How to Replant a New Jade Plant
The jade plant (Crassula ovata) is a popular succulent grown as a houseplant for a sunny window or an outdoor rock garden specimen in frost-free climates. When grown in containers, transplanting the jade plant into a larger sized pot or outdoors in the ground is needed when it becomes pot-bound. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Container 2 to 3 inches wider in diameter
- Potting soil/succulent media
- Newspaper
- Sprinkling can
- Hand trowel/shovel
Instructions
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Repotting a Jade Plant
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1
Locate or purchase a pot that is 2-3 inches wider in diameter than the pot the jade plant currently grows. The depth of the pot can be the same or 1-3 inches deeper than the current container. Make certain there is at least one drainage hole in the bottom.
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2
Purchase a loam potting soil mixture in a small bag from a garden center. Cactus and succulent potting media works well, too. Refrain from using topsoil or compost.
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3
Lay out a single layer of old newspapers on the table or floor surface. Bring all materials, including the jade plant, to this work station.
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4
Remove the jade plant from its initial pot. Invert the plant and hold it with your hand and tap the pot, coaxing the plant to loosen from the pot. Discard the old pot, or set it aside.
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5
Upright the jade plant and temporarily position it in the new, larger pot. Note how low the rootball sits in the new container. Remove the jade plant.
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6
Add potting soil mix to the bottom of the new pot so that when the jade plant is placed in it, the top of the rootball is 1 inch below the container's top rim. Reposition the plant to gauge its height in the pot and add or remove soil as necessary.
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7
Sit the jade plant in the new container at its correct height and begin adding soil around the sides of the rootball, filling the container. Gently push and tamp down the soil with the tips of your fingers. Continue adding soil until it matched the top of the plant rootball, 1 inch below the rim of the container.
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8
Slowly and lightly add water from a sprinkling can to further compact the soil around the rootball. Allow water to drip out of the bottom drainage hole before ending the gentle watering. Add any soil if it dropped below the rootball height 1 inch below the container rim.
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9
Relocate the newly potted jade plant to its place in the house and clean up the working area by folding and wrapping up the newspaper with all the debris.
Replanting from Container to Ground Outside
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10
Locate a partially to fully sunny spot in the garden where soil is fast-draining after rains. Plan to transplant a jade plant outdoors only in very mild winter regions, such as in USDA hardiness zones 9-13.
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11
Dig a hole with the hand trowel or shovel that is the same depth as the jade plant's rootball and twice as wide.
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12
Remove the jade plant and situate it in the hole, ensuring the rootball is at the same level as the surrounding ground grade.
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13
Push the soil back into the hole, lightly tamping it down, filling it until it matches the top of the plant's rootball.
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14
Lightly water around the new soil in the hole to compact it and remove any air pockets. Push extra soil atop any low spots around the rootball.
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Tips & Warnings
Use a pot that has some weight to it. Jade plants are dense plants and the container in which it grows should not easily be toppled by a breeze or becoming top-heavy with the jade plant in it.
Jade plant is not a cold hardy plant. It will tolerate only light frosts in winter and will fully rot and die if exposed to air and soil temperatures below 20 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
