Thank you to everyone for the responses and recommendations! I haven't repotted it yet (just haven't gotten around to it, but I will try it soon). I did decide to chop off all the affected leaves assuming it's a fungus infection and here's a pic of what the plant looks like now. To answer some questions...there is no chance it was sprayed with anything. The plant is indoors all the time. Also, I do use a small amount of plantfood each time I water it. And I'm very careful not to overwater it. It gets plenty of air flow and direct sunlight (these pics are of the plant in a place that was good to photograph it against a plain background -- normally the plant is by a window that gets opened quite often and gets a lot of sun). What I'm still confused about is how to go about doing the repotting....do I break off some of the old roots? Do I shake off the old soil? How can I tell if there is a problem with the soil or the roots? What do I look for? Do I put it in a bigger pot or a smaller one or the same one it's in now? I'm not really clear on what repotting does unless a plant is rootbound. Thanks, Jen

Yes you are catching on. The plant still need more sun, and less water, for insurance cut off a stem that is getting roots and plant it. You must realize these are winter growers and not summer growers, mine flower in December and start to grow after the flowers dry up, starting about January, they need air circulation, and cool air, they need soil that drains rapidly, they don't like living in an apartment with a heater going. They are east African plants, and are domant when it is very hot. I have 24 different, so have a little experence. Pirate Girl lives in New York she may have a lot to add to this. I can see that the leaf nodes are still far apart this tells me more sun is needed and less water. Don't treat like it is your pet. Don't water it from the top, water from the bottom, don't mist the plant. No peat moss in the mix, red wood med. size would do much better. I don't normally respond to 'Crassula Ovata' problems any more because it just gets out of hand. Good Luck I hope you will enjoy your plant and stops giving you all of this trouble. The black spots are caused by cultural problems. Gasteria species also haved this problem. Norma

Well I did a reply to the latest posts, but I can't see it now...so as not to be seen to be ignoring the replies, here it is again, no doubt it will now magically appear...twice! @Marguerite, thanks for the name Blue Hale, I hadn't come across that one before. I'll amend its label, you know how I like my labels! @ Rina, thank you. No particular secret as to their size. Maybe because of growing them hard, they rarely get any fertiliser, they're watered infrequently and get no special care really and spend their lives confined to the g/h...it works and suits me fine:-) @ Richard, thank you too. The blooms have taken an absolute age to develop from buds to open flowers and seem to be lasting even longer now in full flower....just wish they didn't pong so much, it's really an unpleasant smell in there especially when the sun is out :-/ My regular jades also flowered, they take a fair while to get from bud to open, but these beat them hands down in the 'longest time it takes stakes'. They (the ones that do flower) all generally start to show the first signs of buds around Jan/Feb, but just last sooooo long. I've only ever got the ordinary plain ovatas and this one to flower...so far. Regarding the downsizing, yes they can certainly be cut down, but I'd still have to accommodate them in the house come the day my g/h falls down! Don't worry, it won't quite be yet :-) I just have to remember to place the plants to dodge the drips from the roof, hope one of the glass panes stays put as it's bottom frame has rotted and remember not to open one of the casement windows as I need to replace the hinges.....oh the joys of house ownership! Gill

I also agree with Gabby that your plants look good, at least from what I can see in photos. I can see couple of dry leaves in pic 1, which seems to me normal. Another leaf in same pic seems to be broken, with broken edge just dried up. If spraying with anything, it is best to do out of sunlight. Some ingredients may burn leaves in sunlight, even if not otherwise harmful to plant. Soil does look very 'dense', it could be too water retaining. If it contains too much peat, it may have become hydrophobic and it actually repels water. If to retaining, it may be staying too wet for too long, and roots may be suffering. Do as Gabby suggested - mix in lots of sifted perite. And do not worry about nutrients...succulents grow in very lean substartes in their habitat. Definitely do not use 'rich' soil thinking it may provide nutrients. If really concerned, it is much better to fertilize, lightly, with balanced fertilizer. I don't, and grow mine in gravely mix, made of grit, perlite and little turface. I have few small pots with bit of soil in the mix, but there is likely only about 10% of soil - added because I was running out of mix I usually use :) Whe repotting, get rid of old soil from the root ball. Trim off any damaged roots. The do not need to be drying if they have roots; if you have to do lots of root pruning, maybe an hour or two are enough to callus those cuts. If you need to wash off the old soil, letting plant air-dry for few hours should be enough (set it on something absorbent to help). If pruning off branches, the cuts should callus. Few hours or overnight is usually enough. But jade can live without water for a long time (weeks, even months) - they may shrivell, but still live. So do not worry much about how long. Cuttings, without roots, should be stuck into fast draining mix and do not water for a while. No roots - no water...they should start growing roots quite readily, and that is time to start watering.