Thanks for the friendly responses! Josh, you are exactly right- the plant was reaching for the light. As of late, it gets a ton of light. I am moving in 2 weeks, and my new house will have a wonderful spot for it with great light. I will re-pot it this year without the sand. I read somewhere that Jades like the sand, but I don't remember why. Would regular Miracle Grow potting mix work if I added Perlite? Now, to find a way to get my poor jade to the new house without freezing it to death. Anyone know where they sell plant jackets? Ha... Purpleinopp and Sradleye, The pot has an attached saucer with what i THOUGHT were drainage holes. I never checked to see if the drains actually worked, and to be honest, I can say I have never once noticed any moisture in the saucer. I thought maybe I just wasn't soaking it enough to cause it to drain, but now I am wondering if the drains are clogged up... I will have to check on that! I read on here that when the jade is too wet, the trunk will feel a bit squishy. Mine is firm, but I will be sure to check on the drainage situation. Thanks, guys! I'll keep checking to see if anyone else sees some red flags...

Thanks so much for your responses. I'm so sorry to hear about your problems with anthracnose, gulley. I did google it as you suggested, and thankfully I don't see any symptoms on my tree. However, I don't know which variety of Ulmus parvifolia I have, so it's definitely something I will keep in mind for the future. So far my tree still has about 50% of its leaves. We've had wind gusts of 70 mph over the past couple of days, and theyr'e still hanging on, so I guesss that's a good sign! I didn't realize there were so many varieties of Chinese Elm, which would probably explain why different trees in my neighborhood seem to have vastly different leaf drop patterns. As with every plant, I will have to wait until it's been in my garden for a year to know what to expect. Debra, thank you so much for posting the pictures, your trees are gorgeous, and a great reminder of why I chose my tree in the first place. Happy gardening everyone. Provence

Should you worry? Probably not, but we don't have quite enough info to be able to give you a good opinion of what's happening. In general, citrus have about a 15 to 24 month leaf drop cycle. The leaves that the tree drops will turn yellow, then fall off. This usually happens with more mature trees. Also, there is always some smaller degree of leave drop in the spring and fall, with flushes, so you'll see older (and usually lower) leaves turn solid yellow, then drop as the new flush (which starts up higher, and then can progress to the lower branches at the nodes) starts to push out. This also usually coincides with the beginning of blossom formation. The Univ. of Arizona Coop Extension has a really nice explanation of some of the other causes of leaf drop that I like to quote. I think this is the best, most concise explanation that I've found: Citrus Leaf Drop: Leaves turn yellow and fall off CAUSE: Over fertilization MANAGEMENT: Prevent by following fertilizer application instructions on the product. Treat by watering heavily to flush the fertilizer below the root zone. CAUSE: Inappropriate watering strategy, too much, or not enough MANAGEMENT: As a general rule citrus need a deep watering once a month in the winter and once a week in the summer. Apply water to the entire root zone, well out beyond the drip line. Apply enough water to wet the soil at least a foot below the surface. Check the depth of the irrigation with a long handled screw driver, you will only be able to push the screw driver as deep as the water has gone. (My comment: This can happen by having drenching rainfalls one after the other, and not always due to external watering practices. AND, the recommendation to check moisture levels is excellent. I use one of those cheap metal plant stakes that are covered with green plastic you can get at Lowes/Home Depot and stick it into the ground. I should be able to push it down about 18" or so. Perfect. The deep watering concept is now considered passé. You're wasting water, letting water sink below the feeder roots.) CAUSE: Citrus Mesophyll Collapse: Grapefruits are particularly susceptible but any citrus may be affected. It is not uncommon for grapefruit trees to be affected and other nearby citrus to be fine. Leaves and fruit of citrus trees dry up and drop. Stems and branches remain green and living. Rarely is the whole tree affected. Mesophyll collapse occurs when there are unseasonable weather changes. For example if it gets abnormally cold in October for several days and then heats back up above average temperature in November. This fluctuation stresses the trees as they kick into and out of and then back into their winter slow down. It is especially stressful after a dry summer. MANAGEMENT: Remove fallen fruit to prevent attracting fungal and bacterial diseases. Continue to water the tree on its normal cycle and it will leaf-out again in the spring. Do not prune out the defoliated branches until spring, and then only after the tree has completely leafed out. I can tell you've I've caused all 3 of these situations myself :-) And, I had a grapefruit (my Rio Red) has the catastrophic Citrus Mesophyll Collapse that nearly had my hysterical. Exactly as described. The grapefruit was nearly denuded, while all other citrus right next to it were just fine. It is recovering nicely :-) If you post photos of your trees it helps a lot. Just upload your photos to Photobucket. Then, copy and paste the HTML coding string right into the body of your message and your photos are embedded directly into your message. Very handy for us on the forum :-) Patty S.

carrieabalch This thread has a posted comment that reaches seven years ago prior to your post Your northern corner of the US would allow the blinds to be open during the day the lack of winter rain fall from out side could be replaced with tap water that's been allowed to set at room temp for 24 hours or more. ummmmm I don't know either but how does anyone get rain water from the outside to three floors up inside? Yes green is good but it is a bit on the stringy side sparse,thin and slightly on the side of etiolated. I imagine some pruning of your jades weaker growth and cutting would be in order, as to where you'll find some ideas as to where or what to cut could be a little difficult to look up after all the other soil mixing and idea searching you'll be doing. mind if I use your pic ? Start with the red lines and cut away as best as you can if you happen to find some info on your relentless 1000's and 1000's of jade threads You may also want to attempt to root the cutting as as well which also has 1000's and 1000's of searchable info on how to do as well. Side note which has very very little to do with any of your 10000's of searching information results The pot is a bit to big.