I just bought a small jade plant about a month ago, and it is turning brown at the base of the plant (just above the soil) and it looks like it is drying out there. It has pretty much shriveled up at that point. The rest of the leaves are losing moisture (obviously) and turning red on the bottom. Can I save it? How?

It sounds like your plant is shot. Jades are usually very easy plants to grow, with hardly any common problems. With one exception, that being mealy bugs, and it is very easy to tell if you have a infestation of them, as they look like little white tufts of cotton. Providing you are giving it indirect sunlight, and as long as you don't have it in a drafty area, and you let it dry between waterings, they usually do very well. Yours may have been damaged when you brought it home.
However you can take some of the leaves and start new plants. All you need to do is take the leaf and place it face up, on a bed of semi moist potting soil, give it some good light, and within a week or so you should see some new growth appearing from the stem area. they are one of the easiest plants to propagate from leaf cuttings. Hope this helps.

Mike

Hi Kelly,

Stem rot is caused by keeping the soil too moist. If you repotted your new plant that is probably the problem. Jades have small root systems and rarely need repotting. In addition, if you use standard potting soil and put it over the original soil line, then stem rot is almost guaranteed.

I tell you this, not to make you feel bad, but to help you in the future with other plants.