A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Cacti and Succulents Indoors Whats with the Jades

Here I was bragging on my GOOD giant jade, and this morning, My husband was looking at it. and one of the branches was just soft and fell off in his hand, Not brown and squishy inside just like pulpy and dusty.
I looked it up on a Botany site Of Pennstate it called it.. Damn, I cannot remember, It said to discard affected plants.
NO WAY, The rest of it looks awesome. And it it NOT over watered. its dry as a bone.. the leaves are hard and shiny.
HEEEEEELP! I refuse to lose this one. I lost her sister 2 years ago.
Will go look up what they called it. OK They call it Bacterial Soft Rot..
CAused by Erwinia?? OH nooo I cannot stand the thought of losing this one. 15 years.. its a baby.
Does anyone know anything about this disease? They were very grim on that site.

All the reading I have done, went to Plant pathology site, Everything says that the plant should be discarded. But how can I when the rest of it looks so great! I am broken hearted. I have had it so long.

take a cutting from it. or isolate it to see if it will fall apart, but take a cutting anyway. that way if it does fall apart, you will have a piece of it.

and, joclyn should be through here soon. she loves jades and does a good job of explaining how to save them if they are salvageable.

Hi Jocelyn, I will take a digital pic tomorrow in the morning.
IT has lived in the same spot for the past 9 years, nevers goes out. Too much dorect sun on our deck nothing will live. IT gets sun in the am. through the back of 3 big deck windows. IT sits on the floor. always has. IT is a cutting off my old landlords JAde that was 35 yrs old. I had another one as big 2 years ago same parent plant, it went to pot, soft mushy stems, that fell apart in your hand.
IT has never been over watered. I fertilize very seldom maybe once a month. it is showing new growth as well LEaves are firm and shiny. The soil is usually dry to the touch.
I am so depressed after reading the plant pathology site. IT says to discard any plant exibiting the shrivelling up branches. ITs bacterial, It is not mushy in the part that broke off, its turned to dust and is hollow.
I cut the whole piece off that it was attached to. I will also post a pic of it from 2 years ago.
I will take close ups of the area where the branch fell off. ~Sniff~ I am so upset about it. there is so much sentimental value to her!

Heres one from 2006
And here is the same plant this am.. ITs too bright a pic.. but thats what it looks like now.

I hope Joclyn can help you because that is a beautiful jade plant!!

Thanks Plant Queen.. Hopefully she will stop back in!

Sigh~ WEll I guess since I have not heard anything, I am going to let her stay. I have cut off the bad limb up to the trunk, given her fertilizer and I have a few cuttings.
I refuse to do what the plant pathology site says. I will not discard it. there too much life in it yet.
Anything is possible.

don't fertilize any more. jades do so much better in poor soil. other than that, wait for joclyn. she'll be in. she's always lurking

Woo hoo Joclyn... Are you out there?? Would like your opinion still

Oh well ITs holding its own, and I was able to root several cuttings..
I guess I will hope for the best.

Thanks so much Jocelyn.. I hated to be a pain. You pretty much said what I think.. I am sure it cause it from the sister plant, that I did destroy 2 years ago.. it was bad. they used to live side by side. I moved it but probably too late.
This one was repotted 2 years ago.. No easy feat. LOL
The deck slider never gets left open cause we have air. No rain could get in there.. And no dogs..
Kittys never are naughty. believe me I know.. They would be outta here, and I have a nose like a blood hound.
The cuttings were from a few pieces that broke off on the good side.. Me hitting it. Agh.. They are getting roots.
I normally never fertilize it but I was worried about it cause of the bad branch. I have cut it back.
No new mushyness anywhere, I am guardedly optimistic. I am going to repot it in the spring.
Will have to have hubby help. That pot weighs a ton. I often wondered about it being near that big slider. ITs been there forever. But The sun is so good. It is not in front of the door when it opens.
infront of one of the glass sections. I am afraid to move it, cause top be honest I had moved the sister plant and that seems to be when it got sick.
I will keep you posted. So much sentimental value with that plant.

I enjoyed reading Joclyn's advice. I'm new to this forum and would like Joclyn's advice on the type of pot & how to repot a jade. I will gladly send a picture if I can figure out how to add it to a post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Mygirls

Ditchy another thing that really does help is if you take the blade you are about to cut the jade with and heat it up till its red hot on the tips over the stove before cutting the jade, it destroys the bacteria that may be on your utenciles. also the raw area where u had just cut the jade u may swab every few days with rubbing alcohol to kill any pathogens that somehow got onto that raw area. The alcohol WILL damage that area a little but it is a small price to pay, you only need to do this until the callus forms. When ever I take cuttings from any plant I use sterilized equipment, thats what my horticulture teacher said i should do. I am not an expert on Jades by anymeans, i got my first one last year, but that should also help stop you from spreading it to any other plants. if worst comes to worst and its still infected my Hort teacher said you should buy a whole new bag of soil and a new pot. Take the soil and mix it with some sand and then put the soil in your oven and heat it to 300 degrees for an hour. then put it in the pot and allow it to cool. Next take your jade out of its present pot and strip the roots of as much dirt as you can, sometimes a sprayer from a sink can help with that, and then place the jade into the new pot with the dry soil. let the jade go without water until the base leaves shrivle slightly and then water half as much as you normally would. Also the water should be distilled or boiled before using on the jade. Tap water contains Iron which is a mineral that bacteria NEED to reproduce. the less iron your jade has at this time the better

Ditchy, whatever you do don't give up on this plant.

I've been there and had my tears with my jade thinking I would loose my plant, but it's still here a year later and doing alright. Sure I have more questions and other things happening, but what's better then a good challenge through which we can learn how to help others.