Like many succulent lovers, I love my Jades. I love to shape them into little bonsais. To be able to grow jade in different shape and forms it’s essential to know how to propagate them. I will show you 4 ways to propagate your jade plant.
As a rule thumb, fastest way to propagate Jade plants is to take stem cuttings with firm Jade leaves around spring or summer time. Make sure the stem cutting has 6 to 8 leaves and let the stem callous over 3-4 days before planting it in fast draining soil. Be sure to keep it under the shade and water once every 3-4 days.
While there are many ways to propagate Jade plants that’s the best way I’ve found to work. I’ll go into several ways to propagate your Jade plant and we’ll dive into the details on how to increase your odds in producing more Jade plants through propagation.
This article was written by my husband. As he took several seasons to observe our jade plants to come up with a guide that will help you propagate your Jade plant as successful as possible. Hopefully, this will be helpful to you.
How to Propagate Jade Succulent Plant
I prefer to propagate my Jade using a stem cutting in soil but you can use leaves, use stem cuttings in water and we’ll talk about other ways to propagate a little later in the article. Although I tried different ways, I found stem cuttings in soil to be the easiest way to get my jade stem cuttings to root and grow quickly.
Start off with watering the mother jade plant to allow the plant to get it’s leaves to firm up and fill up with water, this allows the stem cutting more time to survive and root outside of it’s mother plant.
I typically take 6 to 8 leaves but 2 leaves will still work. 6 to 8 leaves gives the stem cutting more water reserves to grow roots and thrive on it’s own.
I will also let it callous for 3-4 days after cutting but before planting it in soil. This is an important step to prevent the stem cutting from rotting once you start introducing moisture to the soil.
In terms of what type of soil I use. I find fast draining soil works best. The mixture of turface MVP clay, pine bark, pumice or perlite works very well. Try to use larger particle size so they retain less water.
1/4 inch particle size seems to work very well. If you can sift out the fine soil the better. Once it has roots and it starts growing shoots aggressively, it should be ok to use finer grain soil as soil supplements. There’s a section below what soil combination works best.
I also prefer leaving the stem cutting under the shade for a few weeks but I’ve tried putting them under direct sun and they still work but some did dry out a lot faster. Some of my cuttings did fine under direct sunlight but not prolong hot sun. I would say above 80/85 degrees will dry out your stem cuttings really quickly.
I water the stem cuttings every 3-4 days, because my soil dries in about a day or in 48 hours it’s completely dry and in 3 or 4 days the stem is less likely to rot and die.
In terms of fertilizer, you can add some. I find using fertilizers will help your new plant to grow faster once they root. I use osmocote slow release but it’s optional.
Can you Propagate Jade plants from Leaves?
You can definitely propagate Jade plants from leaves. However, you need to make sure you remove the leaves from the jade plant correctly. Make sure when you pull the jade plant leaf from the branch, the leaf doesn’t tear. This tear will open up the leaf which causes the Jade leaf to dry out quickly.
If the Jade leaf dries prematurely it will not root at all and produce small tiny jade plants. You need make sure you remove the Jade leaf from the Jade stem carefully so that the outer leaf structure or shell so to speak is intact. You do this by slowly pushing your thumb against the edge of the leaf attached to the stem and slowly pull it out.
How do you propagate Jade plants from leaves?
You propagate Jade Plants from leaves by removing the jade plants leaves carefully to make sure the leaf doesn’t rip. You place the leaf on top of a pot or tray with soil and mist it with water. Once it looks dry, you can mist it again and wait until roots starts to form and wait until tiny Jade plants grow.
This is not my preferred way as it requires that I make sure the soil doesn’t dry up and requires too much time to monitor the soil.
Can you propagate a jade plant branch/stem?
Yes, you can definitely propagate a jade plant branch, it’s actually my preferred way. Only thing you need to do to propagate a jade plant branch is to make sure you let your branch dry out and callous for a few days once you cut it from your main plant.
After a few days, you can stick it in a well draining soil and the race is on. Water when the soil feels dry. I’ll talk about how to water and how much a little later.
Can you root a jade branch in water?
Yes, you can root a jade branch in water. But it’s not my preferred way since it’s so easy to root a jade plant branch directly in soil. Also, when you root a jade branch in water, it actually produces water roots. And in my opinion water roots behave slightly differently from regular roots so if you plant it in soil it’ll need time to adopt to the soil and turn them or form regular roots.
To reduce the time for the jade plant to adopt twice, I just root my jade branch in soil directly and let it grow as a regular plant.
