Jade plants are one of the easiest plants to propagate and maintain, making them a great option for those who are new to gardening. They don’t require a lot of care, and they can thrive in both indoor and outdoor environments. And they have distinctive looks compared to almost every other plant! So why not learn how to propagate jade plants to give to your friends or to grow your own from one that’s living outside?
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These plants can grow outside in certain mild, dryer climates, so if you see a jade plant while you’re out on a walk, you can always just pick a leaf and grow your own jade plant!
As jade plants are succulents, there are 2 main ways to propagate – one is to use a leaf, and the other is to use a stem. In this article, we’ll go over how to propagate a jade plant from a leaf in 3 easy steps!
What You’ll Need
For jade plant propagation, you’ll need a healthy jade plant to take a leaf off of, some soil that will stay moist, a bright area, and patience! It’s that easy.
One of the hardest things with propagating a jade plant from a leaf is the amount of patience it takes before it’s a fully fledged jade plant. These plants can take a few weeks or even months to start growing, so don’t give up if it doesn’t happen immediately.
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How To Propagate A Jade Plant From A Leaf
Step 1 – Obtain a Jade Leaf
The first and most important step in how to propagate jade plants is to obtain a jade leaf! Whether this is from your own plant or one you find in nature, try to gently take it off from the stem with a slight twisting motion. You want to keep the part that’s closest to the stem as intact as possible, since that’s where new growth and roots will form from.
Be sure to not take too many leaves off of your jade plant at once so it doesn’t go into shock. One is plenty for a new plant propagation. Or if you’re making a jade bonsai tree, this is the perfect time to propagate a new plant.
While moving my jade plant, I accidentally tore a leaf off, and that’s what my propagation is from!
Step 2 – Place Jade Leaf On Damp Soil
This is why I love propagating succulents like jade. Literally all you have to do is place the leaf on top of some soil that’s damp, and just leave it there. No water propagation, no serums, nothing.
*Tip: What I did with mine was put the leaf in a pot with another plant already growing in it that had plenty of soil space. That helps keep the area humid for the plant to grow new leaves and roots, and then you don’t have to water another plant. Just make sure to do this in a pot where you won’t forget about it, and has plenty of space to get light to the leaf!
Step 3 – Let It Grow
The third step in jade plant propagation is to just let it grow! Other than watering the soil a few times a month, just let it be! This does take a while, especially if you’re trying to grow it in winter, but it just takes patience.
Eventually, you should see tiny new leaves near the edge of the leaf where it was connected to the original plant’s stem, and some roots starting to form.
If you have grown it in with another plant, once you see about a 1/2 inch of roots, go ahead and repot it into it’s own, small container. Make sure to not put in too big of a container so it can grow roots as well as more leaves and stems. Again, just put the roots in the soil, keep the leaf uncovered.
Make sure to water every few weeks, and keep it in a spot that gets at least bright, indirect light, if not full sun.
Once your new jade plant has grown big enough to photosynthesize on its own, you’ll notice that the big leaf you propagated off of will turn red and die off. That’s okay!
Keep in mind, propagation does not work with aerial roots!
This is a fairly straightforward how to propagate jade plants, and now you can have as many jade plants as you’d like! The hardest thing about this process is knowing when you don’t need any more jade plants propagated. But hey, at least you know how to do it now in case you ever want or need more!
And keep in mind that you can do this with other plants as well, like the Christmas cactus!
Be sure to check out our other articles on all things jade plants.
