Why Is My Jade Plant Dark Green? [Guide]

Is your Jade plant turning dark green?

Are you wondering what's causing the leaves to change their color?

Many indoor plants show similar behavior during their lifecycle.

It can happen because of several reasons, but you need to know the exact reason to fix this problem in your plant.

In the following guide, you will find the main reasons and some tips to address this issue in the Jade plant.

So, let's dive right in!

jade plant dark green leaves cover image

Why Is My Jade Plant Dark Green?

The Jade plant turns dark green because of two reasons.

The first reason is the use of excess fertilizers.

As you know, many of us like to feed our plants with a good amount of fertilizers every now and then.

Now, this might be beneficial for the outdoor plants because their needs are slightly higher than the indoor plants.

Therefore, when you follow the same strategy to your Jade plant, it's likely to cause problems.

The most common sign of excess fertilizing is the overgrowth and dark green colored leaves on the branches.

The leaves turn darker because they receive more than the required amount of nitrogen from the fertilizers.

Furthermore, the second reason is the lack of sunlight in your room or garden.

When you keep the indoor plant in the dark place, it doesn't receive the required sunlight inside the room.

Usually, it leads to a change in the color of your plant leaves.

Similarly, if you kept the Jade plant under a tree or shade, it would not get enough sunlight.

Due to this, you will observe the same dark green colored leaves on the plant.

Important:

Even if the leaves turn dark, you won't see much of an impact on the plant.

It will continue to grow at a decent rate, though you shouldn't expect many new leaves and branches on the plant.

So, overall, it's not a significant issue in your garden, and you can fix it without any trouble.

Why Is My Jade Plant Light Green?

This is another thing that is common with the Jade plant leaves.

Sometimes, you do get to see the leaves turning light green on your plant.

Now, what could be the reason for it?

Again, there are a few reasons that might cause an impact on the leaves of your plant.

Here's a list of them -

Overwatering
Underwatering
Lack Of Nutrients In The Soil
Bright Sunlight

These four factors can surely change your plant's leaf color to light green or yellow over the period.

In most cases, though, you will have an issue with the direct sunlight or overwatering in the soil.

If you fix these issues, the plant will start producing perfectly green leaves on the plant.

There might also be a lack of fertilizers issue in the pot.

You can fix this issue by providing an adequate amount of all-purpose fertilizers to the plant.

If you don't have the fertilizers, you can prepare a fresh soil mix at home and repot the Jade plant.

This will ensure that it gets a new environment with plenty of nutrients in the soil.

Do try out these suggestions if the leaves on your Jade plant have started turning light green or yellow.

In the next section, you will find a few more tips to address the lack of sunlight issue in your Jade plant.

Let's have a look at them quickly.

5 Tips To Provide Sufficient Sunlight To Your Jade Plant

Here's a list of things you can do to grow perfect leaves on the Jade plant -

1. Keep The Plant In Your Living Room

It's the first thing you can think of when you realize the leaves turn dark green because of lack of sunlight.

And as you know, there is no better place than putting it in your living room.

Since most living rooms are well-lit with natural light, it's an ideal place for a plant like Jade plant to thrive in.

It will not only change the color of the leaves but will also help grow the plant at a much better rate.

The other benefit of putting it in a living room is that the plant will get a lot of attention from the guests and visitors.

So, you will not have to spend on any expensive piece of art or centerpiece for the beautification of the room.

The Jade plant will look so pretty in the room and will surely do the job for you.

2. Keep It On A Windowsill

What if you don't receive much sunlight in any of your rooms?

In that case, the best place to put this plant is the windowsill.

It will help your plant get sufficient sunlight throughout the day.

Importantly, you don't have to keep it on the windowsill for too long.

Just a few hours of natural light each day is good enough for the plant's leaves.

This will make the leaves attain their real color pretty soon.

3. Place It In A Balcony

Do you have a balcony attached to the room?

Then, you don't need anything else.

Simply move your Jade plant to the balcony and allow it to soak up ample sunlight during the day.

Now, if you don't want to put in a lot of effort, make sure you provide indirect sunlight to this plant.

Otherwise, the plant may get sunburnt easily.

You can even put it beside a bigger plant so that it will get partial light in the morning and afternoon.

Make these little adjustments in your balcony garden, and I'm sure you will have lush green leaves on your Jade plant soon.

4. Put It In Direct Sunlight For A Few Hours

Well, technically, you can also grow it in direct sunlight.

But you will need to change its location every few hours or days depending on the intensity and direction of sunlight.

If you want to keep it in direct light, you should only put it in this light for only a couple of hours.

Don't let the plant sit in scorching sunlight for the entire day.

This is especially important for harsh weather conditions like heatwaves in summers.

If you have a relatively cooler climate in your place, your plant will not have much of a difficult time despite being in the sun for long.

5. Install A Grow Light In Your Room

In case you don't have any other choice, you can simply opt for the grow lights.

The grow light installation may add to your gardening expenses, but it will be a good idea to have this setup for your favorite Jade plant.

In fact, you will be able to grow even more plants in your room if you can provide artificial light to them.

So, that's an added plus point of having this system in the room.

In the following section, let's check out the FAQs related to this topic.

FAQs

1. Does Jade Plant Change Color?

The Jade plant won't change its color naturally.

However, its leaves can turn yellow or dark green due to the varying degrees of sunlight.

2. How Do I Make My Jade Plant Red?

You cannot change the color of the Jade plant leaves to red.

It's quite not possible to achieve it naturally, though sometimes the edges of the leaves do turn red due to excess sunlight.

So, you may keep the plant in the direct sun if you want to see the transition in color.

Note: It's not a not guaranteed result, as it all depends on the amount and type of sunlight your plant receives each day.

3. Why Is My Jade Plant Browning?

The Jade plant might start browning because of too much sunlight or fertilizers.

Both these factors can play a role in turning the leaves from green to brown in a few weeks.

4. Can Jade Plant Get Too Much Sun?

Yes, the Jade plant is a type of succulent, and it doesn't like the intense sunlight.

With direct sunlight, its leaves will start to shrivel and turn yellow or brown in some time.

5. How Do I Make My Jade Plant Bushy?

You can prune the lateral branches growing on the plant.

This should help make the plant grow more branches in its growing phase.

As a result, it will look quite bushier.

You can also feed some compost or fertilizer to the plant, which will enhance the foliage growth.