Hi all, thanks for all the advice; I went out today in an attempt to make a cozy new home for my poor ailing jade. I bought I believe a 3'' circumference unglazed clay pot with a drainage hole and a dish, a bag of perlite, and a bag of orchard bark. They didn't have any kind of mix, except the cactus soil that I've been using. Should I just mix the perlite and the bark, or does it need anything else? I've heard undyed aquarium rocks were good too... Doug, thanks for the info; it's currently outside and gets some direct light right now. It was inside on a ledge next to a window getting very indirect sun all winter; I moved it out when the leaves started drooping for no apparent reason thinking that maybe it needed more sun.

The brown patches on the leaves are sunburn, I know from experience, as in my eagerness to put my plants outside my window on a rare warm sunny New Hampshire day, I left them in the sun for several hours, and a few days later saw the brown patches from being put out in the sun suddenly, without gradual exposure. And your soil is way too water retentive, leads to root rot... I would leave the cuttings out until I see roots start to form, don't need to be in soil for that. And I would repot the plant with roots into a fast draining mix in a smaller clay pot, and not water for at least a week...best of luck! Christopher

I found turface and repotted the jade. The old soil was damp, it wasn't wet by any means, but it was probably very wet in the not so distant past. I reported using a mix of the turface, orchid bark, perlite and small marble chips. I propped it up with a few rocks just in case it wasn't stable but it seems to be okay. The roots did not seem to be wet, in fact some were fairly dry. I did not water it. I was going to wait until next Monday to water it. It has only dropped maybe a dozen leaves the last few days (as compared to the one hundred it dropped over the previous two weeks). Does Monday seem soon enough to water it? And how much water should I give it? Pictures of it are in the album

Darielle 'Soft & squishy' is never good - plant is waterlogged, and could start rotting very easily. Original potting soil is likely full of peat (if not all peat) or cocopeat. These are ok for starting many cuttings, but they are tricky to keep properly moist: if too wet, plant will sit in mucky soil. If very dry, peat becomes hydrophobic and very hardy, and it repels water. If my plant, I would take it out immediately. Get rid of all old soil. Get a new mix - I do not know what is available to you, but simple and better draining mix could be made by using a cacti & succulent soil (or citrus soil) and mix it with at least 50% of coarse perlite. There are many other mixes ppl use (in my case, it is a mix of grit, perlite and turface). These will drain very well. You could find lots of posts about jades on Cacti & Succulents forum here - pls. click me Plant should be little higher up in pot - more soil should be used. That will allow for much better air circulation around stems. If you want to direct branches to grow in specific direction, wiring them could be better idea - string seems to be quite thin and it could cut/damage stem. Pruning is a simple way of directing growth. Keeping it outdoors would be good idea. If potted in well draining mix, there should be np with rain showers. Be careful putting it outside from - perhaps - darker spot indoors; plants need to be acclimatized to much better, outdoors sunlight.