How to Plant and CultivateCrassula Plant PortulacaAlso known as Jade, the energy-boosting plant for apartments
Jade plants are considered essential in any plant collection and are among the most popular houseplants. Caring for these plants is easy, requiring minimal effort to keep them fresh and thriving at home.
There are various types of jade plants available, and people who own these plants often have many questions about how to care for them, which we will address here with gardening tips.SelMagzWe aim to answer these questions. Follow the tips below to keep your plants healthy for a long time.
How to Care for Crassula Plant?
When buying these plants, you are likely to end up with the flat, oval shape of Crassula ovata. Spoon jade plants are another type that features tubular leaves approximately 2 to 3 centimeters tall, shaped like spoons, sold as houseplants. Their leaves can be either shallow or flat, and if you keep them outside in a garden, you will need to be more attentive since their care differs from that indoors.
Conditions for Maintaining Crassula Plant
Where to Cultivate Crassula Plant?
Assuming these are houseplants, you might want to keep the sunniest ones indoors. They can be placed underneath glass for direct sunlight without experiencing…sunburnand only require a bit of natural light indoors. These plants can also tolerate cooler temperatures.
Cool temperatures at night down to 65°F are tolerable for these plants, which can also be kept on balconies. You may expose these plants to outdoor sunlight for a few days, as sunshine outdoors is stronger, and then bring them back inside. Morning sun exposure helps them become hardier outdoors.
How to Cut Crassula from Leaves or Stems?
Crassula jade plants can easily be pruned from the stem or leaves, as follows:
Cut a leaf or a part of the stem, ensuring to leave at least two pairs of leaves intact. After cutting, place it in a warm place for a few days and keep the plant adequately moist without soaking it. Place the leaf horizontally on the soil and lightly cover it with soil. If you cut a piece of the stem, position it upright in the soil. Do not expose the plant to direct light yet, and do not water it. After one or two weeks, the cut leaves and stems will begin to sprout. Check the plant every few days, and if it hasn’t rooted, reinsert it in the same soil.
Once the plant is rooted, water it deeply. You can even use a spray bottle to prevent overwatering the roots, ensuring the surface soil does not become too wet for proper air circulation and growth. Allow the soil to dry a little between waterings and keep it away from direct sunlight.
How to Pot Crassula Plant?
Use soil that drains easily for this plant; for example, you can plant it alongsidecactiand add some organic soil around it.
Here’s how:
Add organic soil to one part of the pot and moss to another while placing sand in three parts. Remember to use heavy pots to keep the plant stable and in place.
How to Grow and Care for Crassula Plant at Home
How to Water Crassula Plant?
Jade plants store water, so they don’t require frequent watering. Allow about 4 to 5 centimeters of soil to dry out before watering again.
Houseplants typically need watering every two to three weeks, but make sure to check them carefully. A key point to remember is that if you see water droplets or dew on the leaves, it indicates that the plant has received too much water.
If you move these plants outdoors in the summer, place them under a porch or any other covering to protect them from rain. During summer, their growth slows, and they don’t need as much water.
How to Feed Crassula Plant?
Feeding should start about a month after planting, promoting better growth. Ensure the soil and water are sufficient, giving half the amount of water to small pots compared to bigger ones.
When to Trim the Crassula’s Tip?
You only need to trim your jade plants when the plant is dead, dry, or the branches are shriveled. If this happens, remove the damaged portion. Jade plants will thrive even more with the trimming.
Ideal Temperature for Crassula
Jade plants generally grow well at room temperature, ideally between 65°F to 75°F during the day. They can also survive cooler temperatures at night and through the winter, preferring around 55°F.
As mentioned in SelMagz, if your home is warmer than this, don’t worry. If the plant gets enough light, it can continue to grow. Just take care of them on cold winter days, ensuring their leaves don’t freeze near windows, and move them to a more suitable spot.
Ideal Conditions for the Energy-Boosting Crassula
Fertilizing Crassula Plant
You can fertilize these plants two or three times a month for enrichment.
Use a liquid plant fertilizer once every three months, keeping the soil moist and feeding it during dry periods, as dryness can be harmful.
How to Remove Dust from Crassula Plant?
The leaves of jade plants act like home furniture, attracting dust significantly, which can disrupt their ability to absorbsunlighteffectively.
Fortunately, restoring their beauty is easy. Simply use a light cotton cloth to dust them off.
Propagating Crassula Plant
To enjoy the beauty of this plant even more, you can cut sections of it. Just cut 6 inches of branches or leaves and then place the plant in a slightly warmer environment to help the cut sections heal.
Has your friend fallen in love with your Crassula plant?
You can easily propagate this plant by cutting from the lower stems and leaves. Just remind your friends to keep the soil moist to prevent the roots from drying out. You can even take a single leaf from someone and place it in potting soil to slowly sprout.
Growing and Propagating Crassula at Home
What are the Flowers of Crassula Plant Like?
Whenever a flower or bloom from this plant is posted on social media, it garners thousands of comments asking why our plant doesn’t bloom.
Even in northern regions, if we keep plants indoors, we often rarely see them flower unless we replicate outdoor conditions by cooling the indoor area, ensuring adequate light, and sometimes allowing the soil to dry up a bit.
How to Deal with Pests on Crassula (Jade) Plant?
With proper care, these plants can stay healthy.
Jade plants usually don’t get pests under these conditions, but you might find leaves damaged by spider mites at home. To preventinsect biteson these plants, you can apply some alcohol on the leaves, then regularly do this for a few weeks, and you’ll see that pests will stay away.
Neem oil is also very effective in controlling plant pests. When plants are attacked by insects, we can use neem oil to get rid of them.
Organicsoaps and sprays are also available for this purpose, but jade plants are sensitive to sprays, which can be more harmful than the pests themselves.
What is the Best Soil for Crassula Plant?
Regular soil works for this plant’s growth, but sometimes certain soils retain too much moisture.
The best approach is to use draining and porous soils; sandy soils are also suitable for jade plants. Clay soil is also suitable for Crassula, especially if you have a habit of overwatering.
Other Tips About Crassula Plant:
- To encourage the plant to bloom, place its roots in a small pot and keep the bottom moist.
- Cooler temperatures in winter also promote blooming.
- Jade plants are known as money plants, and besides their long lifespan and beautiful appearance, they make great gifts for friends.
