GARDENER'S READING ROOM
Indoor Plants

The Succulent Jade Plant

The Crassula family has about 300 species of succulent herbs and shrubs, native mostly to South Africa. The best known and most loved is Crassula argentea, better known as Jade Plant, Money Tree, or sometimes Chinese/Japanese Rubber Plant. It is easy-going. It is beautiful and graceful. It is striking. It is a great beginner’s plant.

It is also often the victim of being loved to death!

Jade plants need to be treated with benign neglect. A properly neglected plant can become an heirloom: the one at the Volunteer Park Conservatory is over 80 years old and going strong!

Here are some tips on neglecting your Jade properly:

• Light: it likes bright light with some direct sunlight. If there’s too little light it won’t flower; also the stems will become thin and it will drop its leaves.
• Heat: for an African plant, this guy takes it cool! It’s perfectly happy at temperatures under 55°F in winter. It’ll survive temperatures down to 40°F without complaint.
• Watering: when it’s actively growing (usually between March and September), let the soil dry out and remain dry for several days, then water thoroughly. In the winter, water even less: several weeks to two months can and should pass between drinks. (When it’s cooler and there is less light, plants take much longer to dry out.) Tender overwatering is Jade’s main cause of death!
• Feeding: cactus food or houseplant food at one half strength once a month during active growth.
• Humidity: Jade plants prefer dry air. Too much humidity, and the growth will be soft and discolored.
• Repotting: Again, neglect is good! Jade plants like being pot-bound; they can live in the same pot for years. Only repot when absolutely necessary (like, they are ready to burst out) and then only go up one pot size. Use a good cactus/succulent mix or make your own: 3 parts potting soil to 1 part coarse sand or perlite.
• Flowering: tiny pink or white star-shaped flowers on mature plants (7-8 years old) during the winter. Jade plants needs lots of light to bloom.
• Insects: mealy bugs love Jade plants. They usually develop where the leaf joins the stem. The safest way to treat is to swab the mealy bugs with rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab. Some sprays are effective; make sure the label list Jade Plants, because Jades are sensitive to a lot of sprays.

So if you’re looking for a plant to bequeath your grandchildren, buy a jade and ignore it! Happy indoor gardening!

By Mary Ann Greco
Skylights Spring 2003 Vol 17, No. 1

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