Question about getting a jade plant cutting to root.

[mfedukovich]

I have a piece of a jade plant I got from a friend. Its about 5 inches tall or so and the trunk is about an inch thick (these are close measurements I can't find our tape measure) Since its a cutting it has no roots right now. She said to go ahead and stick it in some dirt/sand mix and it will do fine. But I've read to let it callous over first.
So # 1 Do I need to let it form a callous before planting? And how long should it dry out?

#2 Do I need to let roots form before planting? If so how?

And when I do plant it how deep should I put the trunk/main stem under soil?
I'm wondering if too much of it is covered if it will rot.
Thanks for any advice!

[Haesuse]

first of all, decide how deep you are going to plant it. you should try to plant it just deep enough for it to support its own weight while upright. then pinch off all the leaves that are below that point. next, sit it somewhere warm and dry, and check it after a couple of days for a nice hard scab over the bottom where it was cut, and also over the places where you pinched off leaves.

once the scab has formed you can stick it right in some nice sandy soil. I keep a bag of rooting hormone around, and as soon as the scab forms, I dunk the part that's going to be underground into the hormone.

either way, once it's in, keep it in a warm spot, but not in direct sunlight, at first. spray it every day with a mister, not to fully soak the soil, but just to keep it nice and moist.

with rooting hormone, the plant could easily be starting its roots within a week or so, but could still take longer. without hormone, you probably have a 1 month minimum.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks Haesuse!

HG

[Gnome]

mfedukovich,

I prefer to keep my root systems very shallow so that they can later be placed in bonsai pots. I find that if you plant them deeply enough to support their own weight that they will often strike root at each node, something I try to avoid. I only want roots at the bottommost node so here's a method I stumbled upon.

Before planting I trim the cutting so that only about a fourth of an inch below a node is retained. I do this with a razor blade or utility knife. I then find an over sized pot that is large enough to support the cutting by the existing branches or leaves while keeping the bottom of the cutting slightly above the bottom of the container. The plant is essentially supported without any soil. Then I allow it to dry as you have been advised, this could be days or even weeks. Roots will even form this way with no soil whatsoever. Later, I place only a small amount of mix in the bottom of the pot and water it once. Don't water again too soon or you may rot the stem.

Now it is just a waiting game, while they do root easy I find they can be left like this for an extended period and will form a nice shallow root system at the bottom of the pot. Once you have roots you can begin to water more often, especially if they are in good light.

I discovered this technique because I often have large numbers of pruned branches and found that if you let them lay on their sides to callous they will become deformed in their efforts to seek light. To counter this I began to place cuttings temporarily in empty pots as described above while the dried. It was just a small leap to then add a small amount of soil to each one and it worked wonderfully. Even if you don't care about a shallow root system it will work for you anyway.

It probably sound more involved than it really is. I'll never try to root them any other way again, it is just too easy.

Norm

[Haesuse]

ooooh, sounds neat. you got any pics of bonsai'ed jade plants?

[Gnome]

Haesuse,

Here are a few. There are some who would not refer to these as proper bonsai as they are not woody and don't really present the image of a tree. On the plus side they do well in small pots, don't mind being pot-bound, respond well to hard pruning and can even be wired with care.

[url=https://img19.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mediumwd4.jpg][img]https://img19.imageshack.us/img19/6951/mediumwd4.th.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=https://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jadeportnm1.jpg][img]https://img177.imageshack.us/img177/5530/jadeportnm1.th.jpg[/img][/url]

And here is an example of what I was describing earlier. This was three stem cuttings that I simply stood up in the pot and later added some of my usual bonsai mix. They were then left undisturbed for the better part of a year until today when I potted them and took these pictures.

[url=https://img40.imageshack.us/my.php?image=13755327.jpg][img]https://img40.imageshack.us/img40/6324/13755327.th.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://img40.imageshack.us/my.php?image=15284442.jpg][img]https://img40.imageshack.us/img40/9708/15284442.th.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://img40.imageshack.us/my.php?image=14716840.jpg][img]https://img40.imageshack.us/img40/1918/14716840.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Norm

[Haesuse]

that's fantastic, and I have a plant I'm going to do that with, asap. probably this weekend.

by "undisturbed for the better part of a year", you don't mean unwatered, do you?

