Planta
Back to The Cactus & Succulent Circle

Could use some advice on my old man jade plant (he’s 30, and was only… | The Cactus & Succulent Circle | Planta community

Adrian

Could use some advice on my old man jade plant (he’s 30, and was only recently put in my care. He became very stretched out from neglect and drought over the years before I was put in charge of his care. I gave him a repot and haircut in May, and until last week, he’s been doing great! Grew plenty of new leaves, he’s still working on the new growth, but suddenly he lost 4 older leaves within the past week, all turning yellow before breaking off. I don’t overwater it. I bottom water him no earlier than every 10 days in the summer. My question is if I should give him another haircut and prop all the branches by the stem, or if I shouldn’t stress and just leave him be. I’ve worked with jades for a while now. I have 3 other jades and consider myself pretty good with them. This one’s very dear to me, is all, as he’s a from my grandmother, and I’m very careful with him as she’s since passed away. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Attachment 1 of 2Attachment 2 of 2
1 like 17 comments

17 comments

  1. Adrian

    To clarify, I’m thinking of chopping each branch off at the stem. My concern is that the stretching is still affecting the plant and its ability to bring enough water to the plant. I’m planning on checking the roots tomorrow morning. I don’t want to if I don’t have to, but as I’ve expressed, he’s very dear to me, so I really don’t wanna lose any more of him. I’ve successfully propagated cuttings from the top of his stem in May.

    Attachment 1 of 1
    1 like
  2. Macie

    you could always take a cutting of one of the branches to be on the safe side while trying to fix the rest of the plant with less of a worry since you would have the cutting.

    1 like
  3. eatyacarbs

    I wouldn’t prune it now as the growing season is winding down. It might just take some time to adjust. More light it always better for a jade — it’s very unlikely that it will die if you haven’t overwatered, which is doesn’t sound like you have. Jade can comeback from pretty much anything else, including total scorching. You’ve got the cuttings — the plant lives on regardless.

    3 likes
  4. Eimi

    The leggy branches could be from low sunlight but also losing leaves along the way. I’m not sure how soon you can prune again but you could also cut those branches lower for new stems/leaves to grow & have a more dense appearance. I helped my friend’s jade plant by doing this & the growth was quite fast. All the energy went straight to healing and generating new leaves. Also, I think repotting in new soil helps if it’s been a long time

    Attachment 1 of 1
    1 like
  5. Eimi

    The bark is tall but that’s fine because it is 30 after all 😅 and it makes it look more like a tree. It could potentially grow new leaves from its previous scar lines! I never knew that until it happened to mine & I think it does that to support its bark. Best of luck to your gem of a plant 💚

    Attachment 1 of 1
    2 likes
    • Adrian

      Thanks! And yes, the leggy branches developed years ago, well before I was put in charge of its care, because of neglect and not getting enough light. I repotted it and pruned it in May of this year. Would you recommend shaving the sides of the branches where they’ve lost their green when propagating them? I’ve seen a few tutorials do so, but I’ve only propagated jades by top stem cuttings without the bark at the stem and leaf cuttings.

      1 like
    • Eimi

      I think you can you prune the stem where there’s bark on it. I usually cut off where it’s more green too, but the cut I did on my friend’s jade seems to have responded well. I’ve marked some suggestions where you could cut. Red to go, blue to keep. You can propagate those cutting as well. I think it will survive and have a chance to bounce back. Worse case, you already have extensions of it and it will still live on as a new baby plant

      Attachment 1 of 1
      1 like
    • Adrian

      Thank you for all the help! 😊

      1 like
  6. Adrian

    So update on the jade: I checked the roots and found that when I took it to my local nursery to get repotted, they put PACKING PEANUTS in the soil instead of perlite. A few of the peanuts began to clog up the drainage holes. I’ve added some perlite to the soil and carefully potted it back. I did end up giving it a haircut after all, and I’m planning on propagating the stems and branches the way I did with the previous cuttings from this plant. I wanna thank you all for all your help.

    Attachment 1 of 1
    2 likes
    • Adrian

      It’s looking a little crazy rn, but I’m very hopeful about the turnout in time. The pleasant surprise today was that the stalks were quite fragrant; somewhere between citrus and jasmine. I’m currently assembling a small army of lil bottles and jars to prop all these dudes. Currently taking name suggestions for the soon to be baby plants 🌱

      Attachment 1 of 1
      2 likes
    • Eimi

      Best of luck! 💚 I’m so excited for this new journey. Does your grandmother’s plant have a name? I like naming my babies with the letter J 😂 I have Jaded, she was the surviving cut from the overwatered jade, that sadly died. Then June, propagated from Jaded last year in the month of June. Jentrio, also propagated from Jaded & is potted with 3 stems. I wanted to experiment and see how this one grows

      1 like
    • Adrian

      lol love the j names. And yes, actually! My 30 year old’s name is Aslan (after a book character with the middle name Jade and green eyes), the first plant from a cutting of the 30 yo is Lucy (cause my grandmother loved I Love Lucy), my latest cutting from the stems with leaves will probably be named Eiji, after another character from the same book as Aslan, and I haven’t decided on the ones that come from the branches, but it’s probably gonna be a Nahuatl or Raramuri name out of respect for my grandmother (she is Raramuri and Apache). My other jades are Valerie and Elena, who is named after my grandmother, who changed her name to Helen Louise, but whose birth name is Elena Louisa Salgado y Lopez.

      1 like
  7. Eimi

    I love the references and connections you’ve made for your plants! I think that’s a lovely idea to name them after your grandmother. Very unique names too :)

    1 like
    • Adrian

      Thanks! ☺️ here’s what he looked like back in May before his first haircut. Very curious to see how he looks in a year or two.

      Attachment 1 of 1
      1 like
    • Adrian

      And this is all the potted cuttings from the first haircut. The plan is to have Eiji (cutting arrangement #2) either join Lucy here or get its own pot so I can form a jade army 🤩 (currently, latest cutting’s not included, I have 4, but if all the cuttings give me roots I’ll get up to 3 more new plants 😎)

      Attachment 1 of 1
      1 like
  8. Eimi

    Yess, we need more jade armies! I’ve just seen your spectacular Elena 😍 I need my lil Jentrio to grow like that. Do you know how many stems are in the pot? Here’s Jentrio btw

    Attachment 1 of 1
    1 like
    • Adrian

      Lucy’s got 4 stems currently, and Eiji (latest set of cuttings) has 5 cuttings. Elena’s got too many to count 😂 I’d say at least 15-20 stems. Elena was probably at least 5 years old when I bought her, so I’d say if you want Jentrio to get as bushy as her, you might wanna buy a bunch of baby jades at stores for cheap and plant them all together 😉

      1 like