Hey. So those with more pruning experience than I can comment on that. However, your jade needs much more light. It is one of the leggy-est I have ever seen!

Also your soil looks very heavy. Check out this post. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1379073/container-soils-water-movement-and-retention-xv

My jades LOVE gritty mix. I will say that the trunk of your jade is great. This is the beginning of a very nice plant! Good luck!

Isn't the ideal soil in the pic but for now it'll do for a while or repot it as soon as you can and wait for it to adapt to the new soil you had just read about before cutting it back

If you want to cut it before repotting the red lines are a modest starting point. you would want to wait for visual new growth to become established before repotting.

Definitely a lighting issue.

I, too, suggest a re-potting into a much more porous mix once the weather warms. If you can get these Jades outdoors for the Summer, you can certainly make each one a worthy specimen.

Josh

Thank you so much for the replies! I was aware the soil wasn't optimal. In fact it's probably far from it.

I'm at a loss on how to give her more light though. She's always been right in front of a window. Up until a week ago she was always right in front of a south facing window. I'm the new apartment the window is SWW. I live in Montreal so not much sun in the winter months.

As was stated...wrong soil, not enough light, and for me, a pot that is too large. And it needs to be 'whacked' good. When you do repot, I personally would pot the main plant separately from the cuttings, in an unglazed clay pot. I prefer one plant per pot, I think you will get more even growth that way. You did not say if all those branches have rooted, or how long they have been in the soil.

I am in the northeast as well, Massachusetts, and my Jades are in a south window also, but they do not look like that. Maybe trees or something else is obstructing the lightl

Here is one of mine.

Hello again,

I would like to extend another Thank You to all of you for your help. I decided to go ahead and re-pot this lovely Jade plant before doing any drastic pruning. I always believed that without a good foundation, whatever you build on top will ultimately suffer. In this case, if the soil isn't good, how can you expect a healthy plant?

I forgot to mention that right after buying this Jade, one of the main (at the time) trunks started to go mushy and some branches would droop and lose leaves. I quickly started doing research and discovered that it was most likely rotting. I had never watered it and for a month and a half, didn't give it any water in hopes to reverse the damage. Since it didn't look like it was getting better, I decided to bring it back to where I bought in hopes that they would know what to do. They told me I had over watered it and were shocked when I told them that I hadn't given it any at all since it seemed like that was the culprit. The error of over watering in poor draining soil was in fact their mistake.

They agreed to take it in and nurse it back to health. A few weeks later they called me to say I could come pick it up. All they did was remove the rotting trunk, nothing else. Obviously it couldn't be saved at that point. The soil was the same and they insisted it was appropriate for this type if plant and I shouldn't worry. Since then the growth has been somewhat stagnant and frustrating.

I have on several occasions tried to replant some cuttings I would take. All except for one would go brown and mushy. Below are a couple pictures of the only cutting that survived being replanted. I would always let the cutting dry for up to a week before attempting to replant it, allowing the wound to seal. This cutting in particular has been planted for over 9 months and it has barely any roots!

Here are some pictures of the soil it was in. There is a Canadian quarter for size reference.

After filling a small pot with water and delicately removing the clumped on clay and soil from the roots (which took about an hour), I was finally able to remove it all. Clearly the soil was somewhat chocking the plant because it was so hard and dense around the roots. I'm surprised she was even able to get any water at all..

Since this is my first Jade, I would like to ask if this is a regular amounts of roots for such a plant? It doesn't seem like much, but I also know that every plant is different..

Below are some of the most recent attempts at planting a cutting which resulted in the cutting severing itself right above the soil line.

Finally, I am going to run over to Canadian Tire to pick up some Miracle-Gro Cactus potting mix and also maybe some perlite to add in it. Would that be a good soil to use?

Also, the previous pot I had was very big compared to the size of the roots, would it be better to purchase a smaller one?

Thank you all again for your help in guiding me in the right direction. My angelfish who was watching the whole ordeal is truly appreciative :)

Oh, and I'm very appreciative too! :D

One very cool looking angelfish, unlike your jade(s) the fish wont ever be over watered.

Gritty mix ( soil) fan here, after all it seems to work for several of my succulents including jade(s). I'm lacking in real cultivating experiance with your soil choice but will say some have found a way to make your soil idea work for them.

My soil idea as in the cactus potting mix? It's the quickest option right now which is why I'm gonna get some, but if there's better I'm all ears!

Is this gritty mix the same as what you are talking about?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl_qx8IXZj8

Ok, thanks Josh. I'm gonna head over to Canadian Tire within the hour and I'll look for Pine Bark, Peat moss and perlite. I believe those are the ingredients in the 5:1:1 gritty mix.. Seems like I'll have better luck finding those ingredients in such short notice

So I went to Canadian tire, Reno depot and Walmart and couldn't find any of the ingredients for the gritty mix except for perlite. I'm going to settle for the MG cactus mix and add a lot of perlite to hopeful make it work. I also bought some - bag of stones to mix in. They measure roughly 1/4 inch to 3/4 inch in diameter. I'm hoping this mix will work! I plan on mixing some of the smaller stones in with the soil and line the bottom of the pot with an inch of them to help drainage.

