Sick Jade :(
Hi Everyone,
I apologize in advance if this has come up recently, I'm incredibly worried about my Jade and have looked everywhere online for remedies but only seem to find conflicting information!
I have a large Jade that is at the very least 29 years old. It does need to be re potted into better draining soil as the soil it came to me in is not the best, so I know that's an important step in the near future, but I'm afraid to re pot as it seems sick to me right now. I think I may have either under watered or over watered it. I know it should be easy to know which I've done but because of the size of it I never know how much is too much so I always err on the side of caution and keep water from it until it's very dry. In the last month it's lost A LOT of leaves. It used to be very full but now it's so very thinned out from leaf drop. I can't seem to find any rhyme or reason to it. New, tiny leaves are dropping, large old leaves as well. Many of the sick leaves have brown around their edges until they fall off, some wrinkled. Some leaves are very thin, some very plump. Some are bright red, some aren't! Some are even curled. If this was a tiny plant I wouldn't be so bothered but at close to 30 years old and so big, it would break my heart for it to die. The soil seems dry to me at the moment but I'm afraid to water in case I've watered too much. (Last I watered was about 2 weeks ago, until water drained from the bottom, then I stopped.) I live in a province in Canada where it gets very cold. The room the jade is in is on the cool side, but never below ten degrees Celsius. I should mention, most of the winter it was in front of this window with no issue. We had a few nights that dropped in the minus 20's (Celsius) so worried about a draft i moved it back from the window about 2 feet. The room would always maintain at a cool ten degrees anyway. The drop seemed to start up when I moved it back from the window, but it was only a short distance away I didn't think it would make much of a difference, I just wanted to avoid a draft. I've since moved it back to the window to see if it is a light issue causing the drop. I'll try anything, I love this plant. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)
Comments (10)
bikerdoc5968 Z6 SE MI
9 years agoRelated Discussions
sick jade?
Comments (3)Hello! Yes, you should isolate the plant so that the infestation doesn't spread. It sounds like Mealy Bugs, from the cottony description. Clean the Jade with a Q-tip dipped in water mixed with rubbing alcohol. Because they can also infest soil, you should change the soil this season. Josh...See MoreSick jade plants photo #3
Comments (1)Looks bad, so toss any of these marred, infested, infected leaves. Josh...See MoreSick jade plants photo #4
Comments (9)Hi there! Lets see...in actual fact I think you have already answered your own question without realising it!!! Those plants look as if they could do with a 'good square meal' and the fact that you are unsure about what they are potted in makes me think they have been in the same mix for some time maybe? Both those factors would stress any plant and could be the cause of the odd looking leaves...just my ideas ;) You also say one put out new leaves when moved to a brighter place proving they do not take well to low light conditions. They will happily grow in, and do prefer a fast draining mix, as anything with peat or water retaining soil could be problematic for them. I think it best if you do take a look 'down below' and see what the roots look like and get back to the forum if you need to. I personally would also cut them back and re-pot in a fresh fast draining mix as they respond rather well to a cut back ( I have just done 2 of my large ones and posted about them on here). Their thin drooping stems and sparse leaves indicate a lack of light, food and water. I hope they will do well for you so keep in touch and I'm sure the Jade experts will chime in with their suggestions soon, good luck. Gill UK...See MoreSick Jade: What should I do next?
Comments (11)My 5cents... 1. pot is too large, too deep 2. soil needs some 'lightening-up'; add generous amount of perlite if you can't get anything else (I use small grit a lot); research soils for succulents on this forum. If you see recommendation to add sand anywhere, I would say DON't, unless it is really gritty (larger particles) 3. rocks on the bottom/halfway up don't work, get rid of them. Get shallower pot AND well draining mix instead. 4. just because 'nothing is hanging' (sorry ez to contradict you), doesn't mean plant is healthy. You need to squeeze (gently) trunk and branches to see if they are too soft - but sometimes they are soft just from lack of water. I do not think that is the case with your plant - it started to rot for a reason. Water was, probably, getting poured (sometimes we don't notice) over same spot on trunk, perhaps there was a small injury that allowed water to get in - anything is possible. I would gently swish the root ball in the water, cut off roots that are mushy-slimy. Any black spots/areas in the trunk or branches you see on cut pieces are sign of rot spreading. Unless you get rid of them, it will continue to spread. Small and healthy piece is better - and will grow in proper conditions - than larger-longer sick one that will eventually die anyway. It is clear to me from the last photo that the branch is growing from the trunk/stump, so you can leave it. Not 100% sure, but 4th photo from the bottom seems to show some darker areas - double check on that. If yes, cut further. When you pot it up, don't bury trunk too deep, as long as the roots are covered, that is enough. You could put the rocks (ones you had on the bottom of the pot for 'drainage') on top of the soil around the plant to support it - how large are these rocks?...See More
Joe1980
9 years agorina_Ontario,Canada 5a
9 years agoctnesbit81
9 years agoctnesbit81
9 years agowakeupcoffeeperk
9 years agowakeupcoffeeperk
9 years agorina_Ontario,Canada 5a
9 years agowakeupcoffeeperk
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoI did go ahead and re pot the parent, the root ball appeared quite healthy and fairly dry. No bad smell or discoloured roots so I think that's a good sign. I re potted with a succulent mix and added quite a bit of pearlite, I'm hoping this will be ok. There still seems to be a little bit of leaf drop but not nearly as much as there had been over the last couple of weeks. With that said, my Jade is as bare as it's ever been. Between the cuttings I've taken and the drop, it's looking pretty naked. I ended up taking 6 cuttings, even though I could have easily taken a dozen more. I was nervous that it would all be too much of a shock to the plant. Some of the cuttings I used root hormone, others I didn't. I've had success propagating from this Jade before without the use of any hormone, just thought I'd give it a try this time and see what happens. The cuttings appeared healthy, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for in a healthy stem... After re potting the parent, I waited a day before giving a light watering but with distilled water this time as I've been noticing little crystals appearing on some of the leaves which I suspect could be minerals in the city water? I'm trying everything to bring this Jade back! :) I don't think I've made much difference to the overall look of the parent plant. 6 cuttings seemed to hardly made any difference at all. When the current cuts heal I plan on pruning back even more. I may end up with 1 parent Jade and 30 babies, but I don't think I could bring myself to throw them out.
As soon as we're back in the double digits I will be bringing it outside as much as I can. At the moment we are still at about minus 10 some days, but it will get warm eventually! In the summer we can get high humidity. I know Jade's do not like this, but would short periods of time outside be ok?
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