I keep it outside in late spring through summer and inside the rest of the time. Right when I brought it in this year I repotted it with 2" of rocks for drainage and fresh succulent/cacti soil.

I've never fertilized it (in fact I've never fertilized any of my house plants) but now that its growing, I want to help it along because apart from size, its mother is an extremely interesting looking specimen.

Should I fertilize it? Also, I'm watering it every 3-5 days right now because the soil gets bone dry in that time even after a soaking. It sits by a window in our kitchen. I am having a hard time understanding the whole "only water a Jade once or twice a month" suggestion. Thanks.

Here's the scientific way that will ensure you won't over love this plant:

Put it in a sunny window. Forget about it.

Some day, when you say "hey, I wonder how that Jade's doing" go find it and check the soil and leaves. If the first is dry and the second are soft, then give a good thorough watering.

I think this way will mitigate the peaty soil you have it in. When you repot, do a gritty mix (soil that won't ball up in your hand when it's wet.)

Also, I'm not sure about rocks in the bottom of pots adding much for drainage, I know a lot of people here don't think that's true.

Care to elaborate and or better yet...would you have a picture of your friends Jade. Would absolutely love to see it :o)

FWIW, I also agree, I don't think the rocks on the bottom does anything extra for drainage. I would def. use a grittier more porous potting mix(no peat) when you decide to repot.

Pictures will help, and there are also thousands of words, providing scores of hours of reading entertainment, if you use the search function here with the key word 'jade' or 'Crassula ovata'.

I'm going to be a naysayer to Blut and Puglvr and speak loud and proud for rocks on the bottom - with a lot of ifs....if you provide a solid layer of sufficient depth using the right rock, this method does help increase drainage, but a lack of drainage, combined with heavy soil and heavy watering, can doom your plant.

but you're better off having a more porous soil until you understand how this plant grows, which is in just about any type of soil. It doesn't like its feet wet for long and it doesn't like cold, although it will tolerate it for a while.

As for watering and fertilizing, I'm not sure why people are being so hard on their plants. Sure they can tolerate neglect, but why should they? I know some plants will develop more fat, compact growth when deprived of these things, but the only skinny jades I've seen are those that are deprived of light. With sufficient light and a porous soil, I'd think you could water and fertilize a jade regularly and get fantastic growth. I water and fertilize mine (at 1/4 strength) every 3-5 days, and growth seems compact and healthy. But mine is still quite small, so I'll defer to others with more experience here.

And that egg is just one province over from me.

I would never water a Jade every 3-5 days..thats very bad for a Jade and will only induce rot. Especially if your Jade is small, it will tolerate even less.
Those that talk about neglecting a Jade are experieced growers of this plant and know what they are talking about. This plant thrives on being neglected. To much water even with a porous soil will still be detrimental to the plant.
Mary

I think this is an overly broad statement. Watering frequency simply depends on how quickly a soil dries out. I grow my small jade in a mix of equal parts fir bark, Turface, and granite grit. I water it every 3-5 days in winter because it will be bone dry within 5 days. The risk of rot is introduced when a soil holds water for too long. If it dries out in a reasonable amount of time, then there is no risk in watering when dry. Jade's are pretty vigorous plants that continue to grow during cooler months. When I repotted mine recently it was so full of roots that I had to trim half of them back.

Dirtshaman's problem does sound like rot, but that is most likely caused by an overly water retentive soil. The problem many people have is that they don't realize how long moisture remains in the lower portion of their pots. A wooden shishkebab skewer poked into the soil for several minutes can be a big help in figuring this out.

Until you see definite growth, don't water - mist only, every few days.

As an FYI, your question, since it's separate and different than the original poster's, should be posted by itself. You'll have more people see it.

There's an FAQ here, along with thousands of words written on Crassula ovata here (use the search function for hours of fun reading) - from reading them you'd get a heap of edumication on this plant.