Popular for its stubby appearance and green leaves with a tint of orange-red at the edges, Crassula ovata is one of the most versatile succulent houseplants you can grow. The best part is, it also blooms! Here’s all you need to know about How to Get Jade Plant to Flower.
Here are the best types of jade plants you can grow
Does a Jade Plant Flower?
The answer to the question is—Yes, it can bloom! Jade plants flower when they attain maturity in favorable conditions in nature. If yours is not blooming, as usual, you may need to force it by providing short days with cold, dry, and dark treatment listed in this article that results in flowering.
Jade Plant Flower Appearance
In late winters to spring, you can expect small, star-shaped clusters of beautiful white or pink blossoms on Crassula ovata in response to long nights. The blooms begin as buds covered with pink sepals, which open with two or three clusters when the plant flowers.
According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the blossom has a faint sweet fragrance, in good conditions, pollinated blooms produce small ‘capsules’ filled with seeds. You can harvest these seeds to propagate more jade plants.
Check out our article on making the jade plant more colorful and red here
How Long it Takes for Jade Plant to Bloom?
Young jade plants do not flower. So, if you have a small plant that’s about 1-2 years old, wait. Don’t expect it to blossom soon. It takes a 3 to 5 years old plant to produce flowers.
Want to make your jade plants bushy? Here are the secrets!
How Often Does a Jade Plant Bloom?
Don’t be disheartened if your jade plant is not blooming every year. In the wild, flowering is variable and infrequent because the plant doesn’t rely upon blossoms to reproduce. If you follow the given instructions, your mature jade plant will periodically flower in mid to late winter or spring.
Here’s all you need to know about growing jade plants
Significance of Jade Plant Blooms
According to Feng Shui, when a jade plant blooms, it is a compliment to its grower. Also, the flowering jade plant symbolizes a great friendship, bringing good luck and prosperity. Apart from that, this means it will bear seeds, which you can use to germinate more jade plants.
How to Get Jade Plant to Flower?
1. The Secret Lies in the Length of Night and Day
There’s no official time of the jade plant when it enters a state of dormancy, but it definitely needs some rest period for the buds to form in colder climates.
Around September, the plant will slow down its growth for late fall and winter, indicating dormancy. This is when you have to be careful with the watering. Water the plant only when the soil goes completely dry. Avoid feeding the plant during that time.
Also, make sure the plant stays in complete darkness during nighttime for 14-16 hours and gets bright light during the day. The combination of this, along with less watering and shorter days, will encourage the plant to bloom.
2. Maturity Makes it Flowerful–Literally!
It will be best to buy mature 3-4 years old plants if you want to enjoy the blooms as young plants do not flower.
3. Keep Things Crowded at the Bottom
Avoid repotting your jade plant unless it is densely crowded in the pot. Allowing the plant to live in the same container for a long makes the flowering process faster, as it diverts energy into producing shoots and flowers rather than spending it forming more roots.
If you want to re-pot the plant, wait until the plant has finished flowering. Use quality soil that is loamy or a cactus mix while transplanting it to a new container.
4. Neither too Hot, Not too Cold
When the plant usually flowers around late winter or early spring, keep it in a temperature range of 50-60 F (10-15 C). It will encourage the plant to form buds. However, make sure that the plant is not exposed to freezing temperatures during this time.
5. Let Sun Be Its Guiding Light
The reason why jade plants fail to flower indoors is because of the lack of light. Sun exposure is the crucial factor when it comes to blooming jade plants, and it needs a minimum of 4-6 hours of outdoor light in order to do so.
If you have a potted plant, choose a well-lit location like a windowsill that gets direct sun for at least 3-5 hours a day and keep the plant there.
5. Let it Have Some Bananas
After drying them in the sun, grind banana peels to make a fine powder. Take a liter of water in a container and add 1-2 teaspoons of banana peel powder along with a pinch of Epsom salt. Shake well and use it to water the plant. You can do this once or twice a month.
To promote blooming, you can also use a tomato fertilizer prior to the blooming period, diluted to half of its strength, once in 4-6 weeks. If you live in a cold climate, avoid fertilizing in winter
Note: Banana peels contain 42 percent potassium, an efficient element that boosts flowering.
6. Give it a Stroll in Your Garden or Outdoors
If you have a jade plant indoors, then it’d be a good idea to move it to a bright patio or a balcony, where it gets direct sunlight for 4-6 hours every day. This will not only encourage blooming but also make it healthy.
- Mondrae Husted
- February 9, 2022 At 7:51 am
- Thank you for this wonderful article on blooming Jade plants . I never knew they could bloom!
- Reply
- Carol Danvers
- February 9, 2022 At 7:10 pm
- Quite interesting. I have never seen such a plant.
- Where is it from?
- Reply
- Barbara Cantrell
- February 9, 2022 At 9:56 pm
- Thank you i had no idea they would bloom
- Reply
- Dr Anjali
- February 10, 2022 At 12:08 pm
- Very good information.thanks
- Reply
- John J Nededog
- February 10, 2022 At 6:00 pm
- Great News Thank you so much for the information, I never knew my Jade would ever flower. ..
- Reply
- Susan Estrada
- February 12, 2022 At 2:20 am
- Love your information
- Reply
- Swapan Kumar Sarkar
- February 14, 2022 At 6:14 am
- Beautiful succulent that attracts me
- Reply
- Malavika Bhattacharya
- February 15, 2022 At 8:12 am
- Thanks for your informations regarding Jade
- Reply
- Patty Davenport
- February 15, 2022 At 9:33 pm
- I keep seeing a rose called “Patty Lou”,a thornless variety. It says you carry it,but I can’t find it anywhere. Can you help?
- Reply
- Notja Busnardo
- February 22, 2022 At 12:13 am
- Very helpful hints. There are obviously different types of Jade plants. Thank you for the banana hint too!!! 🍌🤗
- Reply
- Anu Kaley
- February 22, 2022 At 5:28 pm
- Love it! I had no idea that jade could have blossoms!!$!$
- I have a pretty old jade 🪴,which now for 3 years have been trimming to keep it small ,trimmed the roots also once while transplanting to get the bonzai feel…will follow your guidelines to the T,this one was planted by my mother,whose no more now…it will be a delight to see it blooming…🥲🥰
- Reply
- Dr Niketa Sonavane
- April 14, 2022 At 9:17 am
- I never knew that jade could flower. Now my goal is not just to make my plant live, but to get it to flower also 😉
- Reply
Thank you for this wonderful article on blooming Jade plants . I never knew they could bloom!
Quite interesting. I have never seen such a plant.
Where is it from?
Thank you i had no idea they would bloom
Very good information.thanks
Great News Thank you so much for the information, I never knew my Jade would ever flower. ..
Love your information
Beautiful succulent that attracts me
Thanks for your informations regarding Jade
I keep seeing a rose called “Patty Lou”,a thornless variety. It says you carry it,but I can’t find it anywhere. Can you help?
Very helpful hints. There are obviously different types of Jade plants. Thank you for the banana hint too!!! 🍌🤗
Love it! I had no idea that jade could have blossoms!!$!$ I have a pretty old jade 🪴,which now for 3 years have been trimming to keep it small ,trimmed the roots also once while transplanting to get the bonzai feel…will follow your guidelines to the T,this one was planted by my mother,whose no more now…it will be a delight to see it blooming…🥲🥰
I never knew that jade could flower. Now my goal is not just to make my plant live, but to get it to flower also 😉
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