What it is
Jade Plant (Crassula ovata) is in the Crassulaceae family. A chunky, tree-like succulent that lives for decades and roots from a single dropped leaf.
How to grow it
It wants bright light, water it very low - succulent, and give it gritty, fast-draining soil. Target a soil pH around 6.0-7.0. Space plants about Pot apart. Expect roughly Leaf/stem cuttings root. Tender succulent.
How it's used
Jade Plant is used: houseplant.
🔎 How to identify it
- Plump oval jade-green leaves
- Thick woody stems
- Roots from leaves
Not for eating
How to grow & propagate jade plant
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate jade plant
Jade Plant is grown from seed. Start it in the season it favors, keep the seedbed evenly moist until it's up, and thin to give each plant room to size up.
Growing jade plant in Texas
Give it bright light and gritty, fast-draining soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Time your planting to our long warm season and watch the frost dates at both ends; the live weather tool on this site is built for exactly that.
Once it's rooted in, this is a low-water plant — overwatering does more harm than drought here. Water deeply to establish, then back off and let it prove how tough it is.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly leaf/stem cuttings root before you're harvesting. Pick herbs in the morning after the dew dries for the strongest oils, and harvest little and often — regular cutting keeps a herb bushy and stops it bolting.
Making more for free
If you want more, let your healthiest plants mature fully and collect the seed once it's dry on the plant — then store it somewhere cool, dark, and dry until next season.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.