a0c8c
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Posts: 706
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2009 3:00 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Jade Leaves Falling Off

I'm quite confused as to why, but little by little, some of my Jade's leaves are falling off. It does it one at a time over the course of a week or so. The plant seems healthy, I recently fertilized it for the first time since I've had it(had it for about a year, and it I added some compost on the top when I first got it and that's it), and I make sure not to overwater it. I'm considering repotting it soon as I don't think the soil gets thoroughly soaked when I water it, so when I watered it last I sunk it under water until all the bubbles stopped. The leaf starts to split on one side and slowly splits all the way across.

My Jade:
[img]https://i49.tinypic.com/2eoz2bc.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i45.tinypic.com/k3k6mx.jpg[/img]

Leaf Splitting:
[img]https://i47.tinypic.com/2uge71w.jpg[/img]

It's really hard getting a good picture with my camera, when I get a chance I'll use my dads dslr.


I'm working on a better lighting situation, especially now that I had to move it(long story) but I'm not to sure if I should move it outside or not. Everything I've read says they like full sun but not much higher than 80 degree temps. Once it gets 100 in August it'll probably suffer right? I'm also wondering if it's a little late to start moving it outside as we're already hitting close to 90 somedays.

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Gnome
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Posts: 5122
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:17 am
Location: Western PA USDA Zone 6A

a0c8c,

You're right, it does look healthy enough. I have not experienced this problem with my Jades. It looks almost like mechanical damage. Do you have pets that may be molesting it when you are not around?

Other than that you could try cutting back on the frequency of watering. The leaves look very turgid and perhaps excess water is causing the splits.

Other than that I'm afraid that I don't have any other ideas.

Norm

a0c8c
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Posts: 706
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2009 3:00 pm
Location: Austin, TX

I know it's not pet damage, as it's kept in rooms away from pets. I'll cut down the watering and see if ii helps but I usually wait until the leaves seem kinda, well not turgid(almost the opposite), that's for sure. I'm not sure overwatering is the cause, but then again the leaf in the picture still hasn't dropped and seems to be staying as it is. It's really confusing me.

It's also not growing much and most new leaves I see form fall off while still small. Is it most likely due to it being in a small pot? I really like the pot, so I'm hoping I don't have to get a bigger one, but I'll do what I have to to keep it happy. The plant comes first before the pot.

dstroud
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Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 4:30 pm
Location: South Carolina

My jade plant dropped leaves all winter after gradually getting smaller until it finally died after I repotted it. I fed it up to the information I was able to find online from several sources. It was kept indoors and followed all the advice to let it dry substantially, but not dry out completely before watering it. I did not feed it again for awhile since as I understand that a bonsai should not be fed for at least 2 weeks and I used a half strength fertilizer. Also it did not seem to grow but had looked good at first. It was in a nursery pot as first last summer and I transferred it to a rather deep mica bonsai pot giving it plenty of room to grow. When I put in slightly bonsai pot in the spring and root pruned it a little and reduced some of the limbs to give it the proper ratio of above and below ground to be feasible it gradually died while still following the previous watering schedule.



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