What kind of soil is suitable for growing jade plant (Crassula ovata)?

Jade plant (Crassula ovata) is an evergreen succulent plant in the Crassulaceae family. Because of its strong ornamental value, it is often grown by people as a potted plant. It can be enjoyed for its beauty, decorate the home environment, and also improve the air, making people feel delighted. Many gardening friends confuse it with the jade tree (Crassula arborescens), but in fact the two are not the same plant.

Although the jade plant and the jade tree are both evergreen succulents in the Crassulaceae family, and the two look quite similar and have similar growing habits, they can be distinguished from each other by their stems and leaves. Since the two share the same growing habits, their cultivation methods should also be roughly the same.

For growing jade plant in pots, you can usually use the soil used for growing jade tree. In previous articles, the editor mentioned many times that for growing jade tree, it is suitable to use leaf mold, river sand, vermiculite and other substrates to make a mixed soil. So potted jade plant should also be quite suitable for such a substrate.

Of course, we can also use peat soil with perlite, or use garden soil with river sand to grow it. As long as the substrate we provide has strong air and water permeability, is fertile and loose, and is slightly acidic, it can often be used to grow jade plant. Because jade plant does not have high requirements for potting soil, it is enough to meet these conditions.

So, if using garden soil and river sand to grow it, it is recommended to mix in a little leaf mold or humus soil to increase the fertility of the soil, and at the same time it can also increase the acidity of the substrate. Generally, it is more suitable to keep the pH value at around 6.5. Such soil is slightly acidic and can better promote the growth of jade plant.

And precisely because the jade plant and the jade tree look very similar, have the same growing habits, and also both belong to the Crassulaceae succulent plants, many gardening friends will intentionally or unintentionally treat the two as one plant to grow. Although strictly speaking the two are not the same plant, in fact we can also treat the two as two different varieties of the same plant to grow.