Kuan,

In your reading then you've found a lot of information about soil - your present soil doesn't look suitable.

Fertilize when in active growth using a diluted 15-15-15 fertilizer. Once again, you'll get a lot of opinions about this. Some never fertilize, others do at varying frequencies.

I'd say your cutting is some years away from flowering.

You need to water it less, yes, but also the change of soil would benefit your plant - it does look healthy. In the heat of a summer, Crassula ovata slows down/stops growing. While these are full-sun plants, they need to get acclimated to full sun slowly (over a period of two or three weeks).

Thank you cactusmcharris about the soil information. I will look into fast draining soil this weekend (adding coarse perlite, fine pine bark to potting mix) and repot it. The jade plant is currently getting morning sun and afternoon shade. I will have some MG fertilizer so I'll use that to do weekly weak fertilizing.

Thanks again for your help.

Kuan

Kuan,

That's way too much fertilizing - once a month during the growth season would be better.

Exactly what Cactus said.

During the high heat of summer, Jades will often slow down/go semi-dormant.
When this happens, the plant isn't taking up water at the normal rate, so all that
moisture sits in the potting mix and turns boggy. With a free-draining soil, the
moisture won't pose nearly as great a risk to your Jade's roots.

I would recommend mixing a 1/4 strength dose of fertilizer and appling it once to measure
the Jade's reaction. I tend to fertilize more often in the Spring, and then lightly in the fall.

Josh

Thanks Josh and Cactusmcharris. Now I got it. Spring is the growing season so the jade plant needs to be fertilized. It slows down in the summer so fertilize very sparingly and watch the plant's reaction. Fertilize again in Fall and then bring it indoor since it won't survive the cold winter. Reduce water in winter so it doesn't rot. Also make sure I have fast draining soil so water doesn't sit and rot the root.

I am so glad I come here to get this info before I kill the plant. It will be very sad if I kill it because this plant has great sentimental value to me.

Thanks again for all the info Josh and Cactusmcharris.

Kuan

Hi Kuan,

What we often tell folks about these plants (which the guys above didn't happen to do here), is that these plants prefer benign neglect. That is to say, the less done to them the better, they tend to do best when ALMOST ignored.

If you already know this, pls. disregard, but in case you don't, pls. know that in nature, these Jades (Crassula ovata) often grow in inhospitable areas, in crummy conditions & crappy soils, often mineral or rock strewn soil. What little fertilizer they might get would be any animal droppings that happen their way.

So, you needn't be so concerned about killing it, short of over-watering it. These are quite strong & sturdy plants, likely much more so than you realize. Good luck, I'm sure it'll be fine.

If you want it to flower, I have some advice. I've grown Jades for 35 years and, until I figured this out, nary a bloom. Several years ago, someone here (I think maybe Norma) told me that Jades need to be left out until just before the first frost, then they'll bud up. So for the next few years, I got more and more daring with my Jades, and now they bloom. I leaves them out LITERALLY until the night we have our first frost. Everything else, by then, has been in for a long time. I watch the weather forcast before I go to bed. If they say it's going to get down below 35, I bring them in. If it's going to warm back up the next day, I put them back out and only bring them back in when they predict under 35 again. I've had it actually get down below freezing several times (which is why I bring them in when they PREDICT 35, because they can be off by a few degrees) and have had no ill-effect. But once they're in for the winter, I usually start to see buds forming in late October or early November, and they open around the first of December. Easy-peezy!

Denise in Omaha

Pirate girl - This is one of the reasons why I came to this forum. I felt bad for ignoring my plant. If I remember, I fertilized it with MG. But for the most part, I left it alone. I water it when I water my other plants, never really pay attention to it until recently because some of the petals were soft and some dropped off. I don't want to kill it since the small cutting was given to me by an old friend of mine. I will try to remember not to baby it too much. LOL.

Denise - You are quite daring and I guess the pay back is worth it!! I will "try" to let it sit out there till frost is being forecasted. But I don't know if I'm as daring as you are. :)

Thank you all for the help.

Kuan

It can handle temps. down to 20F. if you prune the tip rosette it will surely surely flower, prune the first of October. They are winter grower, so water and fertilze starting Oct. 1. it make the plants bushier so more flowers, trunks thicken up as well some even have interesting bark skin. (dermis) P.S. I have an 8" cutting in flower now? We have had foggy mornings this past month. Norma

Thank you so much Norma for the great info. I could not have been more wrong thinking that Jade plant goes dormant or at least slows down in growth in the cooler months!!! I will heed the advise and start fertilizing once the weather starts cooling down. Your 8" cutting must be extremely healthy. Can't image it is blooming at this size.

Thanks again Norma for all the info.

Kuan

It's been in flower for the past three months they hold flower heads quiet long. It's in a tiny pot.
This is really unusual however it is just a 4mo. old cutting. Norma

Hiya Norma,

Anyway you can find someone to take some pix of that & post 'em for you? I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd love to see it.