Hello, I started a jade plant from a cutting of my aunt's (which is about 50 years old and thriving!). I've been growing it for about 6 months now, and I have planted two of the leaves, which are shooting up little plants now and seem quite happy. My concern is that the leaves on the main cutting have gone a little... soft. They are no longer firm, as thought they are no longer holding as much water or something. The colour doesn't seem too bad though. I usually water it once a month, only about a tablespoon, but I watered it a little early this month, not thinking it would matter. Is that the problem? I live in Vancouver Canada, and we've had crazy weather lately. Is it possible that it's light/temperature related? Thanks! Anna B
Anna, If I read your post right, a tablespoon of water once a month is not enough water. I'm surprised all the leaves haven't dropped off. The entire rootball needs to get water. Keep watering the jade until you see it come out the drain holes, then dump out the excess from the saucer so it's not sitting in water. The leaves should plump back up for you. Wait until the soil completely dries out again before you thoroughly water it again.
Thank you. I will try that. Will it hurt the little plants coming up from the leaves I planted? Thanks!
It probably is very sad. At this point, I would take a large bucket and do an emergency submersion completely, pot and all, leaving the entire thing under water for a good 10 seconds. If the babies pop out, pop em back in. Jades are tough. In the future, avoid watering by submersion (this washes out the nutrients in soil if done too frequently) but it is a good emergency technique in order to completely drench everything. Future waterings should be as mentioned already - water thoroughly until water runs through drainage holes at bottom of pot. Leave to dry out completely between waterings. Repeat. They also love a lot of direct full sunlight. This brings out a lovely red rim around their leaves like a leaf halo. It's probably in need of a feeding too. After it recovers from the drought, in a couple of weeks or 1 month, feed with all purpose fertilizer (follow directions on box/bottle). I like organic liquid fertilizers but miracle gro or any generic store bought would be fine. The plant should plump up and put out new shoots nicely.
