Jade plant (Crassula ovata) care

Trees · easy to keep

Jade plant (Crassula ovata) wants full sun to bright indirect light. Water it every 2 weeks. Water thoroughly, then not again until the pot is bone dry and the leaves have lost a little of their firmness. In winter, once a month is plenty. Pot it in cactus compost with extra grit. A weak cactus feed two or three times over the summer, and repot every 2 years. Humidity: indifferent; dry air is fine. Toxic to cats and dogs; causes vomiting and lethargy.

The jade plant: fat glossy oval leaves on a thickening woody trunk, slowly becoming a miniature tree. Given full sun and very little water it lives for decades and takes on red-edged leaves and a genuinely gnarled shape. Given a shady corner and regular watering, it stretches and falls apart.

Quick facts

Water: Water every 2 weeks. Water thoroughly, then not again until the pot is bone dry and the leaves have lost a little of their firmness. In winter, once a month is plenty.
Light: Full sun to bright indirect light.
Humidity: Indifferent; dry air is fine.
Soil: Cactus compost with extra grit.
Feeding: A weak cactus feed two or three times over the summer.
Repotting: Repot every 2 years.
Toxic to pets: Toxic to cats and dogs; causes vomiting and lethargy. Not a hazard to people.
Difficulty: Easy.
Mature size: 60–120 cm indoors over many years.
Native to: South Africa and Mozambique.

Watering a Jade plant

Water every 2 weeks. Water thoroughly, then not again until the pot is bone dry and the leaves have lost a little of their firmness. In winter, once a month is plenty.

That cadence is the one PlantParlour sets for this species when you name it, and it is deliberately on the cautious side — a plant that asks a day early is safer than one that asks a day late. Log each watering and the reminder moves with the plant rather than with the calendar.

Light

Four to six hours of direct sun. A jade in a dim room stretches into a thin pale thing that never regains its compact shape.

Humidity and temperature

Indifferent; dry air is fine. Central heating in winter is what turns a comfortable room into a dry one, and it is the usual reason an established plant suddenly browns at the edges or picks up spider mites.

Soil and potting

Cactus compost, ideally with more grit still. The one thing a jade cannot survive is a mix that stays damp.

Feeding

A weak cactus feed two or three times over the summer. Stop feeding in autumn and start again when you see new growth in spring — feeding a plant that isn't growing just builds up salts in the pot.

Repotting

Repot every 2 years. Every three or four years, and into a heavy pot — a mature jade is top-heavy and a plastic pot will tip.

Common problems

Leaves dropping at a touch
Overwatering, almost always.

Fix: Stop watering until the pot is fully dry, then water far less often.
Stretched pale stems with leaves far apart
Not enough light.

Fix: Move it into direct sun and cut the stretched growth back — the cuttings will root.
Red edges on the leaves
Sun and cool nights. This is a good sign, not a problem.

Fix: Nothing to fix; it is the plant colouring up.
White cottony spots in the leaf joints
Mealybugs.

Fix: Dab each one with alcohol on a cotton bud and check again weekly for a month.

Propagation

A single leaf laid on dry compost roots and forms a plantlet in a few weeks. Stem cuttings work too — let the cut end callus for a couple of days first.

A cutting taken in PlantParlour keeps its link to the plant it came from, so a propagation years later still traces back to the mother plant — which is the point if you ever sell or trade it.

Toxicity and safety

Toxic to cats and dogs; causes vomiting and lethargy. Not a hazard to people.

Named cultivars and variegations

Crassula ovata is sold under several cultivar names. Care is the same unless noted; variegated forms carry less chlorophyll, so they grow more slowly and want more light than the plain species.

Cultivar	Also sold as	Water
'Gollum'	Gollum jade	every 2 weeks
'Hobbit'	Hobbit jade	every 2 weeks
'Tricolor'	Variegated jade	every 2 weeks

Questions people ask

How often should you water a Jade plant?

Water every 2 weeks as a starting point — that is the cadence PlantParlour sets for Crassula ovata. Water thoroughly, then not again until the pot is bone dry and the leaves have lost a little of their firmness. In winter, once a month is plenty. Light, pot size and the time of year all move that number, so treat it as a reminder to go and check rather than a rule.

How much light does a Jade plant need?