The Crassula love the cold, but not heat from a furnace. We water every week in the summer starting for me April 1 to Oct 1, we cut down on water and fertilizer for the winter months, Oct 1. to Aril 1 all of ours are grown outside during the whole year. Mine are in flower or in bud now. They love to be crowded into a pot, I have seen and have very young small plants flower. If the leaves start to wrinkle half way up then water, if the bottom leaves fall off they are supposed to, just like the trees outside. Too much heat will cause them to fall off. Really they like the cold, down to 30F without water. We are getting high temps. now of all times of the year, where has our Winter gone, have you Easterners stolen our Winter? I expect this forum to ask questions about Crassula ovata 'Jade' and I expect the rest of you to respond as well, I hope you have something to add. Any one East of our rockies will have problems with Jade, except Denise. Norma

Most S. African succulents, including the ones you mention, are from climates where the hot summer is also the time of drought. These plants have adapted to become opportunistic - which to keep things simple for our purposes means that as long as it is not too hot, and there is moisture + sun, they will grow and bloom. In habitat this is often during the colder time of year.

For us in cultivation they tend to respond the same - except for the hottest part of summer when nights are hot, and also during the coldest and dreariest time of winter (indoors or out), they will be actively growing and blooming if you supply the proper moisture. Basically, April to June, and then Sept to November seem to be active times. Many species are surprisingly "thirsty".

YMMV

x

Hey, Wondernugget, my jades are experiencing a growth spurt, too. I wait to water until the leaves become slightly wrinkled - after that, I wait an additional day, and then I water. I water thoroughly, until water flows out of the bottom of the pot. My plants are growing in a mixture of small gravel, small bark, a bit of charcoal, and a lot of perlite (at least half of the mix). With the days as warm as they are, I've been watering every two weeks (in general, but not on a set schedule).

I re-potted a number of succulents, about a month ago, so the new growth on these plants has eased my mind of any worry about the dramatic root-pruning/untangling I did.

Josh

I tend to water all of my succulents at the same time unless only one of them is showing wrinkles. Generally it is the lithops that start to show the signs first. The hobbit jade is my largest plant but a lot of the older leaves seem to be permanently wrinkled so it is a little hard to tell with that one. I am wondering if this is due to there being too much peat in the potting mix. I decided to leave it in what it came in and repot it in the spring with the hose spraygun method. I guess I may find out then. If the repotting does not cure the wrinkles I may end up doing some serious pruning - I've got months before that decision though.
My heat (old school radiators) has finally kicked on for good so my guess is that I will probably have to keep up with watering them every 2 to 3 weeks.

Jacy

Jacy,
I have a "Skinny Fingers" jade with the perma-wrinkles, too. I bought it this summer, and discovered that it was potted in peat-based soil. Although the nursery had been "watering" the plant, none of the interior peat-soil was absorbing moisture. It was a pain to first moisten and then hose off all of that hydrophobic peat - I destroyed a fair number of roots in the process. Finally I got most of the roots free (minus those that were damaged), and then I put the jade into a terracotta pot with bark and gravel and perlite. I didn't water for at least a week. Then I began the process of rehydrating the plant. Only one single leaf shriveled and died. Now I have a bunch of new growth, indicating that the roots are growing into the new potting medium. Due to the extensive dehydration that the plant suffered, it will be some time before the oldest leaves plump back up....if ever.

If I were you, I'd remove that peat-based soil as soon as possible, especially since we're heading into winter. Hose all the old soil off of the roots, then re-pot in super fast-draining mix - start with 50% perlite, gravel (sharp quartz, and smooth aquarium gravel are both good), and small bits of bark to make up the "organic component." This way, you can water without worrying about root-rot, and you can be fairly sure that water is reaching the center of the root mass.

Good luck! You don't want to lose a nice big Hobbit!

Josh

Unfortunately, it is already winter here. We've already had snow. I hate snow.
I figured that peat was probably the problem after seeing no changes in the 2 or 3 months under my care (not that I am any better at succulent care than the grower). In an attempt to counteract the potential peatyness I have been letting the pot soak in a bowl of water for 5-10mins and then letting it throughly drain out. I don't know if this is really doing anything but it makes me feel like I'm trying.
I don't think I'm going to lose it - it's growing like mad!

My apologies! I meant *calendar winter.
And if the plant is "growing like mad!" then you needn't worry - it isn't too late to do some work. After all, this is a good time of year to prune your jades, if you're so inclined. Moreover, if you're transitioning a plant from peat-soil to fast-draining grit, then you needn't worry about root-rot. You could literally re-pot your plant in fast-draining grit and not water again at all until spring....sure, it'll look pretty haggard by then, and probably have lost some leaves....but leaf-loss mid-winter is fairly typical of jades.

Soaking or immersion or "bottom watering" isn't a preferred method of watering jades, especially jades in peat-soil. "Bottom watering" is very good if you're trying to loosen old peat for a complete re-potting, however.

If it were my plant (and if I were insisting on it staying in its peat-based soil as you are), I'd do a two-part watering - a very light dribble to re-activate the hydrophobic peat, then a slow thorough watering about 15-30 minutes later. Otherwise, you run the risk of the peat-soil staying wet for too long.

Good luck!

Josh