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I have a jade plant that rotted out from the root. It has two healthy trunks and I'm wondering if it's possible to save them.

At the moment I have them freshly cut and sitting in water that I don't know if jade plants will root from that.

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Quick take them out of the water! Like most succulents they root by making a clean cut at the root end with a sharp knife or razor and letting it sit on the windowsill for a week or so.

Then, once the wound has dried, place in damp sand and high light. Keeping sand damp is harder than it seems. Wet is no good, dry does not encourage roots. Do not cover the rooting area in a plastic bag or glass.

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    Mixing some vermiculite with the sand helps in holding "damp" - or use a large terra-cotta pot with a smaller terra cotta pot with a plugged drain-hole set in it, and your sand and cuttings between the small and large pots - keep the inner pot filled with water (glazed or plastic pots don't work for reasons that are hopefully obvious.) Drain hole on large pot is open.
    – Ecnerwal
    Oct 23, 2015 at 19:36
  • No kidding!! Get that plant out of the water!! After a clean knife cut on the base, do you (Kevinsky) think that it'd behove them to use a rooting hormone? This looks pretty iffy with such a large topgrowth and no roots...
    – stormy
    Oct 25, 2015 at 0:30
  • And no...do NOT plug any drain holes!! No watering from the bottom. Best way to propogate these plants is from a leaf. Shallow, clay pot, never allow water to sit in bottom.always use POTTING soil and best just to purchase potting soil for cactus. Do not over fertilize! If starting with just a leaf, use tiny, tiny little pots. Keep moist until rooted NOT WET! Then add a bit of fertilizer (extended release Osmocote 14-14-14 only 2X per year).
    – stormy
    Oct 25, 2015 at 0:37
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    @stormy, Ecnerwal suggested a "self-watering, low-humidity system" in his comment, not the plugging of any drain holes in general. This could also be done with any unglazed pot without a hole, but as most of us have the basic terra-cotta ones at hand anyway, these need to be plugged to act as a water reservoir.
    – Stephie ♦
    Oct 25, 2015 at 5:43
  • Have fun using a terra-cotta plant pot as a wtaer reservior without plugging the drain hole, @stormy it does not work too well. This method (which I learned without it having any special name associated) appears to be getting called a "Forsythe pot" these days, though i see questionable advice that a plastic pot might be OK for the outer pot (I don't agree.) Likewise I tend to use sand and vermiculite (or sand/peat/vermiculite) rather than pure vermiculite. extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/houseplants/…
    – Ecnerwal
    Oct 25, 2015 at 21:29
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Yes, remove them from the water and let them root dry. Once they've rooted again, don't water them as much! That's probably why the original plant rotted.

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  • I suspect a combination of overwatering, using a pot without a drain and probably a poor soil selection. After a little researching, I'm honestly amazed that plant ever got as large as it is...
    – doub1ejack
    Oct 26, 2015 at 12:59

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