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greenman28

Frozen Jade - back from the dead....

Happy Easter, garden friends!

The Tale of this Crassula ovata goes back at least five years, when it was but the humblest of cuttings.

Now, as the oldest of my Jades, I've dubbed it my Mother Jade, and it is very important to me...thus my horror at the prospect of its death!

This was my Mother Jade in October, 2009:

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For additional reading, container soil tips, travails, and pictures of this Jade and others, please pick through these Threads at your leisure:

Plucked my Jade's leaves (pics)

New Jade Cutting - (progress pics)

Jades and Jade Cuttings - (update pics)

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Although I have had this Crassula ovata for quite some time, the most recent chapter in the story sources from last December, when this Jade nearly froze to death...I had returned home in the wee hours of the morning from a military homecoming party (for a close friend), only to discover that I'd left this Jade and another out in the cold. The temperature was 28F, and had been so for a while.

The following day, I removed the Jade from its container, cut off the mushed, frozen stems, and set the Jade in a cardboard box to dry. I loosened the soil in anticipation of a drastic root-pruning. After a few days of drying, I pruned the Jade's roots, washed them clean, and re-potted in a mix of predominantly Perlite, with a bit of pumice, bark, and quartz for extra weight and grit.

It was difficult to watch my Jade shrivel up and begin discarding its limbs. Deep wrinkles appeared in the trunk, and I thought for sure that the trunk was hollow with rot. I didn't water until I had evidence of new growth...and even then I was worried that the Jade wouldn't make it. Within the past two weeks, however, those deep wrinkles in the trunk began to plump up. Plus, I just noticed new growth a day ago...

Here are a few images of the slow but gradual recovery.

For the full series of pictures, please view the slideshow: Frozen Jade Recovery

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Josh

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