just bought a baby jade for my east facing window. it is just a small plant.
I read on plant tag and online where it should mound. see pic...
mine is not but seemed to have grown straight up and had to prop main stalk with rubberized wire else it would fall over edge of pot. ...see pic

read that it could be that it is not getting enough lite and is stretching to get more. it gets lots of light but not much sunshine.
I dare not put it outdoors as it gets quite hot and dry in my area...
would be safe to put outdoors in morning sun and then shade rest of day.

The plant needs to "see" the sun for hours each day if it will be indoors. You can certainly move it outside but be sure to start it out in bright shade or filtered light first so it can adapt to outdoor sun, which is much more harsh than indoor sun because regular window glass blocks most of the harmful UV rays. After a couple of weeks in the shade outside you can move it to a brighter location. Small gradual steps are the best way to accommodate your plant to outdoor sun.

One way you can tell your plant is getting sufficient light is if it develops red edges on the leaves, like the plant in the picture. Which, by the way, does not look like the plant you have, but a close cousin. Pictured: Crassula arborescens (big leaves). On your windowsill: Crassula ovata (smaller leaves).

Baja_Costero said:The plant needs to "see" the sun for hours each day if it will be indoors. You can certainly move it outside but be sure to start it out in bright shade or filtered light first so it can adapt to outdoor sun, which is much more harsh than indoor sun because regular window glass blocks most of the harmful UV rays. After a couple of weeks in the shade outside you can move it to a brighter location. Small gradual steps are the best way to accommodate your plant to outdoor sun.

One way you can tell your plant is getting sufficient light is if it develops red edges on the leaves, like the plant in the picture. Which, by the way, does not look like the plant you have, but a close cousin. Pictured: Crassula arborescens (big leaves). On your windowsill: Crassula ovata (smaller leaves).

thanks, I have put her outside on back patio table in shade...tho temp is 31C. I hope I can get this to work as I would love to see the red edges on leaves. see tag that came with my jade..one would hope the right tag got placed in the right pot..but who knows..time will tell.

Hi Lori, Crassula ovata ably handles the heat, we get into a very dry and oven hot 100F (37C) to 110F (43C) during summer time. Just make sure to water directly the soil thoroughly at the beginning of the day at least once a week, before the hot sun hits it.

Agree with Baja, let it acclimate slowly for outdoor growing, position in part sun/shade and let it experience the daytime/night time temperature variance as it does it gas exchange at night. It will enjoy it nicely.

If the tall central stem is cut short, will new shoots form from the remaining axils? If you do that it will be very easy to propagate the cut stem or the leaves, and of course, it won't have the height.

great I will try to cut back the tall centre stock then. I hope this won't kill this young plant. I don't necessarily need nor want the height.... the plant is supposed to be a mounding jade so keeping it low will be just fine with me.

could I stick the cut portion of centre stock back into the soil and will it root?

You won't kill it.
You can also root cuttings in same pot. 👍👍.
😎😎😎

I think it needs to dry or "callous" before planting, likewise if you use the individual leaves - you'll need to check on that with someone else though, to be on the safe side. I remember I once stuck several leaves in a pot and after a bit, tiny plants grew from the base of the leaves.

Starfishmomma said:I think it needs to dry or "callous" before planting,

thanks...I vaguely remember that from info on other succulents especially. will take that into consideration.

lori_15 said:I don't necessarily need nor want the height.... the plant is supposed to be a mounding jade so keeping it low will be just fine with me.

Here for reference is a jade like yours which I have left unpruned in full sun... kind of a mound I guess, more like a sprawling sideways bush in strong light if you leave it alone. You can of course turn it into a hedge (or whatever) if you so desire, through the use of the shears. This is a very common landscape plant in our mild climate. In the ground it can get by on our annual rainfall of about 10 inches just fine without any irrigation.

Baja_Costero said:
Here for reference is a jade like yours which I have left unpruned in full sun... kind of a mound I guess, more like a sprawling sideways bush in strong light if you leave it alone.

lovely picture of plant....once my plant has been outdoors for a few weeks and is used to the air, I will put in full sun and hope that it grows to something similar to yours. how old is that plant?
in my area it can get hot 40C in summer and sometimes gets quite windy, will have to check if plant would not like that.
winter temps can sometimes get as low as -10C but not for a great length of time. I would have to bring it in house for winter.

I find that the jades can ably handle overnight temps of 30F (-1C) as long as kept dry. Also I try to observe the appearance of the trunk. If it is still looking quite fresh green, better to keep it indoors when the onset of cold season comes around. It is still too young. Once the trunk appears more bark-like, then it can adjust very well to the cold weather to a certain limit.

The coldest I have exposed my Crassulas is at 21F (-6C) overnight temps. Kept dry and away from too much cold wind, then it can endure nicely.

They turn nicely red when it is getting quite cold stressed. It is quite good timing that the city trees here are asleep in winter so there is more light shining on the jade, so it helps warm them up gradually when the sun comes around at daytime. My oldest jade is positioned by our house too, so it also helps in getting some warmth coming from the house.

Also factor in humidity levels in your area. Over here, it is just so dry, humidity often at 40% and lower if it gets windier, and most succulents are okay with it, since they stash water in their leaves and trunk. If you get way too rainy and humidity too high, protect your plant, position it in a protected area.

Looking at your Crassula ovata, I will not touch that yet with any pruning. Let it mature some more. What it needs now is more light.

I have had my baby jade outdoors for a week now and it seems to be getting bit of red on tips on leaves. yeah!!
it is in a very small plastic pot and placed in another larger ceramic (may be resin) pot for stability. I was wondering if I could or should remove it from plastic pot and plant directly into larger part which does have drainage hole at bottom. OR does jade like to be tight in its pot?

Jades do not like to be in too big containers, their roots grow shallow and small, so it is so easy to rot the roots if the media stays wet too long. And that often happens if the container is too big for it, with more media to dry out then you are going to compromise the roots. And always use containers with drain holes, if you have to use a cache pot for stability, make sure there is no water left standing in it.

Yes, I think the current container will be fine for a while. Lori, if you look at my plant you can see the pot is pretty small for the size of the plant. They don't need a lot of space. Maybe in a year or two you can think about a bigger pot. And where space is limiting (for example when you have to overwinter a succulent) you might as well treat that as an advantage. My own plant is maybe 10 years old and much neglected... not so sure about the age because I got it from my neighbor several years ago.