sick jade tree?

[jadelady]

Hello, new member here - please be patient.
I have a jade tree that was given to me about 15 yrs ago when it was about 10" tall. I kept it in a western bay window and it grew & thrived with very little attention. I repotted it twice over the years, the last time being a couple of years ago. It is now about 3' tall with 3 major trunks about 3" in diameter each and is fairly strong & upright. It is now too tall for the bay window. Last November I moved it to an eastern window where it does not receive quite as much sunlight. It seemed happy enough there, that is until last month when it began to drop leaves, then small branches and continues to drop every day. I've tried watering more than once a week, then less than once a week, and still the dropping occurs. I am about to panic. I've grown to love this tree and feel helpless about what to do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Marn]

is there any possible way u can get it back into that window ..even if u have to put it on a stand or mayb on the floor ??. a lil rearangeing of furniture ..lol.. ive taken over both the dressers in my bedroom for my plants cause they like it better inthere then in the dinning room .. they get morning sun and love it in there ..

good luck

Marn

Thanks for responding. I'm still mulling over how to do some "rearranging". But I'm more concerned that there is something more wrong with the tree.

[Tbot]

I read somewhere that plans become more susceptible to insects if they are stressed. Moving the plant may have caused the stress- have you checked for mealy bugs, scale, or spider mites? A friend of mine has scale on her jade, and we are just beginning to look for remedies, which is why this came to mind. If you are unfamiliar with these insects then you can google them for info. hope this helps!

[jadelady]

I have repotted and checked for insects, nothing to be seen on the plant or in the soil. Tree has stopped dropping limbs, but there are so little remaining that it is very sparse-looking. Main truck is still there with some limbs, so maybe it will survive. Time will tell.

[Carol Ja]

Don't water it more if it is getting less light, it probably is suffering from root rot. It might be to late, but let it dry out more between waterings.
You'll know root rot if you look at a branch that has come off, and it is brown in the middle (looking at where it came off).
Carol Ja

[M.E.M]

Sounds like it may have been getting enough light? Did it survive? I have asick jade as well that began to deteriorate in a similar way. Also very old!

[Chester]

Jades need light, and lots of it. Consider moving it back as suggested. Also, stop watering. They need to be watered when dry during the summer months, and then, around August, slow the watering, with very little during the winter months. I water mine, just a little mind, about every 4 to 6 weeks. They have a dry winter dormancy that must be adhered to or they get leggy and weak. Rot too. Cut out all the mushy soft bits until you get to healthy tissue. If the stems are firm, even if there aren't any leaves, leave them. You can give it a good prune come spring, and it will respond nicely.

Hope this helps...

[M.E.M]

Thank you for the reply! I water very infrequently, always have.The rotten stem(s) are all that remain! I will take it out of the soil and check the root system to see if there is any healthy tissue. When I pruned it back to just the stem, it was firm, then where I cut it, it began to rot. I cut it that off and again and more rot. So every time I cut off what is dead it makes it worse. Is there a fungucide? or something I should apply.
I appreciate your suggestions, Thanks you:)

[Chester]

Well, hard to tell without looking at it, but I'll guess that a fungicide won't do much good at this point. Strange that the rot keeps going as you cut (assuming you aren't watering every few days).

If there are any branches with leaves still attached, I would consider taking cuttings. They are very easy to root from cuttings, so I hope there is some good tissue left. It would be nice to get a whole branch, but if all you have are leaves, well, they'll take too. It will just take that much longer to get a whole new plant going.

Maybe this is a good excuse to head the the local plant shop and pick yourself up a nice dandy specimen of a jade?

