i am really confused on the matter of Jade soil, can someone please explain to me what the absolute best soil for Jades is i know they rot very easily i just recently lost one i had it in cactus mix with some bonsai mix and sand added i think i just watered once to often and now its a goner i do have more that i don't want to lose please help me. there is all kinds of recipes on the internet but what is the best one?
You don't want any sand or peat in your mix. Both can create a perched water table in your container. Water when the pot feels light compared to when soaked on your watering day. Don't overpot; the container should be no more than 1" larger than the original container or previous size. http://www.greenculturesg.com/articles/may06/may06_cacti_potting.htm
Thanks very much for your insight and will use the link to better my soil for my jades that are still living.
I have many varieties if jade. Some several years old. Whats worked best for me, cactus soil an adding extra perilite. Great drainage.
Fwiw, those bags of potting mix labelled for cactus are not much different from the ones labelled for tropical plants. They all have peat moss, a bit of perlite, maybe other things. Not good for most succulents, as you have learned. I find one of the more useful amendments is coarse sand. Usually you can find a suitable sand being sold for concrete mixing at Home Depot or places that sell stone products, and it is usually quite inexpensive, though you usually have to buy at least 30 or 40 pounds.. that isn't as much as you might think, it is very heavy.. Avoid anything that says it is 'play sand' or for sand boxes.. it will be much too fine and will compact so much that the roots suffocate. Coarse sand has particles of many sizes, up to little pebbles and chips in it, and feels like coarse sandpaper in your hand. Also avoid anything made from limestone, such as limestone screenings. They will leach far too much calcium into the soil for most plants to tolerate. If you can find fine gravel, not limestone, it works well also, and even pea gravel can be useful, especially for large plants that are top heavy, because it will help weigh down the pot more, to prevent tipping. Amendments sold for bonsai can be useful, but are often quite expensive, though they can work for succulents.. I'm thinking of stuff like Turface, for example. The idea with all of these things is to have an open, coarse soil texture that will drain readily and quickly, allowing plenty of air to reach the roots, because the majority of succulents need this type of environment to grow well. Don't mean to say they won't grow in other mixes, there are as many recipes as people, I think, but using sand to amend my potting mixes has pretty much given good results for me.
Thanks to all the responses still a bit confused though some say cactus mix some say no sand some say sand the only thing everyone seems to agree with is that it has to be fast draining i guess i will have to re pot and hope for the best i have even been told light soil good drainage and all the light possible.
What you need is coarse sand, IE grit. Fine sand will hold too much water in the mix. Silica sand used for sand blasting is a good example. http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u173/mangolover07/SilicaSand-1.jpg
Builders sand packs down really tightly and can be used under paving, not what you want in a soil mix.
Don't you just love it when all the advice conflicts ? I think sometimes terms vary.. what I'm calling concrete sand, that I get locally, does not pack down, and is not the same as what is used for, an example would be under paving stones, which does indeed pack tightly, that's what it's supposed to do. I've even found perfectly useable potting sand sold in 60 pound 'tubes'.. for putting in the bed of pickup trucks in winter to help weigh down the back wheels, and handy if needed for ice too. But you have to look at the sand that's available where you are, and make sure it's truly coarse. Lots of different size particles, up to chips and stones a quarter inch or so in size, sometimes a bit more. Feels harsh and abrasive in your hand, not soft. Typically, it is not expensive.. I paid about $4. for the tube sand, the same for similar but slightly coarser sand from a stone supplier. I just avoid the stuff labelled Play Sand, because it will pack down like rock. The stone supplier also had a much finer sand, screened to remove all the little chips and pebbles, and that is what they sell to use with paving stones.. price roughly the same, but of no use for potting plants.
