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How to grow silver jade plant, chinese jade or silver dollar (Crassula arborescens)
Perennial tree or bush of persistent, thick green leaves, sometimes with a red edge. Flowers with 5 whitish petals and 5 stamens. It flourishes in autumn or spring.
This plant should be watered once a week in time of growth (Spring or summer) The rest of the year we should water it scarcely, almost nothing in winter. We should prevent the water to remain stagnant what will produce the plant to dry and the leaves to appear wrinkled, which will easily make them fall. Better allow the soil to dry between watering and watering.
As a pot flower indoors or outdoors and as a small tree in gardens, being able in this case to attain 3 or 4 meters high. When it is cultivated in a pot in the house its growth is slower and smaller. Plants cultivated indoors should be taken out in spring.
It can be placed in full sun or in the shade but it will always need a bright location. It needs warm climates, although it resists the cold if the soil is dry. It should not be watered when temperatures go down under 7 or 8ºC.
It can be reproduced in spring or autumn from cuttings as follows:
How to make a leaf cutting?
- Cut a leaf. Allow the wound to dry during a couple of days and plant it in a sandy soil during 1 month o so, in order it to develop roots. Replant it into the definitive location.
It can also be reproduced from seeds, although it is a much slower process and it is not worthwhile because cuttings root very easily.
A loose soil with a good drainage is preferable. It is very appropriate to use cactus soil. Spray once in spring and one more time in summer with a special fertilizer for succulent plants. Watch over mites and aphids.
Another species of “Crassula“
- Crassula ovata
- Crassula coccinea
- Crassula lanceolata
- Crassula obovata
- Crassula perfoliata
- Crassula sediflora
- Crassula hybrida
Succulent plant with similar cultivation tips to cacti.
More information about plant cultivation.
