Marquest,

That's very kind of you to think so - that's a long-term benefit for thee and me.

I've wanted to do it again up here, but that's just not happening - the smorgasbord of succulents is not on the menu any longer. With the exception of Sedums, Sempervivums and a few others in the ground, my succulent collection is about 12 pots of plants.

Mike, I've been growing them here in Omaha, where we're already close to freezing temps at night, for over 30 years. Until a few years ago when I started leaving them out until the first hard freeze is predicted, I never had blooms. I bring them in when they're predicting that freeze and put them in the sunniest spot I can find. Within a few weeks, they start to bud up. Around the end of Nov., they start to open and continue to bloom for about a month. Give it a try!

Denise in Omaha

I think I will...I am afraid I have never let my Jades see the light of day outdoors...lol

I have always kepted them indoors in a very hot and sunny window all year. It does get cold in the window by night in winter, but hot by day again. I will say that they have NEVER had a period in their lives when they were exposed to continual cold for a long duration..

I just might bring them outdoors next spring..How do they do outdoors exposed to all the elements? Do pests attack, especially scale, or scab? I have never had a problem with them. If you think they will be ok, then I am going to give it a whirl..

I will remember this thread come the end of winter. I will be back to report...Thankyou so so much for the suggestion.

Mike....my Jade stays out all year, unless we get a freeze. Then it comes in to a sunny window. AS soon as temps warm up...it goes right back outside. Our winters are typically cold and rainy. The plant does not sit in the rain though. It has a covered sunny south exposure. I hardly even water it in winter...I believe they will absorb some poisture directly from the air if humidity is high. Seems like I recall reading this somewhere anyway!
It's never affected by scale or scab. I believe they are prone to mealy-bugs, but those are usually indoor pests that haunt me in my house.

Jeff...good to see you back! And the GWOJWKL too!

What if anything does this lovely need?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:671099}}

I was just at the Isobella Stewart Gardner Museum, and they had a dozen 4'-5' jades in full bloom, in chilly Boston. Just had to share!

Clarification: this is in the glass-covered courtyard, not actually outdoors.

Congratulations there Rina, they are magnificent ... so pristinely white too. I hope you're thrilled, I'd be over the moon to be supporting such beautiful growth!! Nice pix too.

Thank you Karen. They are long lasting blooms, so that is another bonus of growing jades :) - besides being quite easy to grow.

Very nice pix indeed, Rina. So how is the aroma?

tj

Very, very faint, tj. Not sure how to describe it. Didn't even know they may have scent! Maybe if there were more flowers. Just noticed 1 small cluster of buds on another plant.

Rina, those are very nice clusters. I love the pure white on the dark green background. I've had a couple of small plants flower for me.

Very nice Steven. Looks like quite a small plant. Can you suggest any 'secrets' to get them bloom, regardless the size?

I could gaze and gaze at your jades, Rina. Such a stunning white on green.

Steven, yours is a little beauty too. It reminds me of the hawthorn that grows here in the Spring.

Margaret, Thank you. Almost all are pure white, few blossoms have a very light pink - visible in photo.

I keep my Jade outdoors until late October or before the first frost. I hold back on watering. They then come indoors under T5HO lights. All my plants are young starts from mature plants. I had two bloom this year, not very good considering I have a lot of them.

I have a cv Pacific Pride that is reported to be a bright pink flower, can't wait.

Merry Christmas all you Jade lovers!

Steven, gorgeous flowering!

How long time do you hold back on watering? And what colour temperature does your T5HO have?

Oksana

Steven
I've never heard of Pacific pink do you have a picture.

Richard

Steven

Thank you for answering. I keep my jades outdoors as long as possible too, and water very little, if at all, as it gets colder. But I do that with all succulents, knowing that it takes much longer for wet substrate to dry up.

My plants are now bigger than yours and are blooming first time in many years. They all started as cuttings from a very large & mature plant, at least 6years ago. Mother plant bloomed profusely every year, for many years. Out of 9 I have that are same 'age', 6 are blooming this year (I just noticed small clump of buds on the 6th plant). I have read about maturity, colder temps treatment and less watering, some even suggest covering plants to be in total darkness during night. I do not do covering, but all other conditions are automatic with my plants, and it still took a long time for them to bloom. They have less number of blooms comparing to your plants. I do not fertilize them - do you?