I bought a new pot that is significantly smaller in height compared to my old one. It has on large drainage hole at the bottom. I was hoping for several but again, somehow this was all that was available. I was kind of shocked at how many pots there were with no drainage whatsoever. The one I got is comparable to a terra Cota pot.

I will try to post pictures of my mix and pot when I get home.

Any ideas on where to buy pine bark in the Montreal area? Down the road

I would like to make some gritty mix..

Thanks again. Wish me luck!

Cool your willing to use a make shift gritty mix.

May want to sift some of the peat materail from the BBS bagged C&S soil as well. What remains after sifting is some darker bark pieces that looks like a finer mulch and some forest humus.

Useable yield may vary, would think one bag of BBS unsifted bag O'crap should yield enough for all of them.

You could also ( with some extra time on your hands) pick up a bag of orchid bark smaller size is better but any size will work from a BBS as well . After soaking them in warm water for a while the chunks will be eaiser to ( by hand) break it into smaller barkier pieces.

Prior to sifting any especialy for Perlite I'd suggest to use some sort of mask for beathing protecing.

Big drainage hole ? As in orchid pot drainage hole big ?

The demo pic is a bit off. less humor or more fun ?

Blue arrows. look sort of good as ASAP potting candidates for some practice for you but if me I'd cut them for newer cleaner root.

Red lines suggest cutting them for re rooting and potted later

Purple circle I'm Sort of mixed on this one. It can go either way. Bigger can survive longer but adapts more slowly.

Haha, sorry about the demo pic. I was trying to show the layer of rocks at the bottom and not the hole. I've never owned an orchid so can't say if it compares. The diameter of the hole is 3/4 inches. I guess it isn't that big when I think about it.. It's quite dry here so I don't think it will be an issue. I also don't water the jade very liberally either.

Sadly I only saw your comment now and not before I repotted, or after rinsing the perlite. It's weird because when I posted my last reply, yours wasn't there. However the time stamp says it should have been. Maybe it's because im using the App? Either way, I got a pretty good lung full of the white perlite dust as I poured some out. Coughed a little..

As for the roots I just replanted them as is. Do you think that will be detrimental to its health?

Thank you very much for the replies!

Week Later update.

So it's been a week now that my Jade is in her new soil and pot. Sadly, the repoting has not had the desired effect I was hoping for.

When I first repoted it, the leaves were getting a little soft and squishy which I thought was due to lack of water. Since repoting, I waited a few days before watering. 3 Days ago I gave it a thorough bath and the leaves have not plumped up and re hydrated like they used to..

Here are a few pictures.

As you can see, the leaves are a little shriveled and not retaining water.

Is there an adjustment period when repoting jades? Is this normal behavior?

The soil is still damp and I obviously do not want to water again because I absolutely do not want to induce root rot.

What should I do?

You need to resist the urge to water. Jades can go very long between waterings. Watering too often will only damage the roots further, leading to root rot and ultimately death of the plant. Shriveling leaves can also be a sign of too much water. If there are not enough viable roots to take up water, the leaves will shrivel.

Christopher

I have been resisting the urge. Only reason I gave her water 3 days ago was because it had been a while and the leaves were shriveling and I repoted into dry soil. I also waited a few days to make sure I wasnt over watering..

I'm surprised because I thought I was taking the right precautions to avoid root rot. I know how detrimental it can be to Jades.

Would it be wise to up root it just in case? Or would that cause too much shock? Leave it be and wait seems to be the only option, however I wouldn't want to leave it and let it get worse if I could intervene now and help.

No drooping branches and lost leaves, only shriveled leaves so far..

Holy Peanuts! Hey...former Montreal-er here, now in Ottawa :-)

I also cannot find pine bark fines, they just don't sell it around here. For my Jade I mixed cactus mix, perlite, Repti Bark (pet store), and decorative gravel. It seems to work well.

My Jade plant is also in front of a south-facing window, however my plant is higher up. Your plant is in front of the window, but I think too low. When this happens to me, I use shoe boxes to raise the level of the plant. You want the entire thing exposed to light.

Healthy roots equal a healthy plant. I Would think the jades capilary action would also be somethign to concider regarding root rot. Root rot problem that was not 100% resolved would help slowly rot the top as well. The life cycle can sometimes be a vicus cycle. Personaly I would have left them out of soil for re-rooting. A do over in a sence starting with newer healtier roots over compromised ones.

It's growing season for them, watering would seem to be the right thing to do for you but watering would be more helpfull in etoliating it's new growth than it would be to rot.

Yes they can handle being dry for a while but inside growing condtions would still apply. I've got one that was totaly dehydrated at one time or anouther and for some reason or anouther. After two years (it's only survived by rooting it's cuttings.) It's root comes and goes according to the season with nothing more than an ocasional base line misting.

Hi Nomen,

How would I go about doing that? Assuming it's relating to your earlier post with the blue, red and purple, what should I do to root them?

Would I need rooting hormone? I must admit I am overwhelmed with the options and I fully appreciate your expert guidance.

Wait to water. There is always a transition period, even with the healthiest of Jades. As I usually say, expect the plant to look worse before it looks better. Also, expect to lose a number of lower, older leaves.

Josh