Jade plant is one of the most enticing decorative houseplants that is very commonly used in various types of modern house.
These plants have good resistance to different temperatures and pests.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the jade plant is known as an ornamental plant that can last for a long time even though it is placed indoors without direct sunlight.
In addition to the fact above, the jade plant care is actually very easy to do, even for those of you who are unfamiliar with the treatment of ornamental plants.
If you want to start growing decorative plants as a new hobby, starting these activities by taking care of jade plants might be the best choice.
However, before starting to take care of your jade plants, there are 5 important things you should know to ease the whole process, those things are:
Table of Contents
1. Know Your Jade’s Type
Currently, there are more than 1.400 types of jade plants. Although they look similar, each type has different characteristics both in appearance and behavior.
However, from thousands of these types, the most commonly found for home decor are Hummel’s Sunset, Morgan’s Beauty, Tricolor, and Campfire.
You should be able to find these types of jades at the nearest seed shop or online.
Before start planting, make sure that you know exactly what type of jade you are going to plant so you can find accurate information about the right way to care.
Although basically all jades are succulent plants, certain types of jade plants may require special treatments that are different from others.
In addition, by knowing the type of jade you are planting, you will get clear expectations about the results of your efforts.
For example, if you plant a tricolor jade seed, you can expect the plant to grow with smooth pink gradation on the edges of its leaves.
If the color is not visible, it can be concluded that your plant might have been treated wrongfully or you might have bought the wrong seed.
2. Know the Best Temperature for Your Jade Plants
To fully understand how to grow jade plants, you need to know the best temperature to grow it.
The ideal temperature usually ranges between 18° to 24° C although succulent plants are also known to grow faster in a cold environment with temperatures between 15° to 13° C.
Even though this plant will not easily die, extreme temperature (too cold or too hot) can cause permanent damage to the growth process of the jade so that the plant does not grow perfectly.
As a reminder, the jade plant is an ornamental plant that is used for decorative purposes. Therefore, if it doesn’t grow perfectly, then all your efforts are in vain.
Moreover, the temperature is also very influential on the quality of your jade plant flowers.
Extreme cold will inhibit flowers to bloom while the excessive heat will dry out the stems and leaves of the jade plant so that the flowers burnt before blooming.
3. Know When to Water Your Jade Plants
Succulent plants such as jade plants generally do not require regular watering schedules like other ornamental plants.
You do not have to bother making a daily schedule for jade plant watering, but instead, you just need to water it when the surface of the soil feels dry.
However, as a precaution, you need to know about certain characteristics when the plants appear to need more watering.
Here are those characteristics:
- The leaves on the plant appear to shrivel
- The leaves filled with dull colored stains
- The texture of the leaves feels dry and coarse
Those are the clearest signs that the leaf cells lack fluids. Therefore, it may be the right time to increase the watering intensity and volume.
4. Know the Effect of Sunlight toward Your Jade Plants
Jade plants’ leaves and stems are filled with a heavy amount of water; therefore the sunlight that is too hot or too intense can actually burn it.
However, for those of you who live in areas with moderate temperatures that are not too hot and humid, planting jade plants outdoors is the best choice to maximize the jade plant propagation process.
Meanwhile, if you grow jade plants indoor, bringing these plants out to get sunlight is necessary to maintain their fertility.
Ideally, this plant needs to get direct sunlight for approximately 6 hours. However, you can also put this plant in a bright place with indirect sunlight.
Do not place the jade plant in a dark room because it will inhibit the process of plant growth while damaging the natural color of its leaves and stems.
5. Know the Best Soil to Grow Your Jade Plants
In general, fertile topsoil is the best medium for growing jade plants. One important thing to note (especially for those of you who use pots to plant jade plants) is about drainage.
Succulent plants are known to be quite sensitive to water, especially if the water contains high levels of salt.
To maintain the condition of these plants, make sure that the water drainage in the pot works well.
For those of you who use potting soil as the medium, beware of overwatering because the soil is much easier to absorb large amounts of water.
To maintain fertility levels, you can give fertilizer as much as one or twice a year.
If you grow jade plants indoors, use a special houseplant fertilizer that does not cause unpleasant odors.
Be careful when giving fertilizer, too much fertilizer can make your jade plant wither.
As we know, one of the compounds in fertilizer is salt. Too much salt in the soil can absorb the water content in the plant so that your jade plants will dry up and die over time.
From all the points above it can be concluded that caring for jade plants is not too difficult. You only need the basic knowledge in farming to get the best results.
Finally, if you are already proficient in growing jade plants as a home decoration, you should try to do other gardening activities that are more challenging such as repotting jade plants or growing jade plants outdoor.
These activities will give you a new experience as well as making your yard or backyard looks more beautiful.
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