Growing Jade

I was outside looking at the Jupiter-Saturn convergence through binoculars outside, wearing a tropical-flowery sweatshirt and maroon skinny jeans (with my space pants on underneath to keep me warm). By “space pants” I mean my leggings that are covered in swirling stars in pink and blue - like a galaxy skin for my legs. They’re pretty cool.

Coming inside, I stumbled slightly and broke off the end of a jade plant. I didn’t want her to die, this arm I prematurely removed. I held her close and breathed on her. Carbon dioxide is good for her body.

Maybe cheerios would be as well? Those are full of vitamins and minerals. I have the multi-grain kind in a purple box.

I’ve never tried aquaponics, but I suspect I understand… at least on a fundamental level. Fish give the people food and their waste enriches the plants, the necessary nitrogen absorbed through the roots.

I want to try an experiment, as I often encourage my students to do!

I wonder if I could keep this jade branch alive in a small flower case full of water, feeding it fishy food waste and nuggets of veggies or dead bugs. Is pure soil not composed of nutrients leftover from discarded living matter? I think there might be a dead fly somewhere near the door.

If it is in just water perhaps it can thrive if I treat it right. Or perhaps the water will get moldy. But it won’t if I filter the water out every day. But then the nutrients would be lost. Or I could make food waste tea for her. I could soak the food waste in boiling water (and then allow it to cool to room temp) and then feed it to her. Though maybe that would smell bad. And I currently live in a tiny room with another human, so this might not be the time nor place for that kind of experiment. I’ll just keep her in the flower vase and do my best to remember to feed her and breathe on her.

When I was a child, I read that singing to plants helps them grow because it gives them more carbon dioxide. I’ll take any excuse to sing more.

My friends are saying that a succulent like this would root easily in a bit of soil, but I’m not always going for easy.

Though if Jade starts to die with my makeshift aquaponics system, I may try to save her with the soil.

As with all things, only time can tell how things will go.