Hi there,
I'm new here and not really an experienced plant person--but I've always loved them and keep several houseplants. I have a Chinese Jade plant in a container without a drainage hole. I am careful not to overwater it and it looks very healthy, has been that way awhile. My mom said the roots would eventually rot due to standing in leftover water(which makes sense) But it seems like so far it is using all the water and the roots aren't standing in any. I've also kept other plants like this in the past without a problem.So what do you think? Will it eventually die even though it looks ok now and I don't overwater it?
Thanks for any help.

This should work fine for awhile. But depending on your water type, the soil may eventually get too salty, or alkaline, if there are enough of those minerals in your soil. Better to have drainage, so you can flush all that gunk out every once in awhile. Mine usually get flushed out when we have a good rain storm, which doesn't happen very often in Arizona. Then I put my pots right out in the rain, and let them get soaked really good, and at the same time flush the potting soil. But if you are just watering enough to keep the roots wet, and not over watering, you should be fine. I tend to over water, so not a gamble I would ever take :)

Alan

Welcome to ATP!!

I agree with Alan (and I'm a fellow over-waterer).

The only plant I would dare do this with would be a philodendron, who can handle a lot of abuse- ask me how I know!

Most often, plants don't just up and die without warning, so you can keep an eye on your jade and at the first sign of trouble, re-pot.

Good luck, and hope to see you around the forums more!

Thanks so much for your help! Think I will repot it at some point.

One thing that I have done when I have a great pot that doesn't have a hole:

*drill a hole. Use a masonry bit and/or some masking tape to help with the drilling.

*place a nursery pot with your plant inside of the cool pot. The nursery pot will have holes and drain. If you need to disguise the cheap inside pot, use sphagnum or other moss. You can find moss in the woods, Walmart, craft store, or dollar store.

Where there's a will, there's a way!

I love it when I can find a plant in a pot, that fits perfectly inside one of my nice ceramic pots. =)

Here is a perfect example. This Peace Lily came in a 5 gallon black plastic pot. It fit so snug in this ceramic pot, I didn't even have to transplant it. It's doing very well, and seeing my first blooms just starting to come up.

Alan



Oh, and btw, that wall is not as blue as it looks in that pic..lol! It's screaming at you in that pic, not sure why. It is more peaceful blue.

Great container!

I adore pottery

Thanks..yes I do that trick too. However sometimes things don't fit right! Alan love blue so that blue wall isn't too blue for me...lol. Lovely plant too. I like peace lilies. But I heard they were bad for cats and we have two cats around here. Guess I could put one out of their reach though!

I usually like to plant succulents in porous containers with holes but I do have a very old Jade plant that has been in a large ceramic planter with no holes for many years.
Here it is sitting on the round table.

Very nice collection!

Holly, I so want a sun porch so I can grow beautiful plants like you are growing, where the green goes from indoors to the outdoors. Yours is beautiful. In the summer it would be great to sit on that back sun porch, in a nice over stuffed sofa and read good books Here in the summer it's to hot to get outside and do anything, except for very early morning...say 5AM! But even then you come in soaked from the humidity and heat.

Alan

Thanks, That is just a few of the house plants. That pic was taken last summer and most of the plants are outside and this year I have even more to bring in. That area is the corner of our great room and it really fills up fast when the temps start dropping.

Holly those are beautiful plants. Very cool you have kept that one in a hole free container so long. Sorry am so late in replying, with a baby I don't have time to log in much and struggling to take care of my little plant collection. But I did repot that chinese jade in a pot with drainage. Also hederia ivy that was in a pot without drainage.