Many homeowners feel overwhelmed when they bring a new indoor plant home.
Plants improve your home’s vibes and are aesthetically pleasing, but some require more care.
Luckily, jade plants are somehow resilient and can survive in challenging conditions. Yet, some homeowners might be alarmed to see their jade plant not growing tall over extended periods.
So, how fast do jade plants grow? Can you control the growth rate?
You’ll find the answers to your questions in this article, so let’s dive in.
How Fast Do Jade Plants Grow?
The jade plant has fleshy, thick oval leaves growing on top of woody stems. It looks like a miniature tree with its tree-like stem, and it’s pretty easy to take care of, as it doesn’t require daily watering.
Yet, if you notice that your jade plant isn’t growing fast, don’t be alarmed.
This plant usually grows only 2 inches annually, slowly adding to its height. In an indoor gardening setup, it may grow more slowly.
How Tall Can My Jade Plant Get?
Jade plants are native to South Africa, growing under the shade of taller trees.
The jade plant can grow between three and six feet tall in its natural habitat. It might reach this height when you grow it as an outdoor hedging plant in your garden.
Yet, to achieve this height, you must provide it with optimal growing conditions. This includes growing it at a high temperature, providing enough sunlight, and keeping the soil moist but not wet.
Nevertheless, your jade plant will probably be shorter when grown in a pot. In most cases, the plant will barely grow to reach a height between two and three feet.
What Factors Affect the Growth of Jade Plants?
Because jade plants are low-maintenance, many homeowners will prefer them over other plants, including different succulents, when picking an indoor plant.
In the right conditions, your jade plant can live for over 50 years, representing a gift you can pass down from one generation to another.
Yet, several factors will affect the growth of this plant.
1 – Light
Understanding where the plant comes from before you add it to your indoor garden is always a good idea.
Jade plants thrive in the forests of South Africa, where it grows as an understory plant. As a result, it receives dappled or filtered light that passes through the foliage and branches of taller plants and trees.
Yet, in its natural habitat, this plant will receive plenty of light throughout the day. You need to provide this if you want to boost its growth and keep it in good health.
Ideally, you should grow your jade plant in a sunny spot with six to eight hours of bright yet indirect sunlight exposure.
It can get some shade or protection from the hot afternoon sun to protect the leaves.
When grown inside the house, you should place your jade plant in a sunny spot with at least four hours of bright indirect sunlight. This minimum amount of light will allow your jade plant to survive.
The less light your plant receives, the more it will struggle to grow.
Younger plants need to receive more light to get established. They often become susceptible to various pests and diseases when they don’t.
Plants that receive less light will grow more slowly than those that receive more light.
2 – Moisture
Jade plants grow fast when they receive enough moisture, but too much moisture can harm them. This plant thrives in a succulent-specific potting mix or any type of well-draining neutral or slightly acidic soil.
It struggles when growing in clay soil because it retains too much moisture.
The excess moisture in the soil is the primary cause of root rot. This serious disease affects the plants’ roots, killing them.
A plant with rotten roots won’t be able to absorb the moisture and nutrients from the soil. As a result, it will grow slowly.
You should remove these dead roots, rinse the root ball and repot the plant in a new pot to allow it to grow. Unless you do this, your jade plant will eventually die.
3 – Nutrients
Although the jade plant isn’t a heavy feeder, lacking some essential nutrients can stunt its growth.
Jade plants need adequate amounts of potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen.
Younger plants need less nitrogen because too much can be toxic. Older plants can handle more nitrogen in the soil, but younger plants will wilt and die.
Moreover, too much nitrogen can make your jade plant leggy. This means it will grow a long stem without enough leaves and won’t look attractive.
Can You Control the Growth Rate of Jade Plants?
You can do a few things if you notice that your jade plant isn’t growing or is growing too slowly. These tips will boost its growth and keep it healthy.
1 – Adjust the Light
Adjusting the position of your jade plant’s pot might be what you need to enhance its growth. Most jade plants will struggle to grow in the shade, so bringing them closer to the light will do the trick.
When growing your jade plant inside the house, ensure you provide it with at least six to eight hours of bright sunlight. In addition, experts recommended placing it near a south or west-facing window where it gets protected from the hot afternoon sun.
If this isn’t possible, you should use grow lights to help the plant survive, especially in a colder climate.
When growing it outside as a container or hedging plant, you should trim nearby taller plants, so they don’t block all the light.
2 – Water Adequately
It’s true that jade plants are succulents with fleshy leaves that hold water. Yet, this plant needs to be watered regularly whenever the soil feels dry.
Underwatering and overwatering can be serious problems for your jade plant and will eventually affect its growth. However, these plants are more tolerant of underwatering than overwatering.
To encourage healthy and steady growth, grow your jade plant in a succulent-specific potting mix or well-draining soil.
Water your plant twice or three times a month in summer or when the first two inches of the soil feel dry.
In winter, you need to water your plant less often. Once a month is enough.
3 – Control the Climate
Temperature changes will affect the way your jade plant grows. This plant thrives in warmer temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
These are average household temperatures and will keep the plant healthy.
However, it can tolerate lower temperatures, especially at night, for short periods.
As a matter of fact, if it’s constantly hot in your home, this plant might struggle because it needs to get into a dormant state in winter to preserve its energy.
When the temperature drops below 55 degrees Fahrenheit for long periods, this plant won’t grow. Likewise, if you keep it at a temperature below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, it will probably die.
4 – Nourish It
Although jade plants aren’t fussy, you can enhance their growth by giving them more nutrients.
This plant will benefit from a diluted balanced 20-20-20 fertilizer applied monthly during the growing season. This means that you should fertilize your plant from spring to early fall.
Regular and adequate fertilizing will encourage blooming, although most indoor jade plants won’t.
Nevertheless, during winter, you should avoid fertilizing your plants. The excess nutrients can be toxic to your jade plant.
5 – Give It Room
You need to give your jade plant some room to encourage faster growth.
Most jade plants are rootbound when you bring them from the nursery, and they will continue to grow slowly until the roots start appearing from the draining holes at the bottom of the pot.
In this case, move your jade plant to a slightly bigger pot. This will allow the roots to spread, and your plant will start growing faster.
After repotting your jade plant, you should wait a few months before fertilizing it.
Plants usually undergo a transplant shock after repotting and might not be able to handle the salts in fertilizers well. Ideally, you should repot your jade plant once every two or three years.
Final Thoughts
Jade plants are slow growers, usually adding a couple of inches to their yearly height. Yet, some factors can help your jade plant grow faster.
Providing the plant with enough light, keeping it warm, and watering it adequately will keep it healthy.
Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.