how do you prune a jade plant?
michelle d asked:
I recently purchased a jade plant, as I was doing research I read that every so often that the plant needs to be pruned, how do you prune a plant? I do not have a natural green them and was told that jade plants are great stater plants. Anyone with any information about jade plants would be great.
I recently purchased a jade plant, as I was doing research I read that every so often that the plant needs to be pruned, how do you prune a plant? I do not have a natural green them and was told that jade plants are great stater plants. Anyone with any information about jade plants would be great.
I love Jades! Congrats on your new purchase. First you need to decide on how you would like your Jade to look. Someone people keeps theirs very thin and bare on the trunck parts and just the leaves on the top. I prefer mine full and lush. To prevent certain limbs from growing longer, pinch the top two small leaves off as they appears (this will also give the trunck more time to fill out). As you pinch off the small leaves you could just simpy place them in the soil and they’ll end up rooting and creating more plants. Also pay attention to the small leaves sprouting off the truck and decide if you want a branch there, if not just pinch off those two leaves.
The leaves grow in sets of two alternating direction.
Also rotate you plant or it’ll grow straight towards the light and may end up lopsided. good luck!!!
Last Christmas I went to the town’s opera house where in a large room they had a display of different organization’s christmas trees and among them I saw for the first time (as I had not been in that part of the building before) a jade plant in a pot about 3 feet wide and about 2 1/2 feet tall. The plant itself was the largest jade I had ever seen. It’s main trunk was about 7 inches in diameter and it height was about 4 feet with just many many different branches. I wish I could have had it for myself. What I am saying here is I just like to watch it keep growing ( I’m sure this one had been around for many many years) to see how magnificent it could be. However if you want to keep it pruned, you can follow the previous answerer’s ideas and use cuttings to start more plants and give them away with what you have learned about them yourself.
As Ricki said, these are easy to prune, and the best part, is that you can give the pruned parts away, put them in pots to start new ones for gifts, or enjoy your own new plants. Having a green thumb is not necessary with this plant, as it almost takes care of itself. Good luck.