Hi, I am new to gardening and I got a couple of questions. #1 When a venus fly trap goes dormat should you cut the dead leaves off or keep them on? #2 I just reviced some jade cuttings and I was told to put them in water so they can root. I was wondering if this is the best method to start a jade plant. And if it is not the best method what do I do to start a jade plant? Thanks -Mark Hopkin
I don't see a problem with leaving the dead leaves in place. They'll slowly decay as they would do so naturally in a bog (where the plant is found) and become part of the growing medium. It probably wouldn't make much difference either way so their removal is a personal preference, IMHO. Jade is really easy to root. Make a cut just below a node and put the cutting aside for a few days to allow the wound to dry completely. Then plant the cutting in a suitable medium and it'll take root. I once left a cutting to dry for almost two weeks and it start to root on its own. Tough as nails.
A node is the the joint between sections in the stem. You may be able to just plant what you have depending on where your friend made the original cut. A single leaf will also root if you place it on top of the soil. Did I mention these things are easy to root?
Potting soil has too much peat in it and stays too wet all the time (won't drain well) for jades. You need to at least make the mix 10-20% p.s. and a lot more large particle sandy, gritty stuff, using lots of perlite, small aquarium gravel, chicken grit (from a feed store) is excellent, crushed lava rock if you have it out there, anything that lets water run almost right through the mix. And don't let the pot sit in a saucer full of drain water or roots will rot.
