I assume you're talking about the succulent, Crassula ovata? When I moved from Melb to Bris, I sent my two jade plants (only about 40cm high) on the train with all my furniture. I didn't want to mess around with soil, so I simply sawed both off at the trunk near ground level (ie without any roots). When they arrived, I let them dry out for a further week or two and then replanted them into a succulent mix and didn't water them for several weeks, and they've grown nicely. So that would be easier for you than trying to dig them out.

As for selling them, check out the offerings on ebay to see what's selling. They're too big to post, so the buyer would have to be a local willing to pick them up from your garden. Also, they make great potplants, and plants of that size would be quite spectacular in pots and therefore might attract a buyer on ebay.

Thanks cestrum, that's even better!

I was going to post a link to wikipedia:
Jade plant
but the leaves were slightly different. Ours is growing outside, so that might be the difference.

Growing as a pot plant is an excellent suggestion! And I can just treat the whole plant as a cutting? Being able to grow it into a pot means that I can separate the moving for greenhouse part from the working out what to do with it part.

p.s. cestrum is now a declared weed in the dandenongs :)

Yep, that's it; the leaves are darker and greener when grown in the shade, but much lighter when grown in full sun (see link below). In effect, yes, you'll be treating the whole plant as a cutting (rather like a frangipani cutting). You can let it dry out for weeks while you work on the greenhouse. It will probably drop some of its leaves, but they'll grow back when it's planted, and you'll have two lovely thick-trunked mature plants only a little shorter than the originals. In fact, if for some reason you want more of them, you can saw off some of the larger limbs and pot them up separately. They're easy to propagate, so long as you don't let them get too wet and rot.

Incidentally, the noxious cestrum would probably be C. elegans, C. parqui (green cestrum) or C. Newelli (red cestrum). I wouldn't grow any of them in my garden! C. nocturnum, the night-scented jessamine, is my favourite, and I've got about 10 pots of it waiting to be planted out along the fence. The area will be flooded with fragrance at night :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Outdoor jade plant

I meant to write that you'll have *one* lovely thick-trunked mature plant ...

Actually, yes there would be two plants (I just went and looked and there are two stems). That link looks exactly right.

I've propagated jade plant in my old greenhouse and it seems to really like high temps and lots of water, combined with good drainage.

Surprisingly, the plant(s) growing out the front are in fine clayey loam that is so often water logged it grows drosera.

"I've propagated jade plant in my old greenhouse and it seems to really like high temps and lots of water, combined with good drainage."

hi nathan, Jade plants dont need alot of water (I probably water mine which are all in pots no more than once a month), and a good way to tell if they need water is just to feel the leaves, if they feel firm and plump then the plant doesnt need any water at all and I only water mine when the leaves start losing their plumpness and start feeling thinner. They do make great pot plants though and you dont have to worry about them drying out on those hot summer days.

trancegemini

Hi Nathan,
If your leaves look different, your plant may be Portulacaria afra (Jade plant, Spekboom or Elephant's foot) which is a close relative and has smaller slightly rounder leaves. All the above should still apply as growth habits etc. are almost the same.
Cheers,
Dee.