That last pic still has rot in it, so as mentioned, disinfect your cutting tool, and take off another chunk, maybe an inch at a time, until there is literally no brown areas left. As for your gritty mix ingredients, tell us where you live, or what the closest major city is, so maybe we can help. Most of the time, the gritty mix ingredients are available, but people are looking in the wrong places, or not hard enough.

Joe

Ok I cut off all the brown. Basically ended up losing that large main trunk :(. Oh well, I guess it had to be done. On a good note I have alot of starter plants now..

I will need to change the dirt and wash the pot too just to make sure whatever was ailing the plant is gone.

I live in Montreal, Canada and would definitely appreciate any help in locating proper potting mix ingredients. Or pay someone to ship some to me.

I am in class and on my phone but try to find Deva's post on her jade that had a similar rotting issue.

If I remember correctly the entire thing had signs of rot and she got rid of them.

Can anyone find and link this thread for peanuts?

-Erica

I wouldn't re-use that pot either. It has too strikes against it: it's painted, and it's much too big for that plant. Both of those contribute to excessively wet soil. I'd just get a plain, unpainted, uncoated terra cotta pot. Terra cotta wicks moisture out of the soil so it helps dry the soil dry out faster. A smaller soil volume will also help with managing moisture.

Here is the thread I was referring to. There is some good information and advice here.

Black Spots on Jade While Pruning Thread

-Erica

Im from Toronto. Try finding the soil in Home Depot, lowes or even Canadian Tire. Honestly, you can find this easily just about anywhere.

A very simple mix that works for me is equal parts #2 chicken grit (#1 is the smallest) and pine bark fines (I use Soil Pep). These should be relatively easy to find locally.

Okay. First of all Ianna, the pine bark fines to make Al's 5-1-1 or Gritty Mix is not available around here. Not in Montreal, not in Ottawa, and not in Toronto. Potting mix out of the bag won't work, so not sure what "you can find this easily just about anywhere" means. If you mean crappy potting mix for cacti, yeah, we know, you can find it anywhere. But it sucks.

Holy Peanuts in your other thread I gave you my receipe that will work with all your plants. You will need Repti Bark (pet store), potting mix, perlite, and a bag of deccrotive gravel. These four things are available to you.

Before you make your mix, soak the Repti Bark in boiling water. Long story, but it will kill any bugs that might be there. Drain the bark. Then mix the bark, potting mix, perlite, and decorative gravel together. Do something like three scoops of gravel, three scoops of bark, and three scoops of perlite to one scoop potting mix.

You already own the potting mix, the other ingredients will literally cost you $15 in total. See picture below to see what mine looks like.

Also in your other thread, I mentioned that even though your plant is in front of a south-facing window, the plant sits too low. Add boxes or change tables, or whatever, but make sure the entire pot gets full sun. If the potting mix is in direct sun, it will dry out faster, which is what you want.

After you water a Jade, you want the potting mix to dry out pretty quickly so the plant is not sitting in soggy soil. You will accomplish this by having faster draining potting mix, more sun, and a conservative watering schedule.

Buy a cheap moisture meter, they have them for $6 - but don't get the digital kind. The day after you water your Jade, check the moisture of the plant's soil. You want it to be dry. You want the plant to suck up all the water you gave it, and then you want it to sit in dry potting mix until the next watering, usually two weeks or so later. Never water a Jade if the potting mix has moisture in it.

For the record, I know this is not the ideal, absolute perfect potting mix for succulants, but for someone who has one Jade plant and limited access to the proper ingredients, it is way better than straight-up potting mix.

What your plant needs right now is rest. Don't pot it in anything until you allow it to dry out and get a good callous. You can even leave it out until it develops roots. They will be tiny white roots to start. The trunk and leaves store water so this will not affect it in any way. This will give you time to get the ingredients you need. I

I really would not recommend using a mix of bark and soil, etc. If it literally is all you can find, that's okay, but there are people in Canada who make 1:1:1 gritty mix successfully. Try looking online if you need to.

-Erica

Ehuns, the problem is when you have one or two plants you are not going to spend huge amounts of time researching ingredients, and then buying these huge bags of ingredients that you won't use. This is especially difficult for people who live in apartments. What holy peanuts needs to do is improve her potting mix, she doesn't need to make the perfect potting mix.