[Gnome]

Haesuse,

by "undisturbed for the better part of a year", you don't mean unwatered, do you?

No, I did not mean to imply that. I am careful about watering early on though as you would be with a Jade cutting in general.

I probably took these cuttings sometime last summer and did nothing with them beside watering. I have a lot of these and felt no real need to work on them right away.

The more cuttings I take and the more I pot up the more crowded I get over the winter. I've about reached my limit and really should divest myself of some before I have to bring them in again.

Norm

[The Helpful Gardener]

I'll meet you in Harrisburg, Norm... take a few off your hands...

HG

[Haesuse]

I'll meet you in Harrisburg, Norm... take a few off your hands...

HG

amen to that.


hey norm, 1 question. you say you didn't feel a need to do anything with them for the better part of a year. so, if you had felt a need, how early do you estimate you could have proceeded with adding the bonsai mix, and them transplanting them into a bonsai tray, in optimal conditions?

thanks,
nick

[Gnome]

Haesuse,

if you had felt a need, how early do you estimate you could have proceeded with adding the bonsai mix, and them transplanting them into a bonsai tray, in optimal conditions?

You can add the soil, whatever you use, as soon as you feel comfortable that the freshly cut tissue had dried, as you suggested earlier. At least a few days, but I have left them much longer.

How long before you can move them up is something you will have to determine for yourself, but I would not be surprised if you could pot them up before fall.

Norm

[Haesuse]

well wish me luck folks. I'm about to severely prune back my jade plant, and follow norm's advice on the clippings, in the hopes of getting a nice bonsai'ed jade plant before the year is out.

I'm going to go for the nice little forrest look. 4-5 superstraight stems, no leaves for the bottom 2/3 or so of the plants, and the a nice little canopy from there up.

we shall see.

[Gnome]

Haesuse,

Good luck with your project. The parent plant should be just fine as well. Here is a link to another thread that shows one of the plants above in a before and after scenario.

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14226

Norm

[maelunoc]

Hello!
My name is scott. I'm new to this forum, and have just recently become interested in making things grow.

My roomie has a nice jade that he's been tending (poorly) for the last couple years. Ive taken a couple trimmings from it in the hope of getting a couple of clones for myself. I took a stem and a couple leaves and have followed all the necessary steps as outlined in most guides, but my clippings look pathetic. Here are some photos. Is this natural? Did I do something wrong? They've only been out for a little over a week.

[img]https://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/maelunoc/IMG_7266.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/maelunoc/IMG_7260-1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/maelunoc/IMG_7259.jpg[/img]


Many thanks and blessings.
Scott

[The Helpful Gardener]

Hi Scott,

As you said your roomy has been tending poorly, it may be that the plant is not in condition to make viable offsets... perhaps offering to tend it might give you a chance to change that and give you some experience with the plant to boot...

HG

[Haesuse]

I began the project, norm!

I got 3, quality, 4" tall cuttings from a strong jade specimen. I removed leaves from the bottom couple of nodes and left them all to scab over. I accidentally left them OUTSIDE for the first day of the scabbing, and they lost a good bit of moisture. I thought they were goners. but, a week after standing them upright in a tiny 3" pot, they had regained a lot of their vigor and rigidity. just a couple of days ago, I added a 1/2" layer of soil to the bottom of the pot to encourage active rooting.

the soil I used is equal parts perlite, pea gravel, and cactus mix.

they look nice and happy leaning on the sides of the mini-pot, and I'm (not-so)patiently awaiting the time when I can pull out a nice little root ball and stuff it in a new bonsai tray!!!




ps
oh, and the mother plant looks super healthy after her severe late-spring pruning. just another cool aspect of the awesome jade plant!

[Gnome]

Haesuse,

Sorry I overlooked your update. I'm glad things are going well and make sure to keep us posted. You can begin watering once you feel they have struck roots. I'm betting they have already.

Do you have a small bonsai pot, just slightly larger than the footprint of the temporary one? If not, no hurry, the group can stay as they are for some time. Jades don't mind being a little cramped so don't step up too much at once.

Norm