If you stop misting them, they will stop rotting. =)

Succulent leaves normally absorb extremely little moisture so there isn't much point watering something without any roots because it will usually rot.

Eww mayo thank you for the advice. However, what about the ones that haven't rotted and still haven't rooted? Any ideas?

If they haven't rotted or rooted, just leave them alone and they will eventually root on their own.

Thank you both for the suggestions!! I'll try to lighten up with the misting and leave them alone. Thanks!

Just for moral support: I drop jade leaves in pumice, perlite, bark, dry soil, or just leave them on the kitchen windowsill. They end up taking root eventually no matter where they land. They don't need water until they start to put out roots, and even then, not really.

they seem to root very quickly in a bit of damp pumice or in a small bowl of coco peat, dry. But no matter what they root.

i have found that the jade leaves I drop into established plants root nicely, even though they get thoroughly watered when I water the plant they are in. They also put out beautiful roots.

what I'm saying is: they are easy to root and generally require very little effort. I've only lost jade leaves to dryness from leaving them in direct sun.

drop a bunch in a bowl of perlite and walk away:)

Crassulas can be tricky in my experience. My Crassula Gollum/shrek's ears/hobbit roots readily from leaves but the ordinary flat jades don't (Crassula gollum is a monstrous form of Crassula Jade). I couldn't tell you why that is but not misting may help.

Sometimes misting is helpful if other methods have failed. I think it can be helpful if you live in a very hot, dry climate like mine because it simulates rainy conditions and sometimes the leaves need that trigger. My Jade stem cuttings also root incredibly slowly

I only know I had to give away over 120 jades of all sorts this summer which I had grown from leaves and cuttings, mainly leaves, and I still have a lot of jades left. No, it's not hard to grow jades from leaves :) Just follow the advice above, leave them anywhere and call back in a while.

Nik
I am surprised that you find them bit tricky. I have same experience as Margaret - just about any leaf will grow roots and plantlets, almost like a weed :). Also leaves from Gollum, Hobbit, even Tricolor - while this one usually grows green from a leaf, not variegated. I do not have any 'fancies' like Denethor or such, so do not know if those are as easy and if they grow true from a leaf cutting.
You said even stem cuttings root slowly - could it be warm climate you are in? But IIRC, they are native to SA and Mozambique, so I would be surprised if that is the problem.

Rina, 'Denethor' is very easy to propagate from leaves, and grows true from leaf, too.

Josh

I have only had one success with propagating any plants from leaves, and it just happens to be my jade. I had a leaf fall off when I was checking for bugs (no bugs, thankfully). I think I knocked it off by being a bit too rough XD

I left the leaf in a semi-shaded spot on top of a plastic plate with no other media. I let it alone for about a week before I saw the tiiiiiniest white root. So I left it for another two weeks and just this past week noticed a baby plantlet! :3 First time ever.

I set up a new pot and laid the leaf on the soil. This was early last week. I've left it alone since, no water, no misting, and only very low, ambient light. It has been cloudy and blah here this past week (causing hell on my echies >.>)

Voila, baby jade!

I have native SA Jades, Hummel's Sunset and Hobbit. The only one that propagates prolifically from leaves is Hobbit. I do think climate plays a role but I also suspect that breeding has an effect. Leaf propagation is fairly hit-and-miss with all species except Echeveria, which grows easily but pachys and Graptos are less keen and all of them take a long time to root as stem cuttings

I have had 100 percent success with the gollum leaves; I have a little plant growing from a leaf I rooted about 7 months ago.

They also root very quickly when I drop them in perlite. They seem to be fine rooting in dry conditions and when being watered freely ( on top of soil in established plant)

i keep them in an northern window on the windowsill or leave them on the southern window away from direct light. They just root....

i have had trouble with the tricolor though. But I put one in damn soil, and it finally rooted. As for the stem cutting, I dropped it in a little vase of water and it put it out roots within a week. They seem to like being rooted damp....but that may just be my experience. Of all my jades, the tricolor is the only one I find a bit finicky, but it is also the one I have the least experience with....

I also root jade stems damp and in the soil or nothing much would happen. I've seen broken stems root eventually in the garden but it takes months for roots to form. My silver dollar jade would never have rooted if I hadn't done that

I am really surprised about what you saying, Nik.

Sometimes, I wish jades didn't root so easily, haha. I have hard time to dispose of anything living, so am swamped with jades! Tricolor is more-or-less the same; it just seems to grow little slower. I must have had at least 50 Tricolor plants if not more over past few years (many given away), all started from cuttings every year as I trim/prune original plant (recently chopped down to approx. 8" from about 20" or so...) I have that one since May 2012.

Never used water to root jade - stems or leaves; I keep them quite dry. Some are quite small, some quite large:

I have often seen posts saying that Tricolor will not come true from leaves, while in my experience they almost always do. I think, having read Rina's post, it may simply depend on the original plant the leaf cutting comes from, but why that should be I can't say. If Oksana were here she might have an idea. :)

Margaret

I only tried to root very few leaves of Tricolor - probably 5 or 6?; one started to grow variegated but ended up all green. Few others grew also green. They all came from same plant as the cuttings above. Since I have plenty of cuttings, I didn't try to root more leaves.

Maybe there is something to what you saying. Hope Oksana pops by - she has been around very seldom lately.

She comes to the Fb group, and I think she also goes to a Russian succulent forum a lot.

Margaret - if you see this post: I just found one of the Tricolor leaves is growing variegated plantlet:

Yes, it is, isn't it, Rina! I'm sure it will remain variegated, good luck with it!

I used to have no trouble rooting jades also--I could see little white roots protrude out of any leaf, and easily root. Not any longer. I thought maybe the soil was too old so purchased special jade soil and still nothing. I tried not watering them at all, but then the leaves shriveled and began dying. I've been waiting two and a half months and can't see anything happening except I'm losing some of the leaves that had initially looked hopeful. They are located in sunlight, but not direct. The room is warm and dry.

I think it all comes down to ambient humidity. Leaves and stems sprout roots much more readily during extremely warm, wet periods here and over winter, which is dry in my climate, forget it

Are your leaves healthy? How do you take them off the stem? What is your general location/growing zone?

I have gotten mine to root and grow successfully from keeping them misted every other day in bright but not direct light.

i don’t know how to remove the leaf they get from tho. Any suggestions?

Leave the leaf it will be absorbed by the developing plantlet and die off when it is ready to