Plant Exchange Blog

The jade plant is a common houseplant worldwide. The attractive succulent needs little care. It requires little water in summer and even less in winter indoors. 

In this region, the jade plant can thrive in hot, full sun on a south-facing deck in summer and receives an hour or so of the sun in the afternoon in winter indoors. A jade plant is a symbol of good luck, and with adequate sunlight and minimal water in its planter, it may live 100 years.

In low humidity, adequate sunlight year-round, little water, and perhaps a bit of fertilizer twice a year, if necessary, the evergreen grows like a miniature tree with a woody trunk and fleshy leaves to its own natural shape.

Sometimes, pruning may be needed. Inadequate winter light makes the stems leggy. Not turning the plant indoors makes one side grow more and become misshapen. The jade plant may be in a planter with other succulents with different growth rates and water needs. Or, to encourage branching and a more compact shape, the plant may be pruned.

When the planter in the photo was moved from full sun outdoors to indoors for winter, the plants grew differently in lowered sunlight. By the end of March, the planter had become out of balance with a mushroom jade plant on top.

Pruning the jade plant requires a clipper or scissors to remove the desired terminal section of the stem just above the opposite leaves, as seen here.

The sections of jade stem removed by pruning can be planted in potting soil, each to become a new jade plant. The fleshy leaves may be partially buried and likely root a new plant over time. Jade plants do flower and produce seeds, but the cuttings from the mother plant are simple to propagate.

Planters outdoors in the summer may be re-proportioned by pruning in late summer. Indoor succulents like jade plants may benefit from pruning in early spring.

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