Jade Plant Falling Over

Jade Plant Falling Over (7 Main Causes & Solutions)

Jade plants are beautiful and extremely popular succulents and if you have one, you are probably in love with its stunning foliage – but what do you do about a jade plant falling over? These plants are often top-heavy, and that results in them tipping very readily.

A jade plant can be made unstable by a whole range of problems, including over-watering, under-watering, too much sun, or temperature extremes.

Fortunately, there are several simple steps you can take to help stabilize your falling jade plant and ensure it stays healthy and happy, such as pruning back any damaged or overgrown branches, repotting it into a larger container, or staking it for support.

Check for all of these problems and see if you can rectify them if your jade plant keeps falling over.

Jade Plant Falling Over

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Jade plants are popular houseplants and a lot of people fall in love with them – but not with their habit of toppling over. This can result in spilled soil and damaged foliage, so it’s important to know how to prevent it from happening, or you will constantly be cleaning up in your home.

More worryingly, falling over a lot is likely to damage the jade plant, so it’s particularly important not to ignore a jade plant that keeps falling over. Instead, you should investigate what’s going on. Quite a few things can cause instability, including:

  • 1. Over-watering
  • 2. Under-watering
  • 3. Too little sun
  • 4. Temperature extremes

Unless you know what the problem is, you won’t be able to prevent your jade plant from falling over, so it’s very important to take the time to identify the issue before you start trying to fix it. If you don’t, you might make things worse!

1. Over-watering

Jade plants are succulents, and that means they don’t like to be watered too frequently. They have adapted to take in lots of water when they are given a drink, and then go for long periods without more water. If you give them too much water, they will quickly start to rot – and that can cause instability because the plant’s roots will begin to decay.

Without its roots, the jade plant will become loose in the pot, and may start to lean to one side or the other. If it does this, there’s a high risk of it tipping over and taking the pot with it. There is also a high risk of it dying because its roots have rotted.

To avoid this happening, only water your jade plant once every 2 or 3 weeks, and not more frequently. This will let the roots and growing medium dry out thoroughly before you add more water to them.

2. Under-watering

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Under-watering unfortunately can also cause your plant to tip over easily, because a dry pot is much lighter than a wet one. As jade plants tend to produce a lot of foliage, they can get quite top heavy, and if the pot gets noticeably lighter when it is dry, there is a high risk that the whole thing will tip over.

You should make sure that you thoroughly soak the jade plant’s pot when you do water it, so that the growing medium is well saturated. It should also drain well so it doesn’t stay wet for too long. Set an alarm on your phone to remind you to water it after 2 or 3 weeks.

Because jade plants need watering so rarely, it’s very easy to forget about them, and if you do this, the plant will tip over much more readily.

3. Too Little Sun

You might be puzzled by the idea that sunlight can affect how stable your plant is – but it can. The problem is that when jade plants seriously lack sunlight, they are quite likely to start stretching out toward the sun, and growing long, leggy stems in the direction of the nearest light source.

This attempt to get their leaves closer to the light makes them top-heavy. There’s also a high chance that your jade plant will grow significantly more foliage on the side that is closest to the light, leaving it very unstable.

Again, this increases the risk of the container tipping over, and makes the jade plant a lot less stable. You should therefore make sure that your jade plant gets enough light to grow straight and upright.

4. Temperature Extremes

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Jade plants don’t like temperature extremes in either direction. According to SucculentPlantCare, if temperatures drop below 40 degrees F or climb above 85 degrees F, there is a high chance that your jade plant will wilt. This destabilizes the plant and makes it much more prone to falling over.

Heat waves are more likely to cause your plant to fall over, because they both cause wilting and result in the pot drying out more quickly. They therefore affect 2 conditions at once, and you need to keep your jade plant cool if you can.

5. Excess Fertilizer Use

Since jade plants are not heavy feeders, they don’t need regular fertilization. Of course, these plants need nutrients, but only in moderate amounts. Besides, you don’t have to keep applying fertilizers to your jade plant several times a year. 

Preferably, fertilize the plant once a year in its growing season, which is usually in the summer or spring. In fact, you can add organic compost to the plant in moderation. Ensure the fertilizer you want to apply to the jade plant contains essential nutrients. Most importantly, follow the instructions on the fertilizer label to keep your plant safe. 

6. Regular Repotting

While jade plants can benefit from repotting, it should not be done regularly. Once you grow the plant in the right pot size, allow it to remain that way. When you make it a habit to repot the jade plant, it will begin to fall over. Only repot this plant if you find out its roots have problems or if they outgrow the pot. 

7. Uneven Weight Distribution

Jade plants tend to become heavier as they mature. It’s only normal for the plant to fall over if its stem cannot support its top any longer. Always prune the jade plant to maintain its shape and to keep its growth in check. 

See more about jade plants:

Summary

A jade plant falling over is never a good thing – it makes a big mess and can damage the plant, snapping its leaves and stems. You should check the main causes of a jade plant tipping over and correct these if you can to make your plant more stable. 

If your plant keeps tipping, check whether it needs a larger and heavier container, or whether there is some other problem going on with its pot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is jade plant falling over?

As mentioned above, there are quite a few things that can cause a jade plant to fall over, and you will need to determine the cause accurately before you can fix the problem. As well as the issues mentioned above, your jade plant may be unstable because it is getting too many nutrients or it isn’t draining properly.

Other possible causes include the jade plant being in a pot that is too small and light for it, or the jade plant having too much growth in one area, which can be solved by pruning.

Jade plants are prone to toppling over, so you shouldn’t be surprised if you are running into problems with keeping your jade plant upright. You will need to work out what’s wrong before you can fix it.

How do you keep a jade plant upright?

You can keep a jade plant upright by determining what is destabilizing it and then sorting out this problem. Often, you can make a jade plant more stable by transplanting it into a terracotta pot with a large drainage hole.

This more porous environment will help to ensure that the jade plant doesn’t get too wet, but more importantly, terracotta pots are heavy and will not tip over readily. Instead of the plant being top-heavy, as many jade plants are, the weight will be at the bottom of the plant, and this should stop the whole container from falling over.

Do jade plants need to be staked?

Occasionally, staking a jade plant will help it to stay more upright and may reduce problems with it leaning to one side or another – which should increase the plant’s stability in most cases. However, there is also a risk of damaging your jade plant by staking it.

Jade plants have quite delicate stems, and that means that even just rubbing up against a stake for too long could be damaging for the plant. If you tie or otherwise fasten the stems to the stake, there is a greater chance of them being damaged, so bear this in mind and consider carefully before staking a jade plant.

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