[M.E.M]

Aw, Thank you! This one was a gift from my now deceased father 30 some years ago. It pains me that since I was a kid it was healthy. Now at 43, I've killed it:( Thank you for you help! Luckily I do have some stems and actuallu a small plant already going(for my kids, or so I thought). One last question? Top root it (months ago) I put several stems in a glass of water. They are plump, healthy and have lots of roots. I have just read that that is not how to take cuttings, but I did not know that.To plant them, should I put only one stem in a pot? What happens if you put more than one?
Thanks again:)

[Chester]

Well it kind of depends what look you are going for. Nurseries generally plant 3 or more of them in a pot to get a nice full look. Trouble is they crowd each other out after a while. I'm quite the jade lover and have several. When I purchase a new one with several in a pot, I cut them apart and put only one in a pot. They seem to appreciate the space and grow very well for me. A single specimen will grow into a fine looking tree, given proper pruning/pinching for nice branch spacing. I guess I would therefore suggest a single cutting per pot, but then it is entirely up to you.

I didn't know that it was such a special plant. I do understand, for if my house was burning, after grabbing hubbie and the kids, I'd head back for my jade if time allowed. And this one wasn't given to me by a loved one. She's a large grandmotherly plant that lives in my kitchen, and weighs about 800 pounds (or so it seems).

[kmoerk]

I have had my jades for about 13 years, and seen them go through similar downward cycles... I was taught to use a straight blade, very sharp, whenever pruning jades. If you use a dull blade and have to saw the bits off it will bruise "healthy" flesh and cause rot, much like bruising a banana. Also, if the jade is "too big" to support all of the little limbs, it will self prune, and cut off its own limbs.

Move your plant where it can get LOTS of sun, don't water. You can fill a pot to the brim with clippings, until they start to root, and then you should repot to give the new plants ones more space to grow.

[cactus6103]

I would try to move it back to where it grew best. Cut way back on the water, about every six weeks or so. I have a jade tree that is about 25 years old. I always root several new plants a year from this one just in case something tragic happens I will at least have a cutting from the original. I then give them away as I root new plants.

[1950Greg]

What is this fungus? what ever it is once it gets into the pulpy part of the plant there seems no stopping it destructive nature. It seems to move from top to bottom but this could be something that the plant is drawing up from its roots to the outer part of the plant and then dieing from there. I though that it entred from open wounds when the plant was under a little stress. I have not seen anything like it with any other plant that I have. Its like a cancer once it get a hold.

[joclyn]

greg, what fungus? this has been an issue with rot due to excessive moisture.

[1950Greg]

Originally Posted by joclyn

greg, what fungus? this has been an issue with rot due to excessive moisture.

From the original post by Jadelady it seemed to me that other than moving the plant from one window to the other nothing had change in her care of the plant. It has been my experiance as I said in my post that this is an infection of an otherwise heathy plant. I used the term fungus because this is what it appears to me that it looks like and I would like to know if it could be one. Over watering may cause this to happen but I have had this happen to otherwise healthy jade plants and because of their pulpy nature it could spread unseen more quickly in this type of plant. From one of the pictures sent it does look like a fungus raidiating inward on the open wound but I could be wrong.

[joclyn]

the original post by jadelady was back in 2005, the last post on the thread was back in 2006. albert brought the thread back up a week ago and had a different issue happening.

[1950Greg]

I do not like to harp on about things but over watering does deprive roots from oxygen causing them to rot and subsequently being fed on by fungus. Over watering is the cause but it seems that a fungus is the problem. That being the case wouldn't a anti fungal treatment to the soil itself help remedy some of the problem. I am not sure if this is possible or what kind of fungicide could be used.
I like the idea of using heat from the vent also which will definatly help dry out the soil and stimlulate new root growth. Another point of interest from looking at the picture is that most of the rot is from the side of the plant facing away from the window and the light. Some artificial light might be benificial also, if this has not already been sujested.

[Daniel Mosquin]

(if some of the latter posts don't make sense in the context of this thread, it's because a new issue was brought up by a different person and since split into a new thread - I should have caught this sooner to prevent confusion - new thread is here)

[joclyn]

thank you daniel!!

i never thought to notify anyone to ask that they split the new issue out to another thread!