In fact, it can be a real turn-off for a novice to hear that they have to make this perfect potting mix. Find the ingredients, take a bus with a huge bag of chicken grit?! No, not everyone has a car, not everyone lives in a house with a backyard, not everyone has the money or the time to invest in the perfect mix. Yes, Al's mix is ideal, but you can have success doing things a little differently.

And for the record, you CANNOT buy pine bark fines in our part of Canada. In fact, I found it online at Home Depot and when I tried to order it I got this message "this product is not available in your area." I am starting to think it is a legal issue. AND, large perlite is also hard to find. They do not carry it at regular stores. Someone told me they bought it at a plant show, so it is not convienent.

Keep in mind, Canada has a much smaller population than US, and we are spread out over a huge country. That means that there are less products available to us. We are used to it, it happens all the time. Some things we just can't get.

But my plants are thriving in the mix I make, that is inspired by Al's mixes. I adjust it to the plant I am potting and I use my moisture meter a lot.

Respectfully, the idea behind the gritty mix is to maintain a particle size greater than 1/8". This allows the mix to maintain oxygen between particles and allows for the appropriate drainage. Putting soil and bark together along with "decorative gravel" sounds like a death wish to someone who is considered novice at caring for succulents. If you water a plant in a mix like that and then do not provide it the appropriate lighting and ventilation, you WILL get rot.

I think the amount of effort you put into caring for you plants, including making a good mix, is a personal preference.

-Erica

It seems Rio has everything all figured out, no ifs ands or buts. All I guess I can say then is save the $6 on the "moisture" meter, it is actually a conductivity meter, and isn't a good way to actually check moisture. Rio, before you go off the deep end on me, try sticking it in some distilled water and see how moist it is.

Joe

I will admit to being a bit grumpy earlier due to lack of adequate coffee consumption. I am not here to argue over potting mix. I am in fact here to learn and share, while giving advice to someone in need is an added bonus. I've used soil, peat based mixes as a beginner. I have seen differences in how my plants thrive in a mix that is completely peat-less compared to a soil based mix of some sort.

I am not suggesting for peanuts to go out and follow a recipe for some mix someone claims to be the be all end all of succulent growing. I am simply relaying my experiences with the 1:1:1 mix. I think it is perfectly acceptable to make a mix with anything gritty in relative size with ingredients that will not break down when watered or fed. Examples of this would be pumice, granite, Turface, DE, etc. If you search on here for gritty mix you can get hundreds of suggestions for what to throw in there and where to get them in your area.

-Erica

I'm with Erica on this one, I started the succulent bug through my manager whom placed them in an open terranium filled with peat base soil and moss. The plants die every 6 months and as her assistant I had to replace them. I finally learnt about the gritty mix and gave them a try, and now the plants are actually doing fairly well after saving some from a whole rotting disaster.

I understand that not everyone have the luxury of obtaining the ingredients in varying methods cost effectively. However, I strongly recommend holy_peanuts to look for any local bonsai dealer for some bonsai mix (non-peat base), these mixes usually have very similar qualities to the gritty mix, if not even better. Or the next best bet will be sourcing at local pet stores for ingredients as close to the mix as possible. (in all honesty can be a really hard task to decipher for beginners like me and holy_peanuts)

I think the holy_peanuts had already went through the hard part in hecking up her plant and removed the rot and salvaged what's left. Now the UTERMOST focus is to ensure this does not happen again, which is to gather and make a soil mix with as little chance as possible that will rot the roots/plants again.

Guys...RELAX!!! Gritty mix is best!!! No one is saying otherwise. Most of you have dozen of plants, and put a lot of effort into them. It probably took several years for you to get where you are with the success of your collection. I am pretty sure holy peanuts just has a couple plants and wants to get them to a healthier place.

I find the attitude of some of you pretty alarming. I have admitted that gritty mix is best but Joe makes comments like "Rio has figured it all out." Making fun of my moisture meter. Well it works for me. I haven't figured it all out, and I don't think I ever said otherwise.

People are so judgemental. I am trying to help someone who lives in the same area I do, who is facing similar challenges to me, and I am telling her what helped me. The level of preachiness some of you exhibit is a real turn off, and will prevent an exchange of ideas.

Everyone has to find their own way, and there is more than one road. Jeez.

Bernard, the bonsai mix is a great idea! I have looked for that too with no success...but I would totally buy it if I found it.

