Jasmine Plant Care (Arabian, Indian & Star Jasmine)

If you are looking for a fast growing and flowering plant, Jasmine plant should be your choice. Watching your Jasmine flowers form buds and then bloom is quite an experience. The sweet smell from its flowers releases endorphins and leads you to a sense of euphoria.

 

If you read this article completely,  you will be an expert in Jasmine plant care, how to grow and propagate, what soil to use, repotting, pruning and how much water, sunlight and fertilizer is needed. You will know the best and most recommended ways to care for your Jasmine plant.

Arabian Jasmine General Info

• Origin: Eurasia and Oceania
• Genus: Jasminum
• Scientific Name: Jasminum
• Common Names: Flower of the Gods, 
• Types: Indian, Arabian, Star, Pink, White
• 👪Family: Oleaceae (Olive family)
• 🌼Flowers:  Yes, March until November
• 🍃Leaf Colors: Green
• 🌵Climate: Tropical and Subtropical
• 🌡️Temperature: 40F to 80F (5C to 26C)
• 🌼Growing season: March to July
• 💧Watering: Slight moist at all times.
• ☀️Light: Indirect or Direct Sunlight
• 🐛Pests: Caterpillars and Aphids
• ☠️Toxicity: Not Toxic to cats, dogs, or humans.
• ☠️Allergen: Pollen produced from flowers
• 🧴Use: Grown for its beautiful and sweet smelling flowers.
• Propagation🌱: Stem Cuttings, Air Propagation
• Height📏: 10-12 ft
• Soil: Like a little bit of water retention and moist soil.

Infographic

Watering 💧

Soil should be slightly moist. Soil should not go completely dry. Overwatering will lead to root rot. Jasmine plant becomes dormant in the winter season (around December). It does not shed its leaves but stops growing. During this period, it requires less water.

 

When watering your Jasmine Plant, remember the 2 D’s

1. Drench: Water until the pot starts to drain the water, and the soil is completely drenched.
2. Drain: Water should be completely drained

 

How much and how often you water your Jasmine depends on 

1. The Season: Needs very less water during winters and a bit more during summer.
2. The Location: Whether you have kept it indoors or outdoors and
3. The Climate: How dry or humid the climate is.

 

 

The best way to know when to water is to do the classic finger test where you stick your finger and see if 1-2 inches of the topsoil has dried out completely before giving it more water. If it's still moist, don't water it.

 

Just picking up the pot is also an easy way to know if it needs to be watered. It feels pretty lightweight and doesn’t seem to have moisture in there, you can plan to water.

 

Pro Tip: Better to be on the side of under-watering than over-watering. Most of the plants can recover from severe under-watering but die if over-watered.

Sunlight ☀️

Since Jasmine is a Flowering plant, it requires a good amount (3-4 hours) of indirect sunlight throughout the day. You can even grow Jasmine Plants indoors if you provide them with adequate sunlight. 

 

Note: Make sure you don’t keep the plant very close to the glass window, as it can intensify sun rays and burn the leaves. Too much direct sunlight will burn the leaves

Soil

Jasmine plant needs following properties in its soil

• well-draining soil
• lots of organic fertilizer
• Slightly Acidic 
• Slightly moist at all times

Create your own Jasmine Soil mix

1. Garden Soil + Compost (50%) for nutrients.
2. Sand & Perlite (50%) for drainage and aeration

 

For Maintaining acidity in the soil, mix Apple Cider Vinegar (1 tsp) in your water and use this water once a month to maintain the acidity of the soil.

 

Pot should be well drained with multiple drainage holes. Water should not be withheld in the pot at all. Also, place some rocks in the pot first so they drain all the water well, without losing soil being drained from the holes.

Fertilizer Schedule

When to Fertilize:

Fertilize your Jasmine Plant at least twice a year.

• March-April | All purpose Fertilizer when you see new growth during the spring season
• June-July | Flowering Fertilizer (Bloom Booster) during the blooming period (the summer season).

How to Fertilize:

• For Flowering fertilizer, N (5), P (15), K (45) water solution is recommended.
• Bone Meal for nutrients.
• Epsom Salt (1 tsp)  - on the top layer of the soil.

 

Temperature 🌡️

• Ideal temperature is between 40F to 80F (5 C to 26 C). 
• Temperature should not be too cold: cannot survive in heavy frost and snow.

Problems

📸 Screenshot this Jasmine Plant troubleshooting table! 

 

 

Pests 🐛& Diseases🦠

Caterpillars, Aphids, Whiteflies. You can easily get rid of these pests and diseases.

How to save an overwatered Jasmine plant 🆘

If you have overwatered your Jasmine, and the plant is still in the wet soil,

1. Remove the plant from the pot
2. Remove any rotted parts of the Plant from the roots
3. Repot into new dry soil

Repotting the Jasmine Plant

• Just like any other potted plant, Jasmine plants need to be repotted every 2 years or so.
• It gets severely root bound when it is planted in containers.

Root-bound picture

• Separate the soil from the roots in order to prepare for transplanting.
• Use a cultivator or just chop off a few roots to prepare space for the plant to grow in the new container.
• Reduce the size of the roots and the plant is ready to be planted into a new container.
• Wash the roots before planting, so you get rid of all the dirt that is around the roots; creating some more space.

