Gardening and Horticulture - Can my jade plant be saved?

While chopping a large root, I accidentally cut my jade plant off at the base, above the roots. It's a fairly large plant about 3 feet wide by 3 feet high. Can it be saved?

Hi Stumped,

That's a very large 'cutting' to try and root, but here's what I suggest. DO NOT put it in water. Actually, don't put it in anything right now. You want to let the base form a callus, so leave it in a cool shady place, maybe indoors.

The biggest problem you will have, if you get it to root, will be the new small root system supporting such a large plant. If you get it to root, you will most likely find that you will have to support the entire plant for years. This is a slow growing plant with slow growing roots that are rather small for such a top heavy plant. You could possibly rig up something that would be like staking tomatoes. You can see that with the small cutting here on the left.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/73/181427320_fae38b019a.jpg?v=0

My suggestion would be to root some leaves or stems. The basic process is the same. You can break off some leaves, place them laying on top of moist soil and let them form roots. You could either prop each leaf against the rim of the pot, just sitting on top of the soil, or lay the leaf on the soil. The roots will upright the leaf a bit as the newly forming roots pull the leaf cutting down into the soil. This is a picture of one form of jade plant leaves that rooted and formed new plants. You can see the elongated leaves of this variety were placed on the soil, not in it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonslumber/374827963/

Here's a couple of pics and description.
http://gardencorner.net/?p=31=1

Here, in the bottom picture, you can see the original leaf cutting beginning to deteriorate and dry out now that there is a plant growing from that original leaf.
http://www.modishblog.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/25/3.jpg

You could also brutally prune the plant, using the what you trim as cuttings. Let each one form a callous. Here's an example of a smaller one that has been pruned. The first pic is before.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b251/whip1/05162006Plants002.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b251/whip1/300MILL002.jpg

I'm also sending you more info in a private message.
Newt

Everything Newt said is correct however there's also another option, though it may be more of an "all or nothing" gamble.

While trying to root the entire plant you could at the same time try a "graft" of sorts by reattaching the trunk to the base by vertically inserting several toothpicks, for example. Grafting tape or wound dressing might not be in order in this case as it might inhibit new rooting but a bit of Rootone or other fungicide wouldn't hurt. I would then bury the grafted area not with just soil but with sand/gravel/stones or a combination for needed support. You may form new roots from this area while take advantage of the existing root system and reattaching the trunk. Other branches in the area that get in the way could be removed and started separately or just buried, as well, to form roots from the branches.

If unsuccessful, you'll know it soon enough and would actually still have the option to root individual sections. At that point, you're better off attempting to root entire branches rather than messing around with individual leaves.

Don't overwater!

Action Claw, that's an interesting idea. I wonder if it would be best to have fresh cuts on the areas to be grafted together rather then the callous.

Newt

For rooting, as you say, it should dry a bit and develop a callus, otherwise it might rot but for grafting, a nice, clean, juicy surface is needed. If it's already begun to dry at all, I'd recut both ends and, if it comes to that, you may as well do it right and recut at an angle.

If it does work you save the whole plant and many years or growth. If not, within a week or two, drying, shrinking will be obvious and you can go ahead and start separating it into several smaller plants.