And for the record, decorative gravel is the right size, comes in smaller bags so it is easy to carry, and it is relatively cheap.

Rio, you were quite agressive towards others here, which is what prompted my response. We're trying to help the OP, and you're use of exclamation points insinuates yelling, which seriously changes the tune of a discussion. You should look at your own attitude before accusing others of having bad attitudes. Nobody is judging anyone here either, just trying to lead others down a path that will lead to success. As for your moisture meter, I'm not making fun of it, I'm simply telling you how and others how it works. Try the distilled water thing; it's an experiment I was actually insisting you try. It will read 0% moisture, because pure water isn't conductive. So while it is 100% wet, it will read dry.

Joe

How about we all take a step back and focus on helping the OP, and take the soil disagreement somewhere else. The gritty mix is one way of doing things, not THE way.

totally agree with Andy . Free discussion is not about putting down other people's opinions and there so many ways to approaching the problem with the same results. who's to say one method is by far the best method ever.... Yes, i'm familiar Al's gritty mix from years ago. I'm just saying I don't have to go through all that trouble to find the same results. and by way of supporting what I have said, my colleague in my next door office has a gigantic jade plant all planted in just regular soil mix. Not even cacti mix... My other friend has an even larger plant in her home and it too is in simple potting mix. Simple uncomplicated approach.

First I would like to thank you all for the input. Sometimes tones and intent get misunderstood over the internet. I'm sure no one meant any offense to one another :).

I will definitely look into a taller table, bonsai mix and also use a terracotta pot instead of the one I was using. It will house another plant that isn't so sensitive in the old one. I do believe I have a good grasp on the not over watering aspect. I have another Jade that is doing very well. I honestly believe this one was in the middle of a downward spiral when I bought it. It used to have 2 main large trunks and one of them rotted right after I bought it. I had never watered it myself and brought it back to where I bought it hoping they could help. They said the problem was gone but they left the rotting base in the pot when they gave it back to me! Same soil too so it must have spread from there and slowly started taking over the other Jades in there. Lesson learned the hard way, which sometimes is the way that sticks.

Now its time to start fresh with many smaller ones that I will hopefully grow into beautiful specimens. I truly appreciate all of your advice and will take them to heart.

Before discovering the extent of the rot, I had already put another plant into the old pot and left the old soil. I don't know the name of the plant, but I will include a picture. It dawned on me yesterday that maybe it too would become sick because the soil might be tainted. Does that happen or am I being too paranoid? Same pot and same soil that the Jade was rotting in, however its clearly not a succulent so maybe it wont be susceptible to what ailed the Jade?

Here is a picture;

I also have another question (for now :) ) concerning the Jade. Do I simply leave them out in the open air and they will start producing roots? I have tried this before and sometimes the roots don't poke out at the bottom like I would want but at nodes further along the top of the plant. Other times the bottom would just keep shriveling up further along the branch.

They seem to be callusing over a little bit already, but also a little squishy at the bottoms.

Again thank you all! You have all really helped focus on whats important to do in the present and going forward. Thank you :)

You can leave them out in the open air if you wish. People have different methods of growing roots from cuttings. Some people believe the open air will help grow roots faster, others just stick them in their potting mix and forget about them for a while. Personally, I let mine callous ( sometimes I don't even wait for that) and then I stick them in to my mix. With a gritty mix it is easy to pull them out and check. If they do not have roots, they do not need water. You can also use a dusting of cinnamon on the open wound as a fungicide. If it keeps shriveling up the plant that it is continuing to rot and it should be cut until you see healthy stem.

-Erica

the picture you posted is a dracena -- same family as the lucky bamboo plant. Easily propagated. In tropical Asia, all we needed to do is to lop off branches and stick them directly into the soil and it grows on its own. Anyway, it's; very healthy. It's not as susceptible as jade (which has a soft succulent trunk). it's fine. Leave it be. Just water. The one in my office has reached 20 years and yet it's been subject to neglect all these time and it's so healthy. Hard to kill this thing.

I'm with erica regarding propagation. let it calous and then stick it in soil I never knew about using cinnamon as an antifungus. I'm learning something new after more than 3 decades of gardening. Goodness.

Something I learned here :)

Hello,

I'm glad I came across this thread, being in a rush and couldn't read all the comments above, but it caught my attention for I have a similar case at hand and will certainly give it later on a second, more detailed read.

