A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Jade Plant Leaf Droping

Hi,
I have a beautiful Jade plant that is triple-trunked, 20 inches across, and 15 inches high. It is in a pot that is 15 inches across and 11 inches deep. It gets good sun light and has not been moved in over 8 months. I use a water meter to determine moistness. In the last two weeks it has been losing leaves, mostly from the bottom. There is new growth at the top. The leaves that are lost look normal - dark green with no spots, holes, or bugs. I'm at a lost to figure out what is going on. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
:-})>

Hi & Welcome,

I wish I knew the answer to your question but I don't. You have sun and water covered it sounds like. So I am clueless, it doesn't sound like it is dormant if it has new growth on the top so it's not like you need to take that into consideration with the water. Will Creed will probably come along and be able to answer your question he is a whizzzz when it comes to these things.

oh oh i can answer this one!!!
I think this is normal for most jades. What i think happens in your case is that the leaves on top may be blocking the light from the leaves below. so ya, the leaves below are no longer needed and they drop. That happened to mine and several others on this forum ^.^ So ya, you can take the leaves and either leave them there, or set them on top of a pot in the same area as ur big jade and a lil jade will come out!

But ya, I wouldn't worry about it if the rest of the jade looks healthy on top ^.^ Good luck!

~Phoebe

thanks Phoebe, I didn't know that. But it's very nice to know. Not that mine is anywhere near that size.

Thanks for the compliment TK!

Phoebe is correct that there is no cause for alarm. Jade plants can support only a limited number of leaves at any one time. Increasing the light will increase the number that it can support. The plant sacrifices older leaves so that it can continue to produce new leaves.

You can remedy this by increasing the light or by periodically pruning back some of the longer stems. Pruning will help maintain the compactness of the plant and keep the center from becoming too sparse.

Of course, you can also do nothing.

Hey a self pruning plant I dig it lol. Hummmmm, I wonder if that is what it was doing in the corner. Dropping enough leaves to sit in the dark. Well it's in the window now so it can produce leave to it's hearts content. Thanks for the question petard. I learned all kinds of wonderful things.

Your welcome Will anytime.