A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Rotting Jade Plant.... Please help!

My Jade plant is about 3 feet tall and looks healthy. I noticed today that it was on a slant. I straightened the stakes its on and where I previously had cut a branch off, a wound appeared. The old part of the branch fell off and a brown, rotten, wet hole is in the base of the trunk. It is soft and so I am sure its rotting. Is there a way I can save the plant or should I just start propagating (cloning) it? Any help would be great.

what i would do is discard the part of the plant below the wound. cut the top of the plant until you reach healthy tissue and root that part.

Tanks very much for the help. Hopefully it will work.

It sounds like a fungus has gotten into where you cut the branch. Maybe try cleaning out the wound and applying some fungal powder like bordeaux powder and ensuring good air circulation around the plant. Dunno if it'll work but if the plant's a goner it's worth a try. Clean any tools you use before and after as the fungus could spread onto other plants. Metho is good for this.

I am not sure that cleaning the wound will work. The fungus seems to have spread at least three quarters of the way through the trunk. I am not sure what to do, but soon i will have to decide. Thanks though.

Follow Jiffy's advice and take the cuttings. It is not a fungus problem. It is root rot that has progressed to the stems.