Pruning jade plants for a more regular growth For outward growth, shorten the trunk by one-third. You should prune new branches only at the tips of the shoots. Relief pruning is also necessary when the branches of older trees begin to droop. Otherwise, the tree may even fall over.
The best time of the year to prune jade plants is spring through early summer. If you do it in the fall or winter on one kept indoors, the new growth can quickly become leggy and weak. What is this? Otherwise if you live in a warm climate where they're outside year-round, then you can trim them at any time.
Shorten Leggy Stems
If an entire plant is leggy, you can cut up to one-third of each stem just above a node to encourage bushier growth. Avoid overfertilizing and provide bright indirect sunlight. You may also have a healthy stem that is much longer than the others and skews the general symmetry.
Pruning jade plants is not necessary for the health of the plant and is done only for aesthetic reasons. Be aware that any time you prune a plant you are exposing the plant to potential bacterial damage, which could weaken or even kill the plant.
Pruning jade plants for a more regular growth
For outward growth, shorten the trunk by one-third. You should prune new branches only at the tips of the shoots. Relief pruning is also necessary when the branches of older trees begin to droop. Otherwise, the tree may even fall over.
Leggy Jade Plant Fix
This just means that the plant has stretched out because of insufficient light. Jade plants like several hours of direct sunshine and should be placed right in front of a window for best results. If you have a nice southern exposure window, this will be ideal for your jade plant.
How to Water Jade Plants. Jade plants are succulents (they hold water in their leaves), so they don't do well when sitting in constantly moist soil, so let the top 1 to 2 inches of soil dry out between waterings. Indoors, this will probably mean watering once every 2 to 3 weeks—but be sure to check regularly!
A healthy jade has erect stems and firm foliage that points outward, upward, or slightly downward. But when a plant is under stress, the young, soft stems may droop, and the foliage may hang limply, like fallen dominoes.
Also, make sure the pot isn't too big. Jade grows fairly slowly, and does best in pots that are just an inch or two wider than the root zone of the plant.
Jade plants don't mind being root-bound in a small pot. In fact, keeping them root-bound will keep the jade smaller and more manageable. Repot young jade plants once every 2 to 3 years to encourage growth. With older jade, repot once every 4 to 5 years or as necessary.
Try moving your drooping jade to a window with southern exposure. If you can't place it in a sunnier window, supplement the lighting it gets by placing it under a lamp with a fluorescent bulb. If lack of light is the problem, your plant should start to perk up within a few weeks.
As jade plant flowers fade, snipping off or deadheading the spent blooms is another common part of pruning. It's not essential to jade plant care, as their flowers tend to drop off on their own, but it won't hurt them.
Light. Give jade plant at least 4 to 6 hours of bright, indirect sunlight for the greenest, healthiest leaves. Growing in part sun will result in narrow leaves that take on a grayish cast and can result in leggy plants. Feel free to take your jade plant outside during the summer.
Place jade plants in indirect sunlight.
Too much direct sunlight can scorch the leaves of young jade plants or cause the leaves of mature plants to develop red tips. Not enough sunlight can stunt their growth or cause them to look leggy and stretched out.
☀️ Sunlight
Keep your jade plant in bright light for at least six hours per day, according to Almanac. While mature plants can handle direct sunlight, younger plants require a bright space that's free of direct rays. Without proper sunlight, your jade plant will stop growing, or it'll grow tall and leggy.
Used coffee grounds are great for succulents like jade plants that grow in slightly acidic soils. Coffee grounds also contain two crucial nutrients; magnesium and potassium. However, coffee grounds should be heavily diluted and used sparingly with jade plants because the grounds are high in nitrogen.
Stem Cuttings
Rooting leaves is an excellent propagation method with these plants. But maybe you're thinking a little bigger. If you want to start with a slightly bigger piece, take a three- to five-inch stem cutting from an actively growing stem. Cut it just below a leaf, using a clean knife or garden snips.
Jade plants rarely bloom indoors, but when they do, they produce small, star-shaped, white or delicate pink flowers. In their native South Africa, these plants bloom during the winter, namely from June to August. Jade plants also bloom during winter in the northern hemisphere, meaning they start flowering in February.
If you give the plant too much water, the leaves will look unhealthy. And if you forget to water it for a long period of time and the soil goes dry, the leaves will also become wrinkled.
For a jade plant to flower, it needs to be at least 3-4 years old, so if your plant is still pretty tiny, you'll want to wait a few years before expecting to see tiny flowers.