While checking the root system of my own Jade I found myself just facing the same problem, dealing with rotting (roots and stump) with dark spots on cut sections. I did some homework searching the internet. Of course, I can't verify, only guessing (confirmation requires laboratory techniques), but according to what I've read these black/brown symptoms seem like "verticillium wilt" (somebody please correct me if I am wrong), a plant disease exhibiting discoloration of vascular tissue / annual growth rings in stems, marking fungal progression shutting down the infected tissue, interfering with the flow of water from the roots upward. It is a soil-borne disease entering the plant through roots. SOIL (plus watering habits) PLAY A MAJOR ROLE shaping the destiny of these plants, indeed.

Since the related symptoms could be caused by other factors, I read it was advised to send samples to diagnostic labs (accessible online). For accurate diagnosis, esp. if sending physical samples proves to be the hard option, one could submit clear digital images instead. I thought that would be a great idea, but this would take time and time was very crucial. I took immediate action (and thought I could worry about the diagnosis later) continuing the stump-slicing-acts until there was no more vascular discoloration, which tragically led to splitting the tree apart into separate branches (three major of equal size and one minor). I never expected to get that far with tearing up my old Jade of which the sculptural form I admired so much. I had called it "Grandma". Sadly, Grandma Jade didn't make it. But, I like to convince myself that the once beautifully grouped together "sisters" will hopefully survive, and soon enough, sprout new lives on their own. :)

I wish everybody good luck and a joyful experience promoting the wellbeing of this adorable plant.

Siba

Siba, Sudden wilt affects a number of plants across the board. Its also very common. It happens when it rains too much. My garden plants have died because of it. I had a royal purple smoke tree and a sambuca suddenly dying because of hte wilt. Once it is there ,the entire plant is affected. not much you can do but to kill off the plant. Its in the soil. So if one plant is affected, remove it before the infection spreads. Its spreads also by spores.

Ianna, Sorry for your plants! I'm still not sure what caused the discoloration. I was only guessing. Can't exactly assume the wilt happened suddenly! But, I hope I took the right precautions discarding the soil and sterilizing all tools and surfaces.

Siba

siba, you did exactly what youd should do in this case. I hope the remaining part of the plant remains ok, but if it displays the same symptom, you need to get rid of it..

Hello again,

Thank you all for helping me get to this point in the recovery of this Jade plant. Its been almost 2 weeks since all the cutting happened, I wanted to give an update and see if I'm on the right track.

It would seem like the cuttings have calloused over. Although something that concerns me is the complete lack of roots and also the lack of rigidity of the stems.

Alot of the leaves have shriveled and the base of the cuttings are relatively soft. If I were to cut into the soft part, the flesh inside is very green and looks healthy. I'm hoping the softness is because the plant is thirsty, but then why hasn't it produced roots?

Here are some pictures;

I tried planting a few in a terracotta pot and so far they look ok. However, the leaves haven't plumped up yet or anything and of course, I'm hesitant to water them.

So now for the question part :) ;

1) Are the cuttings ready to plant even though they show no signs of rooting?

2) Is it normal that the cuttings would feel that way at the bottom and shrivel up before attempting to root and get water to save itself?

3) There's alot of information on the web about how to plant cuttings and sadly many of them contradict what the other says.

So, How do I go about planting the cuttings? How and when do you water them? Do you just stick them in dry dirt and wait more time (days or weeks) before watering?

I live in a fairly dry climate and the (on top at least) seems to dry out within days.

4) The ones I have stuck in the terracotta pot feel like they have some roots, so why aren't the leaves plumping up and getting rigid?

I am eagerly waiting to hear back. Thank you all so much for the help so far, I am truly grateful.

I really hope to have many healthy Jades at the end of this adventure.

Hi peanuts,

I just saw the thread. Quite an odyssey.

For pine bark fines, you may find success here: bonsai pine bark fines
I think the decorative gravel suggestion was good. You do, however, want to avoid calcareous stone - limestone, marble.

I've seen folks advising you that the aggregate size should not be less than 1/8". However, if you have time to check out Al's suggested minimum particle size, you'll see it's actually 1/10 inch - slightly smaller.

