Lucky You!!!

It looks to be very healthy. I doubt you'll need root hormones. Powder it with your cinnamon, let callus and plant, I'd say.

The only thing I would trim back are the smaller limbs growing next to those nice fat ones (I see three of those). But this would be more for aesthetics than health.

I'd keep it in bright shade for the rest of the summer to make sure it has a good root system before being subjected to full sun.

Please keep us posted on this beautiful cutting! Congrats!
Jo

Yes or course,when it has roots then plant, Just place the piece in a bright shaded area, you will see the roots come down in a few weeks at most. Then take a picture and show the group what I mean. It will be fun. Plant then water, do not water again until Oct. prune again and shape the plant, cut off the tips of leaves it will flower on new growth. Norma

Yes, you can dust the bottom cut. The cinnamon (or some use sulfur) is just to help ward off fungus/rot. As to letting it root before planting...I will defer to Norma's much broader experience. If she says it will root sitting out, I'd bet on it. I have always just put them in dry soil and then mist until I see new growth. Keep us posted on progress! Jo

Well, the cut had been healing for about 10 days and was drying nicely last time I checked. Evidently as I was putting it back into the empty terra cotta pot to wait for roots a leaf broke off and I must have set the bottom of the stem on the *&^% leaf! I checked it after 3 more days and found the leaf stuck to the bottom of the cut, with an imprint of the leaf that's kind of gray and a little soft in the center. I immediately dusted the area with cinnamon and waited another day to see if it would dry. Looks to be drying out again, center of cut seems to be recessed a bit. Not sure whether I need to cut off an inch or so from the bottom and start all over waiting for it to heal again or not. HELP!

{{gwi:597372}}

No leave it alone, Set it into damp mix now and don't water until you see new growth. Can barely type because I had surgery last Sat. on my hand. It will take nonths until I can use it. Be sure it doesn't get any water or it will rot. I hope it is rooted in well by Oct 1. Then you may water in well. Norma

Thanks Norma. Sorry to hear about your hand and hope it heals quickly and properly for you.

How deeply can I bury the trunk on this? Would 3-4 inches be too deep? I'll put it into a 14" terra cotta azalea pot but won't fill it very high, maybe 2-3 inches of soil/pumice mix below the stump and 2 inches above, then 4 big rocks to prop the stem upright. Is that okay?

Just type numbers, no need for sentences. Be brief. Hopefully someone else will answer me first so you won't need to type anything : )

Michele

Hi Michele,

What you propose sounds fine to me. I have a similar sort of jade cutting growing in a pot in my dining room (though only half as large as your specimen). Since a callous has already formed, it's ready to go into some potting mix. With my plants (I also grow mini-jade or elephant bush, P. Afra) I just take cuttings, let them callous over and then stick them right into the pot with the rest of them. It's a forgiving plant, and as long as you don't give it too much water (I water my succulents about once every other week during the growing season) you won't have anything to worry about. I've had success just throwing old leaves that have fallen off of the main plant onto the top of the soil and leaving them there. I have two new plants growing in my pot and I quite literally didn't do anything except for throw a few leaves on top of the soil mix.

As far as how much mix to put in the pot, I'd say as much as is necessary to make it stand and look nice. If you're worried that it's not sending out roots, you can always pull it straight out of the pot (carefully) and look at things. It's pretty quick to send out roots, but the soil really needs to be allowed to dry out if you want to build a healthy root structure (and it only does that if it needs to send roots out to find moisture). Rest assured, it's nearly impossible to kill a jade plant. It'll take a few months to build a proper root system. During that time, it'll probably drop some leaves, but just throw those on top of everything else and you'll soon have more Jade plants than you know what to do with.

Jade (or rather P. Afra) was the first plant I ever grew from a cutting, and I have very healthy looking plants from those cuttings, and from cuttings taking from those cuttings and cuttings taken from those cuttings of cuttings. My jade plants are my confidence boosters.

that thing is awesome. i wish i lived where those get cut off and abandoned. good luck with it though, it looks like a rocket of a transplant.

best
john

P. Afra is a beautiful plant. I have several, some vg.

Portulacaria Afra "Elephant Bush"
http://bayimages.net/cacti-and-succulents/other/i5337.html

but AD4M's plant appears to be...

Crassula Ovata "Jade Plant"
http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/600max/html/starr_030702_0048_crassula_ovata.htm

Well, I checked it today by pulling out of the mix and no roots yet. It was in the upper 90's for the past 10 days or so and the leaves are very flat and wrinkly right now but I know I can't water if it doesn't have a root system. So. . . I wait.

Some of the branches I removed from this particular trunk are also being rooted. Out of the 3, 1 shows a few tiny roots on just one side, 1 has a few more than that and 1 hasn't shown any roots yet (larger trunk of the 3).

I have rooted very large branches. Even if leaves withered, they mostly revive over time (lowest ones in cluster may fall off). Do Not water to help the withered leaves; this is what they do to survive. As above, when you start to water (when top leaves of cluster thickening), only water when bone-dry!! May take 4-8 weeks for leaves to look good, so be patient. And don’t lift out to check for roots—each time rooting is disturbed in any way the tiny rootlets forming are ripped off

jsmithashe

Not sure if you noticed this thread was last active 13yrs ago...it is always good to post helpful info, but there were many threads on the same subject in 13 years. I haven't seen most of the original posters around...