Crassula Marnieriana - Plant of the Month
Crassula Marnieriana, more commonly known as Jade Necklace or Crassula Stacked (much less of a mouthful and a lot easier to type!), is a succulent native to the southern regions of Africa. Although naturally found growing upwards from the ground, it’s fleshy leaves stacked on an arching stem will eventually trail down when potted indoors.
Although their reputation for being tricky may proceed them, this Crassula is very easy to grow providing you can satisfy a few key requirements. When happy, they will produce a small white or pink flower during the growing seasons.
In their natural habitat they enjoy direct light throughout the day, but as a house plant they prefer bright but indirect light, only to be sitting in direct sunlight during the morning or afternoon hours and never the full midday sun.
In terms of environment they prefer a dry atmosphere, suffering in spots with humidity. If you find condensation on your windows, it’s best to move them a bit further back from the windowsill to reduce the chances of rot.
Marnieriana require very little watering making them the ideal low maintenance plant for the summer season – no need to worry about them whilst you’re on holiday! Overwatering, however, can cause root rot and a lot of damage.
We have found the best time to water is the morning, allowing the plant sufficient time to dry out during the daylight hours. You can give it a good soaking, letting water run over the soil freely, once every 3 weeks during the spring and summer. If in doubt, watering little and often can be done too – a small glass of water every week will work, making sure the soil has dried out completely before watering again. In winter, reduce watering to about once every month to 6 weeks.
The Jade Necklace is best placed into a high draining compost – cactus soil is ideal. You can even mix some sand or add more gravel through the compost for extra drainage to be on the safe side. Feeding the Crassula with house plant food will also benefit it greatly during the growing seasons.
To Propagate:
Crassula Marnieriana is one of the easiest succulents to propagate – from a well established plant you can have lots of mini ones before you know it! It’s well worth the effort to create more of these eye catching plants.
Take a cutting from your main plant and leave to dry/callous for approx. 3 days in a shady spot - this ensures the cutting doesn’t rot when placed into it’s new pot.
Once dried, fill a pot with a mix of cactus soil and sand, and simply stick the end of the cutting directly into the compost and leave it to root. Place the pot into bright but indirect sunlight.
Spray your soil and sand mix moderately to keep it moist and encourage root growth. Roots should form in just 3 weeks.
Once the plant is sufficiently established (when you can feel some resistance from the roots if you tug at the plant gently) you can move it into a well-drained pot with good cactus soil and look after it as you would the parent plant.