Hi,
I have a jade
plant that is obviously sick and I would like help identifying the problem. I have now read extensively on pests and problems for jade
plants (I have read almost every post on this forum for jade
plants which takes a looong time). Unfortunately, none of the descriptions seem quite right.
Overall the
plant has done well. I've had it for 4+ years. My apartments is north facing and leads onto woods so in summer it goes to the sunniest spot on the porch but could probably still use more light. The overhang on the porch keeps it from getting rained on so it gets watered sparingly about once a week in summer. In the winter it is indoors and gets watered about every two weeks in winter. It is also potted in
cactus mix potting soil for good drainage.
Ok. Here are the symptoms with some pictures to help. It has lost 3/4 of its leaves but is still
growing. Before they drop, the leaves form small brown spots on the underside (see pic below) and sometimes large brown spots on the tops. Once I noticed the problem I picked off all the affected leaves in the hopes that it wouldn't spread, which it has.
http://cs.berea.edu/~isaacsa/IMG_0380.jpg
Also, there are brown spots on the stems (in the pic above look at the stem on the left). However, they do not feel mushy and have not spread in the couple of weeks I've been watching it. The spots look kinda like the browning a stem will get before it puts out bark (far right stem) but I'm not so sure given the state of the
plant.
There is also fine spider webbing between some of the stems. This makes me think spider mites but like I said we live next to woods so we have an unbeliveable number of real spiders on our porch.
There are also no signs of mealy bugs.
I have been treating it once a week with neem oil (which I saw suggested in the organic section of this forum) which, in addition to picking off the affected leaves, has slowed the leaf drop but not stopped it.
So....any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
applescruff