Give it more light. LOTS more light. It looks like a standard C. ovata that is badly etiolated.

~B

The plant is crassula ovata...but it has grown spindly from lack of light. It should have a much more compact form with little spacing between the leaves.

I would cut it back and let it regrow, cut all the spindly stuff back and give it lots of good light, preferably sunlight, but introduce it to the sun slowely just a few hours at a time increasing it gradually for a couple weeks till it has full sun.

Jades grow best outside even potted were they have good air flow and sunshine. A good fast draining potting mix is essential also. The common Jade is a fairly fast grower so when you cut it back it will start to grow new leaflets and branches with a couple weeks. Just be patient with it:) It will fill out nicely if treated right.

Mary

Ty, I third the motion. See how your Jade is leaning towards the window? It's seeking sunlight.
If you decide to cut back as Mary suggested, don't toss the cuttings. Slip them inside the soil...they'll root, and soon you'll have a compact plant.
If you can set outdoors, start off in shade, then work up until plant is in bright light. When indoors, place before a south or west window. North and east windows work, but not as well. Set your Jade as close to the window, as possible. Toni

Ditto the advice above--even if you give it great light from now on, the current stems would likely be far to weak to support better growth above it.

And not only will cuttings of jade sprout well, even whole leaves of jade will produce roots and then tiny plantlets if placed on dryish soil. I gave several large leaves to my daughter's science teacher and she laid them on the soil in a planter that contained plants that liked to be dryish--they 'struck' and produced plantlets in fairly short order.

Thank you everyone for your advice so far.

Can someone advise the best way to cut back my plant please? Where do I cut the stems - just below the new growth and replant that, or further down the plant?

Sorry if this seems like a dumb question - unfortunately, I'm very new to looking after plants, always been one of those people who buy them from superstores and wonder why they die 1-2 years later. I guess I've been mistreating this one without realising for some time, sigh.

Thanks,
Ty

You can check my older post on how I 'whacked' my jade for some idea.
Hope that helps.

Xuan

Here is a link that might be useful: Still another whacked Jade

Tyler,
I'd suggest that you cut the stems waaay back.
Think of it this way - wherever you make the cut, the Jade will probably branch, making that sling-shot Y-shape as seen on one of your stems. So, consider where you'd like these stems to begin branching....generally, the lower the better......

Of course, you can always pinch off one of the growing points to maintain a single-trunk Jade with only selected branches (this is all in the future, however).

Okay, back to the cuts:
I'd prune these stems back to about 4 - 6 inches above the soil-line. Then, I'd take only the top 4 - 5 inches of new growth, and I'd root those cuttings. The middle sections of these stems I would simply toss on the mulch pile.

Good luck!

Josh

Thank you so much for all of your advice.

Two weeks ago took a deep breath and yielded a big knife to the poor plant! After a few days of panic that I'd killed it altogether, it started to bud!

So I thought I'd share the picture... I'll update again when it has put on some good growth.

Thanks again!

Ty

{{gwi:586583}}

I would have been just as nervous to prune it but the results look great. Congrats!

Ty,

You can spend donkeys' years reading the good information here about Crassula ovata, but one suggestion that I have would be to rid yourself of that soil it's currently in - it's too peaty. A porous, well-draining soil is what this plant likes best, although, as you've experienced, it can grow in a variety of soils.