I am eager to see if they will continue blooming in years to come, once they started.

I only heard of pink-blooming, did not have a chance to see one.

Rina

where do you live? May be a blooming is more dependent on light? I will get a parcel with leds from China and I want to test.

Oksana

Oksana

I am in Canada, in Ontario, approx. 100km north of Toronto. I am sure light has some influence, but IMO there are other factors too - as mentioned by others. I just wonder which may be the most important.

During winter, I keep many jades under lights for approx. 13hrs/day (I have mentioned that almost all my lights are CFL bulbs, 6500k). I keep some in west window, no supplemental lights. I have few in cooler temperatures, and others in warmer. Trying out different combinations of light-water-temperatures to see if I can determine what makes biggest difference - but so far, I do not have results that would suggest what it could be.

Plants that are blooming now were outside whole summer, in full sun. BUT all of the jades I have were in same location, side-by-side. They are all potted in same mix and are were receiving same amount of watering. They were all brought inside at the same time. I noticed flower buds on few of them within 2-3 weeks after, so I do not believe different conditions inside made any difference.

"How do you make a jade flower?"

Every time I read the title of this thread, I think, Well, you start with a tiny chenille stem and some very small pink or white crepe paper, scissors and glue......

Oh well...Merry Christmas everyone!

Rina

thank you very much! You live on 34° 3’ 48" - more souther than I. I live on 55° 1'. And I know a cacti blooming is stimulated by content at colder temperatures and without water. Cacti are stem succulents, Jades are leaf ones. May be mature Jades are more similar stem succulents. So the same conditions are sufficient for their blooming.

But even small plants can bloom! Therefore I will study the effect of the light spectrum.

Oksana

Oksana, I cut back on water about 2 months before I plan on the move indoors. I use 65k t5ho lights. I think the dark period is a important trigger for flowering.

Richard, I had a senior moment, the correct cultivar name is "Pacific Pride" and is known for it's pink flowers.

Rina, you are a few degrees further north latitude than I am, so you very similar sunset/sunrise times. I do feel the dark period is important it's just part of the puzzle.

I have Jades in a outdoor mini greenhouse with the same T5ho lighting as I have indoors, but the temps are much cooler, lows down the 35F. These plants look the same as the indoor plants, they get much less water.

I do fertilize my Jade plants, I use Schultz Cactus plus 2-7-7, I'll add some Superthrive every other time.. Spring and summer I'll give some fish fert, it's 5-1-1.

Oksana

My latitude is 44° rather than 34°, still more south than you :)

Pls. post your results when available.

Steven

Pls. note my location, Oksana was off little bit in case you were considering it from her post.

Do you 'create' any extra darkness by covering the plants or something similar? I don't, they stay outdoors until it gets cold, so they get light according whatever day is like. greenman28 (Josh) lives further south, he grows lots of beautiful jades. I think he has some blooming every year now. I don't think he ever covers them either. But I believe he uses some fertilizer, and I do not. Not sure if that would make difference, or how much of difference. Personally, I do not care for using fertilizers that 'stimulate blooming' - Bloom boosters - some of them contain ridiculously high amount of P. I should grow couple of plants for at least a year and fertilize one of them to see results. If anything, I would be using fert with ratio 3-1-2.

edited to add photos:

Here are couple of blooming plants, tallest (approx. 21" - needs new pot badly!) and shortest (approx. 15"). Other blooming jades fit in-between those measurements.

Interestingly, my Jades get absolutely flooded from September through October while they're outdoors. I don't make any attempt to keep them dry. Yet they bloom prolifically, regardless of the Autumn rains.

Josh

Socks, I'm glad I'm not the only one! I smile every time I see the thread.

I'm glad someone got my joke.

We literal readers gotta stick together!

Steven Claggett

where do you live?

