---
title: Jade plant in a terrarium | Glass Jar Garden
description: Jade plant (Crassula ovata): Thick glossy leaves on a little trunk. Bright light and dry soil. Needs light 8,000 to 40,000 lux, humidity 20 to 55 % RH,...
url: https://glassjar.garden/guide/plants/crassula-ovata/
---

Plants

# Jade plant
Crassula ovata

Easy · Open jar only

Thick glossy leaves on a little trunk. Bright light and dry soil.

## What the simulation uses

- Light: 8,000 to 40,000 lux (The brightness it grows well in.)

- Humidity: 20 to 55 % RH (Air moisture it is happy in; below the lower end it dries out.)

- Temperature: 13 to 29 °C (Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.)

- Dies at: below 2 or above 35 °C (Days beyond these temperatures kill it.)

- Soil pH: 6 to 7 pH (Soil acidity it prefers.)

- Grows up: 0.5 cm/month (How fast it gains height in good conditions.)

- Spreads: 0.4 cm/month (How fast its edge creeps outwards.)

- Copes with wet: poor (How well it stands soggy soil; poor means rot comes quickly.)

- Copes with still air: poor (Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.)

- Copes with shade: poor (How well it holds on in dim light.)

- Copes with drying: excellent (How well it survives the jar drying out.)

- Water use: 0.02 ml/cm²/day (Water drawn up from its roots per cm² of leaves in room air; a sealed jar cuts this to a fraction and returns it down the glass.)

- Leaf drop: 1 %/month (Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.)

- Soft leaves: no (Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.)

- Full size: 20 cm tall, 17.5 cm wide (Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.)

## Care

- Day length: 6 to 12 h

- Substrate: Dry

## What kills it

- overwatering / root rot
- humid still air
- low light stretching and collapse

## Description
Its thick leaves store water, so it needs strong light and soil that dries out fully between waterings. The still, humid air of a closed jar rots it fast. Use an open, sunny dish instead.

Also called money plant, friendship tree.

Estimated, where sources were thin: no species-level lux study found; ranges from succulent care guides.

## Sources

- [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crassula_ovata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crassula_ovata)

[Grow it in a jar](https://glassjar.garden/?guide=plants/crassula-ovata)

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