There’s also a good chance your stem starts rotting because of the water, so make sure you let the cut wound callous first before you leave it in water.
I’ve also tried leaving the jade stem cutting above water, it sometimes produces roots but not all the time, I haven’t done enough of it to make it so that it works everytime.
Can you root a jade branch with no soil nor water?
Yes, it’s actually possible to root a jade branch with no soil nor water. Jade plants are incredible succulents, they produce what people call air roots. When the jade cuttings is searching for water it will produce aerial roots like in the photo above. You can plant the jade with air roots directly in soil and it’ll start to grow.
I’ve seen our jade plants left indoors with very little water and they produced air roots, I’ve cut those numerous times and planted those and they grow as usual. If the jade plant grow air roots and you water it from the base of the jade plant, the roots actually dries out because it’s now again getting enough water from the main roots. It’s an amazing plant.
Best Soil Mix to Propagate Jade Succulent Plant
I have tried so many soil combination to root a Jade Succulent plant and the only time it doesn’t work is if there’s too much water that causes the jade stem or branch to rot. Use fast draining soil and if at all possible use soil with turface or calcined clay with pumice or perlite. You can also add some pine bark to it.
Here’s a few combinations I’ve used to root a jade plant branch.
Turface(Calcined Clay) 2 parts + pumice 2 parts + 1 part succulent mix
Turface(Calcined Clay) 2 parts + pumice 2 parts + 1 part pine bark
Turface(Calcined Clay) 2 parts + perlite 2 parts + 1 part succulent mix
Turface(Calcined Clay) 2 parts + perlite 2 parts + 1 part pine bark
When to Water Your Jade Succulent Cuttings
Water your jade succulent cuttings when the soil is dry. So it really depends on the type of soil you use and also how hot and dry where you put the jade plant cuttings.
If it’s summer and hot and you leave your cuttings outside be sure to leave it under the shade otherwise it’ll dry too quickly, you have to water it more often. Let the soil completely dry between watering this will ensure your stem doesn’t rot. This might actually mean you need to water every day if it’s hot even under the shade.
If it’s summer, it’s hot and you leave your cuttings inside the house, you don’t have to water often. Let the soil dry completely between watering this will ensure your the stem produces the roots without stem rot. This could mean that you need to water after 2 or 3 days if it gets direct sunlight or the house is warm.
If it’s winter and it rains, it’s better to keep your cuttings inside until it roots. You can water your jade succulent cuttings once a week and it should be fine. However, if you turn on the heat often you might need to water slightly more often.
How Fast Does a Jade Succulent Plant Propagate
Jade Succulent Plant propagate or produces roots between 2 to 3 weeks depending on it’s current environment condition. There’s a few ways to find out if your jade plant has rooted. The obvious one is for you to take the plant out of the soil to see if it has roots. This is ok to do, I’ve done it numerous times, if it hasn’t rooted I’ll just put it back.
Another way to find out if your jade plant has rooted is to feel the jade leaves, the leaves tend to soften when they are running out of water and once it roots and starts absorbing enough water it will harden again. So you can check the leaf softness to gauge whether or it has rooted or not.
How Much Sun is Needed While Propagating a Jade Succulent Plant
Not much is my answer to this question. The sun stimulates the jade plant to grow but too much sun will dry the soil and cutting too fast. If you place your jade succulent cuttings under the shade and it gets a little sun this should be fine.
In the spring time, I leave it outside in our area where it gets a little sun and rain and my jade cuttings root quickly. I’m in USDA zone 9b.
I think, it’s best to root a jade succulent plant indoors once it has rooted you can bring it outside they are more resilient once they have roots. Keep it indoors near a south facing window. Lite sun for a few hours is ok, if you have intense sun from your window, best to keep it in the shade.
Best Time to Propagate Jade Succulent Plant
In the spring, the Jade plant suddenly comes a live and it roots left and right even if you just left a leaf or stem around.
In the summer, the Jade plant can also be rooted. However, depending on where you are in the world, if your summer is extremely hot it might dry out your cuttings rather quickly. Root it indoors if you are in a hot area. Root outdoors if your summers are mild.
In the fall, you can still root your Jade plant but it seems to slowdown growth during this time. Again, it depends on your location, in some areas of the world a Jade plant can root all year round.
In the winter, if you are in colder areas the Jade plant slows down, it can still root indoors but it’s going to be slow. And the risk of stem rot is higher due to cold weather and soil staying moist longer.