Hello everyone i have a couple questions for taking care of jade plants:)
1) Do they need direct sunlight? If so how many hours do they need
2)When Do they need fertilizer? I dont really know much about fertilizers, so what type do they need and how much?
3)How often do they need watering? Do you need to water the leaves or just the soil?

Hello again Kei,

The care is the same as any other succulent. When the leaf edges turn red, your Jade will be getting enough light.

If you fertilized once every month or so during the growing season with 1/4 strength fertilizer, it would be more than enough.

Daisy

Hi! Thanks again. I'm pretty confused because some people say they need direct sunlight and some say they need shade because their leaves can burn. So I don't really know what the right way is. Also they say you need to carefully introduce them to sun or something like that (how exactly do you do this?) Any suggestions?

Sorry for all these questions btw, just really want to know the proper way to take care of 'em

Kei,
Click on this link, and it will take you to the database for this plant. Jade Plant (Crassula ovata)
Lots of plant info., pictures, and comments from fellow members. Just scroll down.

When this plant has been grown say indoors, or in very shaded settings, it's important to gradually move it over a period of days to where it will get more light/sun, each day. This way you'll lessen the chance of sunburn/shock.

Hope this helps.

wintermelon said:Hello everyone i have a couple questions for taking care of jade plants:)
1) Do they need direct sunlight? If so how many hours do they need
2)When Do they need fertilizer? I dont really know much about fertilizers, so what type do they need and how much?
3)How often do they need watering? Do you need to water the leaves or just the soil?

Question #3...Water the soil. And only as needed. This is a succulent. It doesn't like to stay wet. Needs excellent drainage.

I agree about accommodating a plant in shade (or an indoor plant that's going outside) very gradually to the sun. I would do it over a period of weeks, from bright shade to morning sun to midday sun to all day sun. And bear in mind that the sun is very intense around midsummer so be extra careful this time of year.

It is important to point out that these plants require different care in places where temperatures go high in the summer, so you may need to filter any recommendations you see for that. They do not enjoy heat and sun, but given a relatively mild climate, you can provide hours of daily sun. Here where temps are mild year round I grow my jades in day-long sun mostly.

Something you're going to have to deal with in Canada is overwintering. When one of these plants is indoors you really need to give it as much sun as possible, like hours of daily sun ideally. Indoor sun is much kinder than outdoor sun so you basically can't give too much. You can tell when the plant needs more light when it starts growing lanky or leaning sideways (stretching). The best looking plants have tight internodes (short distance between successive leaves along the stem) and the red edge Daisy mentioned around the edges of the leaves.

Hi Kei - Let's keep it simple. Indoors, the more sunlight a Jade receives the better it is. Outside it needs some protection - light shade is best.

Fertilizer is vastly over-rated - better to use less (half-strength) rather than more or skip it altogether.

Keep your Jade potbound and avoid repotting altogether. Allow the top third of the soil to dry before watering thoroughly until a bit of water trickles through the drain hole. Don't mist the leaves.

Except for a very few unusual plants, no potted plants are watered by putting water on the leaves. The water is applied to the soil for the roots to deliver to the plant. For that to happen successfully, roots need to be healthy, and have access to oxygen and moisture at the same time. When there is no moisture, roots shrivel and die. When there is moisture w/o oxygen, the roots suffocate and rot.

No plant likes to be rootbound. What is necessary for plants to stay alive is for their roots to not rot, which can happen so easily in a pot with dense soils, like ground dirt, or bagged mixes of predominantly tiny particles of peat, (or to simply shrivel from simply never getting any water.) Having very little soil around the roots would make the soil dry more quickly, and for even the most dedicated plant-overwaterers to not rot the roots of their plants. This gives rise to a myth about plants liking to be pot/root-bound. This is not ideal, since most non-cactus plants are stressed by dry conditions, it's just a way of coping with soil that has little air in it when moist. A more porous, chunky soil (like cactus/palm, if one is buying bagged,) can have more air in it even when it is moist because there is space between the particles. When there are tiny particles of any kind in a pot, such as peat, sand, silt, clay, they filter into all of the tiny spaces in a pot, eliminating the air. "Overwatering" is the label and manifestation when roots have suffocated and/or rotted, combo of both. Over time, organic bits decompose into smaller bits, and growing roots fill more of the space, so even the "best" soil, if it has organic components, will need to be replaced when this happens. The speed at which this happens depends on many variables, but on average, about 1-3 years. An unglazed clay pot can also help with roots having more access to more oxygen.

WillC said:Outside it needs some protection - light shade is best.

Bright shade is insufficient light for a jade plant outdoors in all but the hottest of climates (which are marginal for jades to start with). I can tell you this from personal experience as one of my plants is in a location which only gets direct sun for about half the year. The other half of the year it spends in bright shade and that much time in the shade is enough for it to produce weak, stretched growth. It starts falling over under its own weight and I sometimes have to do drastic pruning to keep it from collapsing on itself.

Hi Wintermelon. My Jade Tree lives in a conservatory year round. In summer it gets very hot, but I keep it well ventilated, and the sunlight is diffused by the polycarbonate roof. In winter, it gets very cold in there, but no frost. This seems to be a perfect environment for my plant. I give it a good water once the soil feels dry, but that seems to work. There have been times when I have over watered, but it always survives. They really are a cast iron plant.