Oksana

Oksana, I'm in Portland, Oregon, 45 miles north of the 45th parallel.

rina, I think I'm doing pretty much the same as you do, outdoors as long as possible. I protect from rain.

I like the idea of experimenting with fertilizer, I may try that with some identical starts I have, from same mother plant and same size.

Is there a difference from potted to PIG?

The PIG is planted in the ground and the potted one isn't planted in the ground either way there isn't much difference in flowering though a plant hardiness zone would apply if PIGed

Steven

I don't know if there is a difference between potted & PIG (probably some small difference , not sure if it would make much difference with flowering?); I can't leave them PIG. I don't think it would make sense to PIG them for just about 6mo, and removing/potting for the winter.

Rina and Steven

it turns out that you live on almost the same latitude, Steven lives norther.

Oksana

Oksana

The big difference is the location: Oregon is on a coastline of the Pacific Ocean; and its proximity to the ocean heavily influences the state's mild winter climate despite its northern latitude. So while our day lengths are just about the same, it is warmer in Oregon. I am only about 100km north of Toronto that is listed as latitude 43°42 and broadly z6. Temperatures are typically 3 - 5°C colder almost every day in my location, comparing to Toronto. My zone is only 5a, latitude 44°25', Steven is much warmer z8, yet downtown Portland is listed as latitude 45°30'.

Further to what was mentioned about fertilizers {from a post by (Al) tapla}:

Do not apply a fertilizer with the middle number higher than either of the other two numbers (N & K) to container plants. There is never a need for that much P (relative to N) in container culture unless you're supplying only N in another form. Plants use about 6 times more N than P and the massive doses of P in 'bloom-booster fertilizers' cannot do any good.

Rina

I don't consider a climate (temperature) influence. Only sunlight. And I remember as your 'Coral' has turned into 'Gollum' in your full sun. In Russia all 'Gollums' turn into 'Corals' because of insufficiency of the blue spectrum in our full sun. I have yet to analyze all the data.

Hmmmm to say it's only sunlight that makes a jade flower.... A lower sun that sends lower heat for a shorter time each day results in a lower climatic temperature range each day of a jades exposure in that location if outside.

Naturally the climatic temperature range is often to cold for any jade and it's very light with very short times to no frost handling abilities. ( In respect to hardiness zones)

NPK Are we asking does a single XYZ value of NPK (feeding) make a jade flower ?

Being less jade enthusiastic as most IMO NPK is what it is and what it is, is a good suggestion but it's one that doesn't always need to be followed to the TEE of a single XYZ value of NPK suggested Although every potted plant I have does need some form of feeding it's not always necessary to use a single XYZ value of NPK.

Granted feeding may help a jade flower and perhaps flower more but feeding alone cant be the only thing that does make a jade flower. If we place a jade in a situation with out certain climatic temperature changes and a degree of different sun time exposures and just feed it a sinlge XYZ valued NPK the question becomes WOULD IT FLOWER.

nomen

IMO, fertilizer as close as possible to what plants really need in N, P, K and other micro- and/or macro- nutrients is important. For any plant, not specifically for jades.

What I was talking about are 'specialty' fertilizers, like the BloomBooster I mentioned: it has NPK listed as 10-52-10, some are 15-30-15 and similar - extremely high P. While it may work for 'boosting blooms', it probably doesn't do much good for a plant in the long run. Would you feed any of your plants regularly with that kind of fert?

Temperatures matter to some extent: my plants can't stay outdoors as late as Stevens, and can't be brought outside as early as Stevens. Moving them inside earlier and outside later is a change, even if not drastic. I use reasonably good, IMO, lighting but it doesn't replace direct, outdoors conditions.

Since I did not fertilize jades for years, I can't say fertilizing will make difference alone. I tend to believe that it is a combination of light, temps, watering, and perhaps fertilizing??? and plant maturity??? have some influence too. The only way is to do a well controlled experiment - I do not think I can do that. Information I found so far has not been very specific.

plant maturity or size ? You and I have seen em both younger and smaller ( While considering my visual experiences on this forum ( what appears to be younger and smaller than mine that Iv'e seen on this forum where some where flowering where one of mine is being older and bigger hasn't I Imagine someone could say the pot size makes em flower but they too would also be wrong if someone else doesn't comprehend and experience the same results as the person who has one that did flower in an X pot size smaller or bigger than the other.