About six weeks ago, I cut a branch off one of my jades. It's about ten inches long. I let it callous over several days, then stuck it in some gritty mix. It had quite a curve in it, so I staked it fairly straight. I also used cotton butcher's twine as guy lines, to keep it stable and upright as the roots come in.

It took quite awhile before it started to perk up. Initially, it got rather wrinkly as the leaves lost hydration. At first, I refused to water it. After awhile, I got the feeling that watering it would be okay, since it was really thirsty, and my mix is pretty chunky anyway, with lots of air. I started to water it once a week or so.

I did make a mistake, and had it in too much sun before the roots started coming in. That accelerated the hydration loss, probably overstressed it a bit.

The leaves have plumped up a bit now, and its even sprouted a new little branch near the base. in fact, it did that before the leaves higher up were fully rehydrated.

I would say, just build the growing medium you want to use, hydrate the medium, set up the pots, and pot them up. Keep them out of direct sun. Be patient. Don't let the medium get too dry. Don't fertilize till you see new growth start. Acclimate them slowly to full light (for me, not actually full sun) after that.

Good luck.

Hey @holy_peanuts

So - if you haven't looked at that thread Erica posted with my jade rescue attempt I suggest doing so. We basically found out that those black spots are some crazy fungi and you need to be rid of it asap!!! If any one has some contradicting information I would love to hear it. And be upset because that would mean I got rid of a big beautiful jade for nothing.

Anyway, I have not been sucesssull at rooting any larger cuttings from that plant. It has been a struggle. But some smaller ones have rooted.

I haven't the attention span nor engery right now to read through all the posts (finals week is next week). But did I see somewhere that this plant also had scale? The plant I tried to save also had a terrible brown scale infestation. I had no clue what it was. I wonder if the two are related.

Well, good luck. It sounds like you are getting some great advice on here. Just be patient and itll pay off.

Larger woody trunks will take considerably longer to root than soft cuttings. It is possible that if you are cutting the squishy parts and they are healthy inside that it is just a bit dehydrated. This happened to one of mine that was rooted that I left out for a couple weeks. I just threw it in some mix and watered it a week later and it was fine. The parts that are shriveled I think are just callousing and healing. I usually don't see it that pronounced but it may be due to where you cut or the overall health of the plants. It should dry up enough to where it falls off on its own. Just make sure it never appears to turn black, indicating rot. Generally you do not want to water unless there are roots or you will likely continue the cycle of health issues. If it is otherwise healthy and just dehydrated leave it alone. When you notice some roots through physically inspection you can give it a little water, but do not saturate.

You can pot them without roots. People have differing opinions on this but I have always stuck cuttings in my mix before or after they callous and have had no issues. Keep them out of direct sun. This causes them to dry out too quickly. Sometimes I think leaving them in particularly low light conditions benefits them and allows them to put roots on quicker; just something I noticed with my own plants.

You mention the cuttings in terra cotta feeling like they have roots. Gently pull them out and check. They will appear to be small white things sticking out from somewhere that was previously covered. Use a chopstick to make a hole in your mix for them to be set back and fill back in around them. It will take time for the rest of the plant to bounce back. If there are roots, they are very small and still not able to pull in the water and nutrients the entire plant needs.

Just remember that this plant and these cuttings have been through a lot. They were struggling from poor conditions some time before you noticed (as a novice at no real fault of your own), were stricken with a nasty fungus, and then were cut several times. Jade plants are considerably resilient, some of the most resilient I've ever seen. Continue to be patient with them and they will tell you what they need. Each cutting may need to be treated differently depending on the health of that section, where it was cut, and how many leaves there are left.

Deva, fortunately for peanuts I don't think hers got the entire plant like yours did. She possibly caught it literally just in time. She was able to cut away to healthy green sections. I'm sorry you had to dispatch yours, I know how excited you were to try to save it. Also, off topic - I noticed in another thread next week is finals for you. This week is finals for me. My last dumb final of grad school other than my Applied Learning Experience project, is Friday at 6pm! Good luck!

-Erica

It sounds like Erica got you covered, hope it works out. I'm glad yours isn't too badly infected.

Erica, yes next week is finals I'm pm you :-)

I also have a jade plant and recently the plant started shedding leaves and the stem in the lower part is very soft and feels hollow. The plant is turning black in the bottom. Should I cut Lower stem of the plant with all the roots and leave it without any roots? I know it’s been overwatered and it’s been drying out from 2 days but the plant keeps getting in a worse condition. I don’t want it to die. Pls help me and tell me what should I do?

