Gadenin日本語Get the appThere is no schedule, only a pot that dries
The same jade plant in a four inch terracotta pot on a sunny sill and in an eight inch plastic pot in a dim room wants water three times as often in the first case. Any interval you read, including the ones below, is a starting point you correct by checking the compost.
The reliable check is weight. Lift the pot the day you water it, and lift it again when a wooden skewer pushed to the bottom comes out dry and clean. Those two weights are the only calibration you need, and after a month you will stop needing the skewer at all.
| Pot and position | Time to dry through | How to approach it |
|---|---|---|
| Terracotta, four to six inches, sunny window | Five to eight days in the growing season | Water two or three days after it dries |
| Plastic or glazed, same size and position | Ten to fourteen days | Check with a skewer every time. Never water on habit |
| Any pot back in a dim room | Three weeks or more | Water rarely and shallowly, or move it to more light |
| Sitting in a cachepot or saucer | The base stays wet indefinitely | Lift it out to water and let it drain before it goes back |
| Outdoors under cover in summer | Four to six days | The fastest cycle of the year. Water in the morning |
Wrinkled leaves mean thirst, soft leaves mean rot
Both extremes soften the leaves, and this is the point where owners most often make the wrong move. A thirsty jade plant has leaves that stay firm under the skin but develop fine surface wrinkles, slightly like a deflating balloon. An overwatered one has leaves that feel squashy and waterlogged, look translucent or yellow, and come off the stem with almost no resistance.
- Feel the leaf, then feel the compost Squeeze a lower leaf lightly. If it is wrinkled but firm and the compost is bone dry, water thoroughly. If it is soft and the compost is even slightly damp, do not water and move the plant somewhere with air movement.
- Check the base of the stem Run a finger around where the trunk enters the compost. Firm and woody is right. Any softness, dark discoloration or a sour smell means rot has started and the plant needs to come out of the pot the same day.
- Count the fallen leaves One or two lower leaves shed over a month is normal ageing. A dozen inside a week, from damp compost, is overwatering and the response is to stop, not to feed.
- Trust the wrinkles for longer than feels right A jade plant recovers fully from wrinkled leaves within two or three days of a good soak. It does not recover from a rotted stem base at all. When you cannot decide, wait.
When you do water, do it properly
Rare and thorough beats frequent and shallow. Small sips wet only the top inch, leave the roots crowded at the surface, and keep the middle of the pot permanently half damp, which is where rot begins.
- Water until it runs out of the bottom Pour steadily onto the compost surface until water flows freely from the drainage holes, then stop. That is one watering, however long the pot then takes to dry.
- Empty the saucer within ten minutes Anything still standing after ten minutes should be tipped away. A pot left in half an inch of water for a day undoes everything else you do well.
- Keep water off the crown and the leaves Water pooling where leaves meet the stem invites rot and leaves mineral marks. Pour at the compost, not over the top of the plant.
- Water on a bright morning Watering in the evening leaves the pot cold and saturated all night. A morning watering means the surface dries and the pot warms through the day.
Through the year
These intervals assume a terracotta pot in real sun. Stretch every one of them for plastic, for shade, and for a large pot. Write down the date you water for one full year and the pattern for your own home will be obvious by the second.
| Season | Interval once dry | Amount | Feeding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring, as growth restarts | Every ten to fourteen days | Until it runs through | Half strength cactus feed once growth is clearly moving |
| Early summer | Every seven to ten days | Until it runs through, in the morning | Half strength feed once a month |
| High summer heat above 86F (30C) | Every two weeks, less if growth has paused | A moderate amount, early morning | None. Feeding a stalled plant burns roots |
| Autumn | Every two to three weeks, lengthening | Reducing steadily | Stop by mid autumn |
| Cold winter below 50F (10C) | Every four to six weeks | A small amount on a mild morning | None |
| Heated winter room above 64F (18C) | Every two to three weeks | Until it runs through | None, or once at quarter strength |
Some leaf wrinkling over a dry winter is expected and correct. The plump leaves come back within days of the first proper spring watering. Watering a cold plant because the leaves have wrinkled is the most common way a jade plant is lost in winter.
What to do when you have already overwatered
If the compost is damp, the lower leaves are dropping soft, and the stem base feels less than firm, the plant needs surgery rather than patience. Acting the day you notice it is usually enough to save the plant, and even a badly rotted one can be rebuilt from cuttings off the healthy top.
- Take it out of the pot at once Tip the plant out and shake the wet compost off the roots. Black, slimy or hollow roots are dead. Cut them back to clean white or pale tan tissue with a clean blade.
- Cut into the stem until it is clean If the trunk is brown inside when you slice across it, keep cutting upward in half inch steps until the cross section is clean and pale. Everything below that is not recoverable.
- Dry the plant bare for several days Leave it out of any compost, in shade with air moving, for three to seven days until the cut surfaces are hard and dry. Do not be tempted to pot it straight into fresh compost.
- Repot dry and wait Pot into dry gritty potting mix in the smallest pot the roots fit, and give no water for a week. Then water lightly and treat it as a cutting until new growth appears.