Thanks Suzie for the link! Very interesting! Are you sure my grapes would not do well for you in CA? I believe they are good to zone 9 atleast. I ordered them from a place out that way I believe. I should have plenty left if you want to try some. I had an idea. Since my fridge is in a cut out type cabinet, I cannot really get the cuttings up there. However, I do have a heat mat that I use to germinate tomato seeds. It is a very low heat. Do you think they would be good on the heat mat? I remember when I was rooting figs for the first time (figs, my first love!), someone had suggested using a heat mat. How do you feel about this? Well, they are all wrapped in their garbage bags. Hopefully a few will make it! I did use rooting hormone on some of them. I had so many, I figured I could experiment. Well, all 3 vines are in the ground. I planted them yesterday. Hopefully they will take. I also dug up a rose bush that was at the house that my mom planted when I was a baby. I do not know how that will do. I did re-plant it here at my house, but the leaves were already limp. I wonder if roses can survive that. I also took a few cuttings from the branches, only about 4. I read to stick it in rooting hormone then into dirt with a soda bottle on top of it. They said to keep a few leaves on them, but the leaves are already pretty limp. I do not know much about roses, so I do not know if they will survive or not. That would be a shame. Although this bush is over 30 years old, it was cut way back, almost to the ground a year or so ago, so it was not as big as you would think it should be. It did have this huge, deep, long main root that I had to cut at one point since it was down so deep. Well, I will update on the grapes, and also the rose bush. thanks again for all the info! Christy

I'd cut off a twig with the symptom, and take it to a real plant nursery (not a box garden center like HD), and have them take a look at it. Sounds like some kind of mildew to me. You may need to spray them with something. All grapevines go dormant in the winter (lose their leaves), and that is the time to replant them and prune them. It's really hard to kill a grapevine. Once they bud out, it's best to leave them alone and not re-pot until they go dormant again. Winepress.US has great advice for grape growers. These are forums dedicated to wine makers and grape growers. Most growers put the vines directly into the ground, but there are a few who grow them in containers. I intend to become a container grower mainly because I want more vines, and don't have the room for them. There are tons of ways to prune the vines, and my container vines will be growin with a 4-5' high trunk, and branching down from the top, creating a tree like vine. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Forums Dedicated to Grape Growing

Laurie You said the plant just started getting droopy this winter - was it in different location before? Another reason I could see is that it grew some over last summer, got longer, and during winter when there is much less strong light, it started to droop. Roots growing from the stems are air roots, and some plants have tendency to grow them. They are not a problem either way. If you trim your plant, you'll have pieces that could grow into new plants - do you want more jades? I see there are few young plants in the pot - probably from the fallen leaves? You'll save lots of space if you re-pot this plant into smaller pot. Is it possible for you to maybe move one of the spider plants on top of the shelve where there seems to be most light from the window available and put jade there? I also see another plant in the light green pot in front of window fan - that spot may be getting little more sunlight than where jade is now. If you could raise the pot higher to get it closer to the lowest light of your floor lamp, that would give it some extra light too. You should keep that light directed on the plant. Another thing you could do is to turn pot 1/4-turn every few weeks to get the light to the plant from all directions. As you can see, it is leaning one way and it is toward the most light. Over all I think your jade is healthy and the look of it can be improved MrBlubs in post above mentioned peace lily and sanseveria - they are also plants that would grow well in lower light conditions.

I suspect that the branches that point downward grew before you pruned the tree, because that's how many of the lower branches on my benjaminas grow in order to get out from under the shadow of the upper branches. This was the best time of year to prune your ficus because long sunshiny days provide lots of energy for new growth. Ficus are not deciduous, so you definitely don't want to prune in the fall or in spring before the days get longer. If you do want to try for a more pleasing shape, I imagine you'll want to wait a year or so to get some fresh growth. Also, although your ficus looks to be in fine health, ficuses do their best when they get lots of bright direct sunlight. If yours has only had indirect light you should introduce it to direct sunshine gradually, moving it into the sun for an hour a day for a few days, then two hours, and so on. I've been astounded by how much more gorgeous and lush mine have gotten since I moved them to the porch for the summer, even though they only get four or five hours of direct light a day.