Trailing Jade Plant Care: Hacks to Bag!

Thickly succus leaves of Trailing Jade Plant arrange along long vining stems that stroll willingly, but guiding the vines in the right path requires spoon-feeding care! 

Trailing Jade Plants are hardy and adaptable, suiting themselves in any place, but pests and diseases are always on the prowl to attack them when you ignore their upkeep.

Overview of Trailing Jade Plant

Peperomia rotundifolia, or Trailing Jade Plant, shares its common name with Crassula ovata, but they belong to different plant families.

The name “rotundifolia” comes from their ovally-round leaves. These kinds of leaves are also common to many other succulents.

But Peperomia Rotundifolia has its own unique tropical features, edging them from other desert succulents. So, let’s clear the confusion and get to know some close-up details of the plant.

Trailing Jade Plant Care: Ultimate Guide

Trailing Jade Plants demand tropical care, although the plant looks and behaves like a succulent.

So, mimicking the conditions of tropical rainforests is the best thing you can do to make the plant feel at its home.

Trailing Jade Plant Care: Summarized Tips

To keep Trailing Jades top-notch, you must provide tropical care!

Even after supplying the plant with all the care, it may still fall into pitfalls. To rescue Trailing Jades, you must consider the symptoms resulting from the wrong care and swift hands. 

1. Light and Temperature

Less light can lower the heat, and extreme light can elevate the surrounding temperature.

Although Trailing Jade has succulent leaves, it cannot tolerate prolonged direct and bright sunlight.

Extreme sunshine surges the temperature around Trailing Jades, burning their leaves. The leaves can also lose their color and turn yellow.

Less sunlight can make the plant lanky, and the vines become longer, increasing the distance between the leaves.

Placing Trailing Jades near an east-facing window is advisable, as the plant can get the proper amount of morning and evening sunlight.

But you can also locate the plant about 3-5 feet away from a south or west-facing window, but ensure that the afternoon sun barely falls on the plant.

In winter, relocate the plant away from radiator outputs, coolers, or north-facing windows. If possible, cover the plant with frost blankets during winter nights.

2. Watering and Humidity

Small roots and succulent leaves of Trailing Jade Plants are oversensitive to watering and humidity.

Overwatering and high humidity can lead to root rot. Rotting roots cannot pull water from the soil, and the leaves become yellow and ultimately fall off the plant.

Due to its succulent nature, the plant can tolerate underwatering or less humidity for around two weeks, but eventually, drooping, shriveling, browning, and leaf fallout will kill the Trailing Jades. 

In winter, allow the soil to dry between watering bouts and keep a well-draining potting environment. 

Checking the top 1-2 inches of the potting soil before watering has also helped me a lot to save my Trailing Jade from the outcome of over and underwatering.

Another way to properly water your Jades is the approach of bottom watering. Keep the plant in water trays for 15-45 minutes, but ensure that water levels stay between 1-4 inches, depending on the pot size.

To maintain the humidity, put the plant in a pebble tray, group the Jades in a well-lit bathroom with other plants, or mist their leaves occasionally.

Sometimes the leaves of Jade plants can turn awfully purple. Do you think under or overwatering can be an issue?

3. Soil and Fertilizer

A well-draining and porous soil can prevent waterlogging, while correctly measured fertilizer shall prevent nutrient deficiencies.

Since Trailing Jade Plants have small roots, they need porous soil for free root growth.

Compact soil can form water puddles during successive watering sessions, suffocating the roots and delivering less oxygen than required.

But, you should also consider the acidic pH levels of soil as the plant is extremely picky about that.

Although fertilizers can increase or decrease the pH, overfertilization can lead to leaf tip burns and color changes.

To avoid this, you must stop fertilizing the plant in the fall and winter. Adding fertilizer to the soil during dormant times can lead to the accumulation of fertilizer salts in the topsoil.

So, if the plant shows symptoms of overfertilization, flush the soil with distillate water 4-5 times to leach out the excess salt.

You can also change the soil while repotting if the roots sustain heavy fertilizer damage.

To prepare the correct soil for Trailing Jade Plant, add 2 parts peat moss and 1 part sand or organic perlite, which is a quick method to prepare the homemade mix.

But homemade soil can lack nutrients. So, you can rely on premium fertilizers and potting mixes for Trailing Jades which are easily available. 

4. Occasional Grooming

Trailing Jades are low-maintenance plants but require pruning to remove lumbering and dead or decaying growths.

But, it’s wise to prune Trailing Jades throughout the spring up to early summer. This way, the plant can divert its energy to produce new growth.

Trailing Jades’ juicy foliage and stems attract sap-sucking bugs that hide under the leaves, around the stems or scurry within the leaf crowd.

Similarly, root rot and brown leaf spots are the most common disease that troubles Trailing Jade.

Normally, bacteria and fungi are the culprits behind the diseases, invited by inappropriate humidity and watering issues.

Sporadic pruning and timely watering can reduce the incidence of diseases. You can also apply an all-rounder fungicide at the site of visible symptoms of diseases.

To remove the pests from leaves and stems, use powerful sprays of water around the plant or scrub them off using q-tips dipped in isopropyl alcohol.

If the plant is showing noticeable symptoms, apply fungicides every 1-2 weeks until the plant returns to normal health.

