I leave my plants outside all year long. In the summer they get a lot of rain. Sometimes they will jettison branches due to being heavy from too much water uptake and being a little dormant in the heat. But the areas where the branch falls off is green.

Eventually these areas will sprout new growth.

New growth (or continued good growth) won't happen if the root system is not good. I think you need to unpot your plant and wash off all the old soil to see what the roots look like.

The soil looks compact, possibly old and maybe even sandy. It should be replaced with an airy substrate - something quite gritty to allow free drainage. We usually recommend using 50-60% perlite mixed with potting soil or cactus and succulent soil. There are better recipes for potting mix that use no soil at all - very gritty. We can talk about that after we see what the roots look like.

Fingers crossed!!

Side note, don't use concave pruners on jades. It can trap water and encourage rot. The plant will shed the stub back down to the next node on its own.

Also, if you want to bonsai it you should go for Portulacaria afra instead of Crassula ovata. It will respond a lot better to the process.

Thanks all! I've cut the branches back a few inches and it's green further back. Not a strong green as in your picture. The soil is compact and fine, not gritty. I don't have soil to replace it so will get that tomorrow and wash off the roots.

It wasn't left to freeze, it's been cold but not that bad before being brought indoors.

Good to hear. Sounds like it will survive!

@Matthew, best to add some location info after your name like most of us do....we have no idea whether outside means artic or tropical! Also, after repotting into a much better mix than it's currently in, please ensure it doesn't stand in any run off inside the outer pot after watering, it needs to drain away properly.

@Nil, concave pruners? Can you explain, that's a new one to me.

Gill

Thanks Gill. I've looked up what the numbers mean and think I've set it right. Thanks for the draining tip!

concave pruners are a bonsai tool that has a concave edge to it. This is so when you prune a branch off you leave a dimple instead of a stub. The tree then grows over the wound and you can barely tell there was a branch there.

I've washed out the roots.

I've bought some house plant compost, some grit sand and some horticultural grit (couldn't find perlite in my local garden centre). Should I leave it to dry out the roots before I pot it because it's very wet.

The cross section of where I cut it is looking like this now.

Thanks!

Matthew

How much of a difference is there between grit sand and horticulture grit; could you post a pic of them side-by-side?

IMO, when pruning/cutting jades, it is much better to cut close to the 'collar' instead of in the middle of the stem. Long stub like that will keep drying up for a long time, and also looks unsightly. Cutting it much closer will make it scab over fast, scab will eventually just fall off (quite a thin layer of dried-up flesh) and will look much better. There is no need to leave stubs. New branches will start growing form the cut areas and/or along the stems. It is best to use sharp knife or razor blade, and wipe it with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol (or even bit of bleach/water solution) between the cuts.

Roots look quite good from what I can see in your photo. I wash off all of the original soil when repotting, either shaking it off, or poking and teasing around with a skewer or chopstick or even a plastic fork. If really dried up and hard, I use tepid water in a bowl and swish root ball around (in summer, I use a garden hose to blast it off - gives best results :) and try to get it off with a chopstick.

After, you could leave it on some paper towels or newspaper or even cloth towel to suck off excess water. Depending on how wet it is, couple of hours is usually enough.

Pot it into well draining mix. I usually support plant with few larger rocks to keep it stable until roots anchor it. If big and heavy, it may be tied down too. Since the rots have still quite a bit of moisture (after washing), I will not water until after few days. If it was completely dry, water right away. If you did some root cutting/pruning or if many broke (do not worry much, new ones will grow), I would water after a day.

Apologies for such long post...hope this helps.

I posted these photos few times before so excuse the repetition: this trunk was pruned off of any branches and leaves in late Dec. 2014. Here are few photos of it in next 7 mo:

The grit is small stones say 3mm wide the grit sand is just literally mildly coarse sand. I've potted it now and think maybe it might be a bit too wet so I won't water again for a few days. I put some larger stones in the bottom, then mixed up half with the grit and grit sand to about half of the soil. I hope it is OK for drainage. I suppose I just let it do it's thing now.

Thanks for the photos! There is hope!

Matthew, how is your jade doing now, please.

Sorry, no: are you saying you put rocks down the pot under the mix? If so that's unfortunately a problem as it doesn't help & can actually impede drainage further.

I believe the rocks were meant to be put ON TOP of the mix to help hold the plant in place til it settles.

Soil too wet? Why wet, did you water it in when planted? One doesn't usually do that for succulents, potting them up DRY & waiting a few days to a wk to water. Allows any cut roots time to heal over a bit before watering.

I'm pretty sure it's dead. The main stem went brown in the centre and completely shrivelled back. Not sure if there's anything that can be done now.

Yes I put coarser stones at the bottom. The soil is still quite wet. Probably killed it. Ah well...

Matthew

Sorry...Yes, looks dead. Roots did look quite good. I really thought it had chance of survival.

It was mentioned that you should mix lots of perlite with some soil. Sand is never recommended, and will cause lots of problems for many ppl. It really looks too fine - I was hoping you would post photo before using it (I did ask for a pic).Soil in the last pic looks greenish to me, that suggests way too much moisture for too long - hope I am just seeing things, photos could be misleading.

is mine dead? should I propagate the new growth?

Tatiana, your plant look like elephant bush, Portulacaria afra. Did it get too dry, or stay too wet?

It got too wet because I killed all the aphids but quickly changed her soil. She got stressed out. All her leaves started dropping. I panicked and just let her dry out by a sunny window. Now she's growing babies but her branches and stem look wilted. What should I do? I water her with the guidance of a water meter.

It sounds like things are improving.

Thanks 😊