How to Propagate Jade Plants From Stem Cuttings – 1 Easy Way

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Do you want to learn how to propagate jade plants from stem cuttings successfully? If you follow the easy tips in this post, you will have a beautiful jade plant in no time! Let me show you the simple steps that you need to be successful.

HOW TO PROPAGATE JADE PLANTS FROM STEM CUTTINGS

Here are the 5 easy steps to propagate your jade plant cuttings in water. I’m demonstrating with a ‘Gollum’ Jade cutting, but you can use this exact method for ANY type of jade plant.

I’ll elaborate on each step with photos and important details.

• Step 1: Make your cutting(s)
• Step 2: Allow your cuttings to callous over
• Step 3: Place in water until it roots
• Step 4: Plant your cutting up
• Step 5: Provide good growing conditions

I’ll also provide some instruction on what to do with your plant AFTER it has started to grow so you can really develop a beautiful specimen.

STEP 1: MAKE YOUR CUTTING(S)

Using a set of sterilized pruners or sharp knife, cut off a healthy jade plant stem. Be careful not to make a giant cutting otherwise you will lessen the chances of success.

Aim to make your cutting no larger than about 4 or 5 inches long or so.

Depending on your cutting, you may want to remove the lower leaves of your cutting so that portion of your stem can be submerged in water in your propagation vessel.

(And save those leaves! I’ll show you what you can do with those at the end of this post).

STEP 2: ALLOW YOUR CUTTINGS TO CALLOUS OVER

This step is absolutely crucial for success. After you’ve taken your cutting, and you’ve stripped off any of the lower leaves, allow your cutting to callous over before you place it in water.

What exactly does callousing mean? It just means that you’ll allow the part that you cut to air dry for a few days. The cut-end will dry out and callous over and form a dry, scab. This helps to prevent rotting for when you place it in water.

STEP 3: PLACE IN WATER UNTIL IT ROOTS

After about 3 or 4 days, place your cutting in water until it roots. You’ll want the base of the cutting where you took any leaves off to be under water, and the leaves to be above the water line.

Place it in a bright location, preferably right in front of a window, but not baking in sun all day.

Depending on your conditions, you should see roots starting to form in several days to a few weeks.

Be sure to change your water at least once or twice a week to keep the water fresh.

After your roots are about 1/2 an inch to an inch long, go ahead and pot it up, per the next step, Step 5.

Don’t leave your cutting in water for a long time otherwise it will have a rougher transition once you plant in potting mix! You’re just using water to start the rooting process.

Note: If you want to insert your cutting straight into soil and skip the water propagation part, skip Step 3 and go right to Step 4 (where you would keep the soil fairly moist to encourage rooting).

STEP 4: PLANT YOUR CUTTING UP

Next select a small pot with a drainage hole. I would recommend no larger than a 4 inch pot.

For my succulents, I like to use the following blend (I get my supplies from Amazon):

2 parts of a cactus/succulent mix

1 part 1/4″ pumice

Mix it up well, and pot up your plant. Give it a good watering, and place your plant in its growing location.

Allow the top inch to dry out to the touch, and then water again.

This is a very well draining mix and works well for me. You may want to adjust your potting mixes to suit your conditions and environment, but you can start with this mix and see how you like it!

Terra cotta pots are a great choice for succulents. Just be aware that they dry out extremely quickly, especially if you have your plants in a lot of sun.

Even succulents can suffer from dehydration, so be careful of keeping your jade too dry for too long, especially while it is just starting to grow and establish itself.

STEP 5: PROVIDE GOOD GROWING CONDITIONS

Jade plants need a lot of bright light in order to grow sturdy and compact. Be sure not to miss my blog post on Jade Plant care so that you can get your new plant off to a great start!

ENCOURAGING BRANCHING ON YOUR JADE PLANT

Lastly, as your plant grows, if you’re not happy with how full the plant is, you can easily encourage your plant to produce multiple branches by pruning your plant.

Take a look at the same plant below and look at all the new branches it produced after I pruned it.

Be sure not to miss my blog post where I show you how to prune your jade plant so that it produces a nice, full, bushy plant.

Also, did you know that you can use a SINGLE leaf to produce new jade plants? Take a look at all the jade plant babies below that I grew from single leaves.

Let me show you how to propagate jade plants from single leaves.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post. Have you tried propagating jade plants before? Comment below. I’d love to hear!