A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Wilting Jade!

Please help- I am totally inexperienced but bought a small jade that I love. It was potted in a bowl that has no vents and I was watering it once every two weeks, as instructed. It gets some indirect sunlight during the day but not a ton. I have noticed more and more leaves turning a yellow hue and getting wrinkly- is it drying out or overwatered? I don't know what the problem is or how to change my care to improve it. It seems like it may be dying! I would appreciate any advice as I am such a novice...

Welcome Ahling! I know nothing about jade plants, but wanted to let you know some one will answer your question soon!

Join in here lots!

Sarah

Hello Ahling
Welcome to The Garden Helpers Forum!!!!
We certainly are glad you found us!!!!
I too am not toooooo big into houseplants like
Barley, but I'd also like to Welcome you......

We have alot of wonderful gardeners that can and will help you...They each come through at various times and will get you some help......

In the mean time, I have one question for you to answer, and that may also help anyone coming through a little better too,
#1.) You said it's in a pot with no drip holes,
is it still in there, or have you repotted it?

I would suspect that is the cause, but there may be more...

People like Bill, Will Creed, Jiffy, Loz, Njoynit, Nikkal, Boxmonkey, TomR, oh, there is soooooooooooo many that can help you.......

Welcome aboard, we hope our enthusiasism of gardening will "grow" on you... and you'll come
here with more gardening questions..........

Weezie

We have alot of members from your area here.....
Will Creed, plants~n~pot's, TomR, luvgardening,
Joanne F, tferri, oh, a few more, I can't remember.....ohm yeah, me toooooooo! LOL

Hello Ahling! I am also having Jade problems, but much more severe. Your Jade likes light, good drainage, and, at this time of year, less water. I would slow the watering down to every three to four weeks, depending on the drainage in your situation. Is your Jade a Bonsai-type? This probably accounts for the bowl instead of a pot with a hole at the bottom.
Jade's are easily shocked, so I wouldn't recommend changing too many things at once. I would recommend that you leave it in it's present pot for now and slowly move the Jade toward a place where it will get more light. Check the dirt before you water it, if the dirt's completely dry, water it, but if it's not, wait until it is. Here are some links so you can get some more information. I'm not an expert, but someone will be along soon who's more knowledgeable than I. This should be enough to lead you in the right direction, though...

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/crassulaargentea.htm
http://www.jadeplant.org/basics.php
http://www.horticulturalhelp.com/ipi.html

Good Luck!
Carolyn

Hi,
The plant is a small tree Jade- it has several tiny branches coming up from the soil. The pot is really a decorative bowl, which is why it has noholes and I haven't repotted it yet. I was told that indirect sunlight was best but am now hearing jade likes lots of direct sun? I just felt the soil and it is dry (feels sandy) but I watered it moderately a few days ago. Maybe the environment is too dry, also?

Thanks for the help!

Your links were so helpful- thanks! Do you think I should repot into something that has holes in it? The soil is dry even a day or two after watering!

By the way, your jade is gorgeous- how long does it take to get that large?

Bernice

hey ahling! welcome to the garden helper. about your jade...
1st things first. you need to repot it into a pot THE SAME SIZE as the one it is in, but with drainage holes. the best way to do that is to just turn it upside down and then put it directly into the new pot. if the new pot is deeper (not a bad thing) put some soil in the bottom so that the plant is at the same height as in the original pot. then follow the above directions. it sounds like you may have either root rot, or too much water.

sorry 'bout that, i had to change computers and got interrupted!

to finish the thought, alternately, you may not have enough water, but it is difficult to tell what is stagnant in the bottom of the pot. the lack of humidity shouldn't be a factor, but if you think it is, after you put the plant in a pot with drainage holes, you can set that pot on a dish with pebbles holding it up out of the water. that will provide a dual effect. one, you can see how much water drains out when you water and two, it will raise the humidity around the plant. if you keep the dish/tray with water, then you can tell when the plant is truly dry.

the importance of using the same size pot is that the repoting will not actually tramatize the plant that way. it will see it as a minor disturbance rather than all out "war" Keep us posted and we will help all we can!

I concur with most of the others. It absolutely must go into a pot with drainage holes and it definitely needs more light; put it on your sunniest window sill.

Bernice,
Glad the links helped. My Jade WAS gorgeous... I have no idea how old it was when I got it, but I had it for three years, and it did grow somewhat, but I have a feeling that it was at least 20 years old before I got it. So far, the last remaining branch is doing fine, but I still need to get a grow light bulb to try and get it growing more aggressively. The branch that I pruned off seems to be OK as well. I'm sure it doesn't have roots yet, but seems to be happy in the pot. I have a few pieces rooting in water, and surprisingly enough... they seem to be doing OK, too. Good Luck with your Jade!

Carolyn

Carolyn,
I can't believe you have a Jade rooting in water. Be very careful that they don't rot. The way I root my jades, which is the way I'm pretty sure you're "supposed" to do it is exactly the opposite. Deny the jade plant water and it will put out roots. When it looks really thirsty just give it a little bit of water; keep doing that and it'll have roots in no time.

Ahling,
It does sound like your jade may have root rot, which may mean that your best course of action is to cut off whatever you can save and re-root it. Your jade's soil should be dry on top within a couple of hours of watering, not a couple of days.
good luck.

Boxmonkey,
Yeah, I'd never heard of anyone doing it that way either, but my boyfriend's mom swears she does it that way, so I figred I'd try it. So far...no roots, but they've only been in water since Christmas. She has some awesome Jades, which I'll post photos of once I get some...

Carolyn