Propagation 🌱

Here you will learn how to plant a Jasmine Plant from its stems and through Air Propagation .Propagation of Jasmine Plant is very easy.

 

There are 2 ways to propagate Jasmine plants:

1. Stem Propagation

• Cut a thick stem from your Jasmine Plant, just below a leaf and at a 45 degree angle.

• Make sure there are not many leaves on the stem. Just pot this stem into a smaller container and this will grow into a new Jasmine Plant.

It is propagated commercially using Rooting Hormones when planting stems. However, it is not really required for house plants.

2. Air Propagation

You will need:

1. Sphagnum Moss
2. Rooting Hormone
3. Knife
4. Plastic Bag

 

• Look for a part of a stem with no foliage and make two minor cuts around the stem using a knife.
• Scrape the bark in between those cuts you made with a knife. You will see a white stem once you take the bark out.
• Apply a Rooting Hormone on the white bark. This will develop new roots in this area.
• Take a handful of Sphagnum Moss and dip in water for some time. Squeeze out the water, and cover the wet Sphagnum Moss around the cut.
• Wrap a plastic bag around and tape it with a plastic tape to hold the Moss.
• After 3 months, Cut the stem and take the plastic bag out of your new plant. You will see new roots developed inside your plastic bag.

Pruning / Maintenance

Since Jasmine plant is naturally a vining plant, you do need to prune it as it grows larger. Pruning also helps in promoting more flower blooms. Prune the plant in the winter season, when the plant is dormant.

 

When to Prune:

• Once it's done flowering.
• When the plant stops growing.
• To grow in a particular direction or aesthetic reasons
• To promote more buds and flowers.

 

How frequent you prune really depends on your goals. I generally grow Jasmine as a bush, and prune it accordingly so it does not grow wild on to other plants. You can also train your Jasmine to grow in a direction. Many Jasmine plants are trained to grow as an arch at wedding entrances or house entrances.

 

Prune them early so they have ample amount of time to develop new growth where the buds will appear in the blooming period.

 

Here are the steps on How to Prune Jasmine Plant:

• Remove the stems that do not look healthy. This will prevent the spread of disease.
• To get more flowers-  once the Flower is bloomed or dried up, remove those flowers. This will facilitate more flower growth.
• To get more buds - remove the leaves of the stem, just leaving the top leaves. You can also remove all leaves and cut the stem from the top. Each cut and removal of leaf will facilitate new buds and stems.
• Remove any tangled stems or unnecessary stems that do not produce flowers anymore.
• Cut from the part of the stem which is growing in a direction that you don’t like it to grow in.

Jasmine and Cats / Dogs☠️

Jasmine Plant is not Toxic to Cats, Dogs, Horses or Humans [Source]

Flowering🌼

On an average, a plant will produce 100s of flowers. Once fully bloomed, the flower stays for 2-3 days only and then dries up and another flower starts blooming in its place.

 

Here is a table of Bloom Seasons for different types of Jasmine Plant

 

 

Harvesting Jasmine Plant

Jasmine Plant is mainly grown for its beautiful flowers with a sweet smell. In the Tropical and Subtropical weather, these plants will be in full bloom during the summer season. 

 

Jasmine Tea is consumed in China. You can use Jasmine Flowers to try out your own homemade Fresh Jasmine Tea.

 

Benefits of Jasmine

• Beautiful Flowers with sweet smell
• Can be used to make Jasmine Tea or Jasmine Water
• Used in Southeast Asia as a hair and hand ornament.

Types of Jasmine plants

How many Jasmine plants are there?

 

There are more than 200 varieties of Jasmine that grow in various geographical areas of the world. The most common ones are listed below.

1. Arabian Jasmine

• Scientific name: Jasminum Sambac
• commonly found in Southeast Asian countries.
• Very similar to the Indian Jasmine (called Grand Duke of Tuscany).
• It is popularly known as “Mogra” or “Malli” in India.

2. Indian Jasmine

• Scientific name: Jasminum Sambac
• Other names: Grand Duke of Tuscany
• It is popularly known as “Mogra” or “Malli” in India.

3. Star Jasmine

• This is not actually a Jasmine. The Genus is Trachelospermum. It is called jasmine as it has jasmine-like flowers and smells very sweet.

4. White / Pink Jasmine

1. Scientific name: Jasminum Polyanthum
2. Twining climber native to China and Burma.
3. Produces reddish-pink in late winter/early spring, followed by 5-petalled star-like flowers.
4. This type of Jasmine is also called Winter Jasmine, and is very ideal for indoor planting with little sunlight. 
5. The ideal temperature is 15 C - 20 C

How to buy a Jasmine Plant

Jasmine plants can be easily found at supermarkets and your nearest nursery. But when you do reach your nearest nursery, Look for the following attributes when buying your Jasmine plant.

 

• Green healthy looking leaves (not pale or yellow without any black marks on leaves)
• Presence of a lot of buds and several flowers.

PDF Download

Download this Jasmine Care Guide in PDF so that you can easily refer to it offline - whenever you are in need for a reference.