Sorry but black at the bottom may be rot & may not be worth the trouble; soft &/or mushy stems are also indicative of rot. Pls post some pix to help folks help you. Description isn't enough for folks to assess, they need to see it pls.

It looks like this. Is there something I can do ?

Pls show the base of the plant & its roots, w/ better lighting pls. I appreciate you trying but it's rather dark to see. Hollow stems are likely to be dead already, sorry.

It was hollow and soft at the bottom earlier but now I can feel in the middle as well. Should I cut it where it feels hard and do something there or anything else ??

Yes, you can cut where it feels hard. Look at the flesh, it should be clear, without any dark marks of any shape (circles, spots, lines...) If not, keep cutting off thin slices until you see no marks.

Any part that is soft-mushy, or hollow, is dead. Most likely rotted.

Pls. post a photo of cut stem. It needs to be clear photo, and pref. close-up, with good light.

I cut it where it feels hard and this is how it looks. It’s green inside. What should I do next ?

That should be clean cut; use a blade or very sharp knife. I am sorry, but your photos do not show the stem properly. Can you take direct pic? And possibly zoom so it is bigger?

Hello all, I was hoping to have some advice related to this thread. I have a jade plant I've grown from a cutting for the past 5 years and I noticed today that some of the roots were getting rot. I followed the advice of the above posts and cut off the rotting roots until I didn't see any more brown, leading to the photo. Did I cut high enough or should I keep going? Thanks y'all, this plant has immense sentimental value and I don't want to lose it. I'm going to get rooting hormone and a smaller pot tomorrow.

From what is visible in your photo, it looks ok (your photo doesn't show cut part completely, so I can't tell for sure). I don't see any dark marks. Cut more only if there are any more, spots or lines or ring-like marks.

I never used any rooting hormone, you don't need it. Only if it makes you feel better :) I am speaking from experience, having rooted hundreds of jade cuttings over the years. You could use powdered cinnamon, dust the cut lightly. Not absolutely necessary either. Cinnamon is natural fungicide. Use leftovers to make cinnamon buns, lol. Let it callus before potting into dry mix. Spend your $ on some perlite or pumice instead of rooting hormone. Sift one you are using, and make well draining mix. That is more important - roots rot easily if potted in water-retaining mix.

Read thru BEHEADING PLANTS threads, there are many good tips and photos in there.

Hi Rina, thank you so much for your reply! I will be sure to go get some perlite. I think my issues were that the pot was too large and I was using some cactus soil that wasn't draining all the way. I've attached some better photos of the cut part in case that helps. I've already dusted it with cinnamon (wiped the excess off for this photo) so it looks a bit darker than it did before. It also feels quite dry already. There are rings but they were much whiter in color last night when I made the cuts. I'm wondering if this still looks like rot.

I think those 'rings' are just accentuated by cinnamon; from what I can see, it looks ok. Here is a pic of quite thick trunk that I pruned and used cinnamon on. It looks similar to yours, just bit more dry. How long since you cut it? Perhaps it could be let to callus bit longer:

You can use any size of pot as long as mix drains well. If using large one & there is too much water retaining soil, the possibility of rot is much greater as you found out. And pot shouldn't be too large for plant for aesthetic reasons too - but that could be personal opinion. Mix sifted perlite with soil in 1:1 ratio or even higher for perlite. What kind of soil are you using? I use very little soil if any, and use grit too. I am sure that you'll find that mix of perlite and soil drains much better.

Hi Rina, I used the miracle gro cactus + palm soil but I don't think it drained sufficiently. I'll purchase some perlite to mix in when I repot the plant. It's only been out for a night to callus so I'm going to leave it out a bit longer. That photo makes me feel much better -- my plant has a trunk of a similar-looking size, and is about a foot tall. I've only heard of much smaller cuttings rooting so I was nervous, and I'm still probably going to cut one of the branches off to try and root it just in case the larger plant doesn't survive. Did your thicker jade make roots? And if so, did it take longer than for a smaller start?

I have another question in case you have any opinion. I'm leaving my apartment in about 3 weeks to travel home for a month (I'm currently a student). I was planning to leave all my plants here and just water them very well before leaving, but now I'm not sure if I want to leave the jade. I can try taking it on the plane with me but I don't know if that would cause it more stress than it's worth. If I do that I'd leave it with my mom for the foreseeable future since she's a better green thumb than me 😅 do you have any ideas here? Thank you so much for your help so far, I was pretty panicked last night and you've been easing my fears.