Some folks feed some don't feed em at all what I agree to is it doesn't make any differences of NPK values or no NPK at all, we often mistakenly while willing to learn still fight the wills of a plant Maybe we confuse it with a calling to understand the science while no plant is aware of any sciences at all.

Plants flower for two reasons One reason is a last ditched effort of that plants willingness to reproduce at all cost Or to say if flowering is the only way it will still try to reproduce any plants willingness to be fit to survive to a later day could also be a question as even a jade can become dead dead dead while trying to reproduce VIA it's smallest possible form of reproducing source The other reason is a plants natural ability and wiliness to reproduce in ideal conditions as a direct result of or by reasoning it's good health.

Until now( while wanting to remain on the bright side) nobody has yet used the words neglect or vigor being the reason a jade flowers but if thought about it's both

I respectfully disagree with your statement (at least the way I understood it): ..."it doesn't make any differences of NPK values or no NPK at all"...

Giving too much of any one of the nutrients can't be good for any plant in the long run. Excess of any will have effect on plant.

The size of the plant is not indicator of its age.

Respectfully understood more often than not it's to much science that may also be to strongly applied as NKP is commonly called a 'science'. Flower them up while moving forward as science wont destroy them all the time either.

Age and size question. If I root a smaller branch with a few leaves from a bigger sized jade that was 15 years old makes the smaller sized rooted cutting 17 years old because that cutting has been in a pot for two years ?

What I meant was in concern to a flowering statement I made concerning age and size is the two year old rooted cutting that's less than 17 years old but is also more than 2 yrs old (in a sense) is much smaller in size than the mothering participant had flowered where the original bigger and is actually 17 years old ( more or less) jade hadn't flowered even though the sun light, no sunlight temperature changing climatic growing conditions where CLOSE to the same for each of them.

In concern to the OP ( Mike) Iv'e not ever gotten a jade to initiate flowering behind glass and probably never will but I have stored them VIA behind window glass for lighting and longer lasting flowers after flowering has initiated OUTSIDE.

Note: Once behind glass I don't get more flowering just longer lasting flowers of what flowers that where already initiated from being outside.

I was given a large jade plant recently. The previous owner placed the root ball in a garbage bag to give to me. I put it in the garage until I could get an appropriately large pot and soil to replant it. Well, life got busy and I ignored the plant for several weeks as it sat in the cold dark garage. One day I go out to get in the car and I notice a profusion of white blossoms all over the plant! Apparently they respond similarly to Christmas cacti; put them in a cool dark place for a few weeks and they will bloom.

Not so much very dark - but cooler for sure! They bloom best when exposed to shorter and cooler days. Several weeks in very dark garage wouldn't hurt it, but overall, they are better if receiving good light. How cold was it if you know?

Well, after all this time, looks like I answered my own question years ago. lol I can't believe someone dug this thread up!

I have yet to see anyone that has seen their Jades flower under very warm conditions and yet Christmas Cactus will.

What I have discovered is that shorter days, lots of sunlight and much cooler temps do the trick! A cool greenhouse works wonders if you have ever noticed how easily they grow in there! My local greenhouse has ALL of theirs in full bloom but in much cooler cooler conditions..

Mike

We have been much cooler this year with a couple of cold snaps (Florida style), so I have my fingers crossed. My jades have never bloomed but maybe this month of temps in the 50s and some in the 60s and 40s at night will do the trick. As y'all know, my Thanksgiving Cacti and Poinsettias all do their thing without any dark treatment, so I hope the weather will do it for the jades.

Side note - it's supposed to get down to 30 tonight. We wheeled in the carts full of plants and covered most of those in the ground. Luckily, it has been dry so I won't have to contend with wet and cold this time!

Crenda, are they showing any signs of buds yet? I know color! So maybe blooms next.

Mike

I keep looking, Mike! So far I haven't seen any, but these things do tend to sneak up on me.