Proper Care for growing Jade Plants
If you’re thinking about buying and growing a jade plant in your home you’ll need to learn a little bit about it before you get started. This popular plant is scientifically known as the Crassula Argentea and it originally came from South Africa. Due to the beautiful leaves on the plant, however, it has been a very popular house plant for those living in Europe and the Americas for over one hundred years. They are quite popular because of the fact that they are easy to care for and can last a very long time as long as you meet all their simple requirements.
Jade Plants – Growing Requirements
Before you purchase your jade plants you need to make sure you have a spot picked out for them which has a lot of direct sunlight and with little humidity. Fortunately most homes meet these requirements quite well so you should have no trouble finding the right spot. While it is ideal to have your plant in the sunlight, they can survive in dimmer conditions. One thing to avoid, however, is moving your plant from a dimly lit area immediately into direct sunlight. The plant can actually get sunburn if the change in lighting is too rapid so if you need to move your plant, do it slowly over time.
Jade plants can survive in temperatures as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit at night, but they do much better in homes that stay above about 55 degrees. During the day they should be kept between 75-80 degrees most of the time, though they are adaptable as long as the temperature swings are not too dramatic.
Finally, the soil in the pot you’re using for a jade plant should be changed occasionally to ensure they have all the nutrients they need. Every two to three years is acceptable for most plants, more often if the plant is larger. When making the soil change make sure to also evaluate the size of your plant to ensure your pot is still the right one. Using a high quality potting soil mixed with coarse builders sand is ideal, and adding one scoop of bone meal as well for additional nutrients. If you have a place to test the pH of your soil, it should be around 6.5 for ideal growth.
Watering & Feeding
Unlike many plants which require the same levels of water and food all year long, jade plants have both an active growing cycle and a dormant growing cycle. During the spring and summer you will want to keep the soil slightly moist which can be done by adding a good amount of water about once per week. During the winter months you’ll use less water and go longer between watering.
You can feed jade plants every two weeks or so during the summer months using soluble plant fertilizer. Make sure there is no feeding of these plants from about November until the end of March as the plant is dormant and the extra nutrients can actually harm the plant.
When Will the Jade Plant Flower
The jade plant is well known for its beautiful pink flowers which typically occur around Christmas when grown in the Northern hemisphere. Those who keep their plants inside, however, will find that they may not flower at all unless they have it in an area which receives natural sunlight. If you’re plant is not flowering, make sure you are allowing it to experience shorter days during the winter which should trigger the natural flowering.
