My fathers Jade tree is experiencing aproblem, we know that it needs 4 hours of direct sunlight a day, but have found that when we put it outside the leaves seem to become singed (they get a tan - a browning on the side of the leaf closest to the sun). The tree itself is about two feet high and has two main branches, the issue seems to be starting from the leaves - which wither and fall off (gentle touching/movement can cause a leaf to fall), before traveling down the branches, which are also starting to whither and fall off (though so far only on one part of one side of the tree.) It's been in it's current pot since before we inherited the tree, 2-3 years (possibly it's whole life, as it used to be an office plant). The pot's diameter is about 9in, and it's depth is about 5-6 inches. It sits in a northern facing picture window, and occasionally gets moved outside for it's direct sun. It's watered about 1/2 a week with tap water (though recently we've been using filtered water/rain water to see if that makes a difference.) The changes have happened recently (the past 3-4 weeks). Pictures are attached below, they're web cam photo's and it's lamp light so they're middle quality. Is pruning the edges of the sick limb a good idea? So the withering will stop traveling down the branch? toward the trunk? Thanks so much for any help!
If it's living in a north window, it's never going to get enough light to survive. And I am sorry to say, but when you put it outside in the direct sun, that browning is sunburn and it causes great stress for the plant also, just as it does for human skin when it gets burned. It's dropping leaves and withering from lack of light. Yes, you should prune off all the damaged tissue. But if you don't have a unobstructed south or west window for it, the only other choice is to grow it under flourescent lights tubes, at least fourteen hours a day of light from the tubes and it may not make it, from the look of the pictures. This is unfortunate, but if you only have north windows, you need to grow plants that only require that much light. Jade plants need a minimum of four hours of sun, but in fact do best with full day sunshine, outside. A north window, sadly, is hopeless for them.
