Propagating Jade, I might have made a snafu

Discussion in 'Houseplants' started by Saproxylic, Sep 12, 2016.

  1. Saproxylic

    Saproxylic New Seed

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2016
    Messages:
    29
    Likes Received:
    19
    Location:
    Latvia (Northeast Europe)
    I have been lusting for a Jade plant like forever. Never got one while I lived with my parents, so now when I moved out, I was determined to get one going.

    However I was having trouble locating someone with a Jade big enough to get cuttings from.
    I was starting to lose hope, but when I was visiting my aunty, I noticed a couple of plants sitting in the stairway of her block'o'flats, a couple of sad pelargonias, a snake plant, a dead christmas cactus and, behold, a lovely old Jade, a beautiful variety with purple leaf undersides. I asked her who's the plants were and she said that really no-one's people just dumped their unwanted plants there, and sometimes the cleaning lady dumped some of the floor washing water on them.

    So I decided to snatch some cuttings (looking back, I could have probably snatched the whole pot and no one would have minded, but I wasn't brave enough) and proceeded to snip a few branches. Amazed I realized that the plant was in worse shape than I ever expected. Jades are pretty darn drought tolerant (I have a friend who forgot to water his for a year, and it survived) but this one had obviously gone without water for too long, it wasn't stiff, juicy and turgid as jades should be, but pretty limp and floppy.

    I know You are supposed to let the jade cutting sit dry for a couple of weeks to callous over before you attempt to root. However after sitting in a dry tray for just two days, I really got panicky as one of them had gone totally limp and even a bit wrinkly and popped them in a glass of water, as I had no soil on hand (probably a stupid move).

    So the question is- now I have gotten a hand on some cacti mix and some regular green plant mix. Is there a way I can still get baby jades out of my cuttings after a week in water?
     
  2. Loading...


  3. carolyn

    carolyn Strong Ash

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2011
    Messages:
    9,332
    Likes Received:
    4,855
    No, not water. If you haven't already, take it back out of the water and put it in sandy soil. I may take a few months but let it alone to grow roots. It will without your help. don't worry too much over it getting wilty. Even if the leaves fall off, let them be right where they fall. eventually you will see tiny new plants form even from a leaf. don't water it for a long time now.
     
  4. Saproxylic

    Saproxylic New Seed

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2016
    Messages:
    29
    Likes Received:
    19
    Location:
    Latvia (Northeast Europe)
    Thanks! I thought water might have been a bad idea! I will get them in cacti mix as soon as I get home, hopefully they aren't rotting away!

    Edited to add updates:

    One of the cuttings did not survive the unfortunate water bath, but the other two got potted in barely damp cacti mix and left without water for a couple of weeks. Now both of them gave sprouted a few about half a cm long roots from the nodes above soil, and I'm hopeful there are roots below the soil too! When should I start introducing water?
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2016
    Philip Nulty likes this.

Share This Page