I was given this Jade plant about 6 months ago. The leaves all slowly shrivelled and dropped off and I thought it was a goner! But I've just noticed some new leaves. Should I prune any of the long branches? All the advice I've found about pruning is for much healthier subjects!
Thanks ๐
by Practical_Plum_4338
5 Comments
Dunno the root situation, but the pot looks huge for the plant, could lead to overwatering..
This is portulacaria afra (sometimes called dwarf jade, not related to crassula ovata), and… Yeah, they do that. If they get shocked or if they’re somewhere too dark, they’ll dramatically drop all their leaves and look like a dead stick for a while.
The pot is kind of big for it, and the rocks are probably preventing evaporation from the soil. The two keys to keeping them happy are lots of sun and a good, well draining succulent soil. They tend to get root rot if the soil stays wet for too long. I wouldn’t bother pruning anything yet, it will just stress it more right now.
I support the above comments!
I would change the pot to a cozy small one, some plants donโt know what to do with all this space and dramatically try to die in big pots xD Also as they have little to no roots in comparison to all that soil, they tend to suffocate and rot as they can’t absorb a lot of water, and the soil stays wet for too long (or sometimes to dry off, if the soil is not evenly letting water through, I’ve learnt from my sad mistakes ๐ฅฒ).
I would also take away those stones, maybe leave only a few, for the better aeration, just to make sure the jade plant bounces back successfully and thrives! ๐ฅฐ
They’re so resilient! I’m sure watching it bounce back will be wonderful. I do agree that a smaller pot with a well draining mix and no stones would be a big improvement.
Iโm pretty certain P Afra gets off on dropping all its leaves. Only half joking too, apparently its seeds germinate poorly so it reproduces by dropping leaves and when elephants trample through and break branches off so they can root in the dirt.