my cuttings, I usually spritz some water on trunk and soil a little,but never water them. leaves plump up and cutting doesn't look so dehydrated.works all the time

Joe,

I've started about a bazillion Jade cuttings over the last 30+ years and here's my advice - don't worry so much about your cutting. Jades are practically fool proof. When I stick a cutting in a pot of soil, I always water it right away and water every time I find the soil dry. And I think the mix you're using is far more forgiving than what I use, which is coir mixed with perlite. They root fast this time of year, though it make take time for it to have enough roots to be stable with that size of a cutting.

Last year, I whacked back my two biggest Jades and had literally dozens and dozens of cuttings. At my business, we had these pots that needed something in them, so I filled them with the cuttings, which all rooted quickly in plain old potting soil and grew like mad all summer. About half of them came off this Jade, which is now starting to look nice and full again...
{{gwi:535851}}

The other one - well, I made the mistake of also moving it up to a bigger pot at the same time as the whacking and I think it was too much for it to work on new roots AND new foliage and it collapsed this winter. **Sigh** I guess after all this time, I still have a few things to learn, too!!

Denise in Omaha

I rigged up some little plastic jars with solid wire to support the cuttings, and keep them upright. I suspect they'll be in there for a while, especially the big cutting. I guess I'll just impatiently wait some more....

Joe