Crassula argentea is correctly named Crassula ovata and is commonly know as
the "Jade Plant", even though the plant is native to South Africa not China
or Japan.

It is best grown in a sunny location (outdoors in the shade during the
summer is not a problem) in a soil mix predominantly made of drainage
material (coarse builders sand, aquarium gravel, silica sand, turfoos). The
plant should be watered thoroughly about once a week and allowed to go
completely dry between waterings. Never let the plants sit in standing water
for any length of time. Fertilize with a foliage house plant fertilizer
diluted to quarter strength.

The plant is not cold hardy so you must bring it indoors before it becomes
cold and keep it in a south facing window until the last frost warning is
over in spring.)

If a plant becomes top heavy and droops, stake it upright and hold back on
watering. It might even need to be moved into a larger pot.


"Davisons Trull" wrote in message
...
Cereus-validus wrote:

"Davisons Trull" wrote in message
...
Hi botanists,

Total n00b, in no way a botanist, just wondering on plant weirdness.
Well, weird to me!

Heres the story...

A year ago my mum gave me a plant. Its a family thing, been handed down
through the generations - we all have one. It was quite a chunky chap
when he was given to me. Big, thick stem, sprouting out into other very
healthy looking stems, each with big, green bulbous leaves. Sorry, none
of us know what it is Anyway, after four weeks it just started
falling
to pieces. Woah! I thought. Can't lose plant!! I had a quick chat with
my
mum and she said it was odd, but even from a leaf they can just grow
back, so I shouldn't worry. Fair enough, I thought. So, every bit that
fell off I re-potted and for each pot I tried different tactics, you
know, to try and figure out what I did to kill it the first time. All
the
little pieces survived, but the main plan died.

Ok. Now I have 5 plants. I I want to know where I went wrong, so I give
them
all slightly different conditions:

1. Small pot, soil, little water, in the shade
2. Medium pot, soil, medium water, indirect sunlight.
3. Small pot, only water, direct sunlight.
4. Large pot, soil, lots of water, direct sunlight, baby bio.
5. Large pot, soil, see how he survives outside

A year later, they are all still alive!

From this, I could only guess that when the main stem plant fell to
pieces it was simply reproducing. I mean, after all, there are 5 of
them
now and try as I might to get the main stem to grow it steadfast
refused.

Anyway, thats not the freaky part. Why did I put "plant memory" in the
subject? Well. Remember plant no. 5? He didn't do too well outside. In
fact, I totally forgot he was out there until about a month later. He'd
fallen over in the wind, soil spilt everywhere and barely a leaf left.
I
picked him up, fixed the soil and brought him back with the others.

Over the next few months he made a great recovery. His stem grew
stronger
than the others, and took on a darker sort of "woody" style. I figured
he
was a tough nut now.

So, I come back today and.... he was growing sideways. Yes, thats
right.
He
was upright yesterday, and today he has bent his stem 90 degrees. Its
like he "remembered" that he fell over this time last year, and so
decided to fall over again! Probably in preparation for "the big
knock".

Obviously the 4 other plants are still growing upright.

Is this "normal" plant behavior? Will I have to train "junior" to stand
up straight, or will he "fall over" again this time next year?

Have you found out the scientific name of the plant yet?

Only if we know what it is can we have a good idea of how to expect the
plant would grow.

It may be some sort of succulent.



I have indeed. After a bit of searhcing I discovered he is a crassula
argentea.