How to Propagate a Jade Plant from Leaves and Cuttings

Two methods, very different timescales

Crassula roots so willingly that the choice is not whether it will work but how long you are prepared to wait. A stem cutting arrives already carrying a trunk, leaves and shape, so it looks like a plant from the day it roots. A single leaf has to build everything from scratch, and while it is a satisfying thing to watch, it is a year or more behind.

Both methods want warm weather and active growth. Cuttings taken in a cold season sit doing nothing for months, and the longer they sit unrooted the more likely they are to rot.

Stem cuttings, the method that actually gives you plants

This is what to do with the pieces you remove when you prune. A cutting taken from the top of a stretched stem is both the fix for the parent plant and a better shaped plant in its own right.

1. Cut a three to six inch tip with a clean blade Choose a firm shoot with several pairs of leaves, and cut just above a leaf pair on the parent. A scalpel or a sharp knife crushes far less tissue than scissors.
2. Strip the lowest one or two leaf pairs Twist them off cleanly so an inch or so of bare stem is left. Those leaf scars are where most of the roots will emerge.
3. Dry the cut end for three to seven days Stand the cutting upright in an empty jar in shade with air moving until the cut is dry and hard to the touch. Skipping this is the main cause of cuttings rotting.
4. Insert into dry gritty potting mix Push the bare stem an inch into dry cactus compost cut with grit, in a small pot. Do not water. A cutting that is watered before it has roots simply rots.
5. Bright shade, and the first water after a week Keep it out of direct sun and give a light watering after about seven days, then again whenever the compost is fully dry.
6. Test for roots by tugging gently After three weeks, pull lightly on the cutting. Resistance means roots. From then on treat it as a young plant and move it into full sun over a fortnight.

Rooting hormone is unnecessary for Crassula and slightly counterproductive, since the powder holds moisture against a cut that you want bone dry. A properly callused cut end roots on its own.

Leaf propagation, for patience

A jade leaf will root and produce a tiny plantlet at its base, though many leaves root and then sit for months before doing anything more. Start ten and expect a handful to become plants. The trick that makes the difference is taking the whole leaf, base included, rather than tearing it.

1. Twist the leaf off sideways, not downward Hold the leaf and rock it left and right until it comes away with a clean rounded base. A leaf torn so that its base is left on the stem will never grow.
2. Dry it for two or three days Lay the leaves on a dry surface out of sun until the detached point has sealed over.
3. Lay them on dry compost, do not bury them Rest the leaves flat on the surface of gritty potting mix with the base just touching it. Burying the leaf rots it.
4. Mist the surface lightly once a week Once roots appear from the base, a light spray of the compost surface every week or so is enough. The roots will find their own way down.
5. Wait for the plantlet, then stop babying it A miniature rosette appears at the leaf base within two to three months. Once it has four or five of its own leaves, pot it individually and water as a normal plant.
6. Leave the mother leaf until it dries out The original leaf feeds the plantlet. Let it shrivel and detach on its own rather than pulling it off early.

Where propagation goes wrong

Nearly every failure is one of three things: moisture on an uncallused cut, cold, or impatience with the tug test. Keep a note of the date you took each batch and what the weather and room temperature were, and within a couple of seasons you will know exactly which weeks of your year give the fastest rooting.