Crassula Ovata Crosby compact AKA Jade

Sand ? Would be a no no if to fine. Example if play ground sand would be not good as it eventually blocks drainage Even on a good day construction sand would need sifting and mixed though and into a soil

During peak growing times there could be a counter suggestion and not to be wasting some unimportant keyboard time fair to ask
What do you want to do ?

In the mood for a complete Jade make over ? Got grits ?

This post was edited by Pots_Alot on Sun, Jul 14, 13 at 1:06

Some of what you said made sense. The second part....very confused.what do I want to do with it? I want it to live of course. Thank you for your input. I think I will repot it tomorrow with better soil.

I use a rough mix of perlite, horticultural grit and multipurpose compost for all of my succulents, including my jades. They all seem to thrive in this mixture.

Thanks Joe. I'll take your advise and do just that.

Careful pls. Compost here (in the US) is not the same as UK (which I believe is just regular soil, or garden soil) where JoeCaudex is posting from. Compost from US will be too rich & water retentive for this plant.

I'd suggest Cactus & Succulent mix w/ 50% extra perlite. Or another of the mixes recommended on here, but not compost pls.

Pirate girl. Multi purpose compost here is peat based and like you say, water retentive. However the mix I use is one third compost, one third perlite and one third grit. There's not enough compost in the mixture to cause any drainage issues and it retains some nutrients.

Thanks pirate girl for the warning. I can't use a compost anyways. For some reason when I do, my cat digs. I was just going to use a grit, perlite and succulent mix. From all the resources I was given, I think that will be good.

You could use coir as well if you wanted to. It's made from coconut husks.

Here sometimes it has salt & requires rinsing. Others find it breaks down badly. Might take some experimenting with.

I used a potting soil 25% organic cactus/succulent 15% perlite30% and a vermiculite 30%. I hope that is a good combo. Couldn't find a grit out here.

A big no on the vermiculite! It is VERY moisture retentive!

Plantlover,

If that's what you've got available & it's for C&S, I'd skip the vermiculite & increase the perlite (I think vermiculite holds water, not what's wanted for C&S), the perlite helps drainage.

Some people just use C&S w/ perlite & that works fine, I've used it myself.

No doubt in my mind that in a pound of peat a Jade will live as any plant can as well and peat is the counter suggestion to grits that had been suggested also.
When you want to "GROW" your Jade gander though some other threads

Thank you for the help. Okay, I changed the pot to a potting soil/c&s mix and perlite

Plantlover, I just got my first ever jade last month and ive got it in c&s and perlite 50/50 and its been growing outside on my front porch and its doing pretty good.

Plantlover, I just got my first ever jade last month and ive got it in c&s and perlite 50/50 and its been growing outside on my front porch and its doing pretty good.

Its a Crassula. Portulaca is a different genus.

Any counter suggestions ? Don't forget to water