5. Annual Repotting

To repot Trailing Jade Plants, you must look for obvious signs like protrusion of roots from drainage holes, quicker outrush of water from the potting soil or stunting growth.

Ensure a proper permeable environment for Trailing Jades by choosing a pot with drainage holes.

For repotting, water the plant 1-2 days earlier and pull the plant from the pot by gently grabbing the stem and removing the surrounding soil.

Free the roots from the soil clumps by placing the plant in water and later air drying for 24 hours.

Prepare a fresh soil mix, and add it to the bottom of the new pot. Hold the plant in the middle of the pot and add the soil mix from the sides.

Fill the soil up to half an inch below the brim of the pot and locate the plant near an east-facing window after gently moisturizing the soil.

Almost all the Jade Plants comply with similar method of repotting and transplanting them is practically easy for early gardeners.

Trailing Jade Plant: All About Growth Rate

The Trailing Jade Plant is a vining, herbaceous, epiphytic or rock-loving tropical plant that shows a slow growth rate.

The plant is famous for its round leaves and wiring stems that show succulent behavior.

Trailing Jades catch a noticeable growth rate in spring and summer but slows down during winter when they sleep and wake when spring arrives.

They are suitable plants to locate on windowsills or hanging baskets. The lanky stems of Jades droop down, offering a draping look to your hospice.

Without proper pruning, Trailing Jades can attain a height and spread of 3-6 inches and 12-24 inches. If you allow the plant to grow continuously without any trimming, it can crawl out of its pot.

Periodic pruning is beneficial as it helps to shed some weight for the plant, but it also promotes seasonal flowers in Trailing Jades.

Although the plant is grown for its leaves, small and odorless creamy white flowers naturally bloom in summer, which elevates the look of the plant even more. 

The flowers are borne on a tall light-green mature “spike” that appears like a “rat tail” when young.

Trailing Jade Plant: Toxicity Care

Trailing Jade Plant is completely safe for pets and humans.

But Trailing Jade shares structure, form, habit and common name with Crassula Ovata, which is mildly toxic.

So, both plants should never be confused with each other.

However, Trailing Jades can still pose choking hazards to children or pets if they try to swallow the plant parts.

At times of risk, try to induce vomiting for the victims, or if the situation worsens, try calling any helpline number to register an emergency case.

• Animal Poison Control Center (ASPCA): (888) 426-4435
• Poison Control Center: (800) 222-1222

How to Propagate Trailing Jade Plant?

To propagate Trailing Jades, you can borrow stem or leaf cuttings while pruning the plant.

Early spring to mid-summer is the right time to propagate the plant when it sprouts new growths, which are the readily available materials for propagation.

Propagation Via Stem Cuttings

To propagate Trailing Jade Plants by stem cuttings, first root the cuttings in the water and then transplant them into the soil.

• First, take a healthy 3-4 inches long stem cutting with 2-3 leaves atop.
• Place the cutting in a rooting hormone solution, air-tight it with a zip-lock bag, and place it near an east-facing window.
• Set the humidifier to around 30%-60% and provide a surrounding temperature of 68°F.
• Change the hormonal solution with a fresh one every 3-4 days.
• After the cuttings grow 1-2 inches long white roots, transfer them to a well-draining potting mix with acidic pH.
• Place one cutting per pot to prevent overcrowding of plants.
• Cover the cutting with plastic wrap and place it near a dappled light source.
• Give the cutting a few sprays of water to moisten the topsoil when it dries.
• Refrain from giving any fertilizer until the cutting sprout new leaves and grow firmly in its place. 

Propagation Via Leaf Cuttings

Propagation using leaf cuttings requires the selection of healthy leaves from the mother plant to ensure healthy growth.

• Take a healthy leaf with a small portion of the petiole at the end.
• Prepare a rooting hormone solution in a glass jar, and dip the leaves with the petiole inside the water.
• Cover the cutting with plastic wrap, set a surrounding temperature of around 68°F, and humidity between 30% and 60%.
• Locate the setup near an east-facing window and change the hormonal solution every 3-4 days.
• Cutting shall develop white, transparent roots within 3-4 weeks.
• Fill a pot with fresh soil. Ensure to place one leaf cutting per planter.
• Provide humidity, water, and light as you do for stem cutting and avoid fertilizer application until the cutting develops new shoots.

If you want to know some additional tips for propagating Peperomia, take help from the following video.

FAQs About Trailing Jade Plant

Let’s answer some pressing questions on Trailing Jade Plant care.

Are ‘Trailing Jade’ and ‘Vining Jade’ the Same?

Trailing Jade and Vining Jade are actually different plant species from two separate plant families.

Trailing Jade has almost round leaves that are completely green. Vining Jade has more oval leaves shaped like the head of a spatula with tips mottled by purplish-red patterns. 

How to Make Trailing Jade Plant Bushy?

To make a Trailing Jade Plant bushy, snip the new leaves present at the tip of the vining stems. This shall encourage the plant to grow longer stems offering a bushy appearance.

Can Trailing Jade Plant Propagate Without Nodes?

The stem cuttings taken from the mother Trailing Jade Plant must have 2-3 leaf nodes at the bottom from where new roots pop. So, nodes are crucial during propagation.

Trailing Jade Plant for Sale

Rely on the following sites to get your hands on a newly potted baby Trailing Jade Plant.