I think you should callus it bit longer, perhaps another day or so. Yes, plant rooted as grew quite a bit since.

Jades can live for very long time without being potted in any mix. Cutting in that pic was about same size. I have rooted many of various sizes, even thicker than pi shows. Also very thin ones and the leaves - all without any problems. Here is an example: branch was somehow broken and fell behind the shelve - it was there for 3-5mo, I really do not know exactly how long. I was about to throw it on compost heap, but then someone here was questioning how long they survive, so I potted it. As you can see, it was all contorted and shrivelling - no water for all that time. Roots were almost dry, so I pruned them. This was in March:

Here it is, potted, on March 21:

Same plant on June 15:

About you being away: succulents will survive for month without watering, especially if kept cooler. How warm is your apartment? Your cutting will probably start growing roots by the time you leave. They may root little slower since entering dormant period, but I still believe it will in few weeks. What other plants do you have?

If my plant, I would leave it behind, but do not want to say so to make you nervous :)

That's a beautiful plant! So great that you were able to root it. Thank you again for all of your advice, I think I'll leave the plant here while I travel. My apartment is ~75 degrees right now with no heat/AC and I'm planning on leaving the heat off when I'm gone, in hopes of keeping it cool in here (I live in Bay Area, CA so no risk of anything getting too cold, at least I don't think). I also have a monstera, calla lily, pilea, aloe, and alocasia. I honestly think it will be best for the jade to be left alone for that time 😅 as I can be overzealous with watering.

Thanks so much again for all your assistance and kind words. This plant is very special to me and I'm glad to find people here who understand this feeling. I ordered some perlite mix so once it arrives I can repot the jade in a friendlier medium.

Julia

The reason I asked about temps is that succulents could be left in temps in low-medium forties without any waster. I am not sure about your non-succulent plants. I have alocasia, and also some other tropical plants (but no monstera, calla lily or pilea). Many are kept in temps below 60*F during winter. Do you have any idea about temps in the apartment while you are gone?

Hopefully, your jade will have grown some roots by then. Do not pull it out to see, you can tug on it gently, or wiggle it gently, just enough to feel if there is any resistance. If so, roots are starting to grow. I do not water cuttings without roots for min of 10 days, more often for few weeks. No roots - no water... I wouldn't drench it before leaving, since it may not have roots yet and wouldn't be able to take in any water. If the stem/trunk stays in wet soil for too long, it could start rotting again. Succulents recover easier from being under watered than from being over watered.

If you can, take photo of it when potted, and post pls.

Hi Rina, I repotted the jade today and want to share a few more photos. The cut end has dried out more and shriveled slightly. I attached a photo of this, the soil mixture I used, and the final potting setup. I inserted the end about an inch into the soil, not sure if this is right. I haven't watered it yet and don't plan to for a while. However, I've heard some moisture is required to encourage root growth. I don't own a spray bottle so I'm curious if you have any tips to only slightly moisten the soil when the time comes.

As far as temps in my apartment go, this is my first year here so I'm not sure. I'll ask my neighbors how cold it's gotten over winter. It gets quite sunny during the later afternoon which heats up the space, but if I leave the blinds drawn it should keep things fairly cool. Thanks again for your help and hope you've had a good weekend!

Julia

Some ppl spray/spritz rootless cuttings, I don't. I leave them dry until I see sign of new growth. That could be as early as about 10 days, or few weeks. I start regular watering then. This is just the way I do it, and I have rooted few hundred of them (2x for wedding favours - it was together about 140 plants). I let the mix dry up between watering. Easy way to check if mix has dried enough is using a 'tell' stick: a bamboo/wooden skewer or chopstick or thin dowel with sharpened end. Even pencil will work. Insert deep into the pot, leave in for few minutes. If wet when pulled out, do not water.

I can't tell exactly what is in your mix?

If you cut end of your cutting just few mm below the "ring" (leaf scar, leaf node) on the stem, less flesh needs to dry up. Longer that piece is, more it will shrivel, and it may take bit longer time. It isn't a big problem if longer, it will just shrivell more and sometimes looks 'untidy'.