A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Cacti and Succulents Indoors JADE PLANT HELP - Brown spots/some yellow leaves/some white powder perhaps?

Hi everyone,
I am new to this site - what an amazing resource - you guys are awesome!

Iwas given a 20 + year old jade that is gorgeous and huge a few weeks ago. Unfortunately i do not face south but I've placed it in the sunniest possible place in my apartment. Out of concern thst it was not getting enough sun I also purchased 3 60 W grow lights which are in a regular standing light fixture which perches several feet above the plant.

Recently I noticed some of the leaves have black spots, some are yellow and some have white powdery dots. See below pictures. I'm not sure if this was occuring before or after I got the grow lights... but I suspect before, as I just bought the grow lights on Saturday, so it seems impossible this happened so quickly as a result?!Unless it was caused by the grow lights, is that possible? They are 60 W incandescent A-gro lights in a standing light fixture which is a foot or more away from the leaves.

Do you have any advice on what this could be caused by? The previous jade owner never had this problem. It is currently only affecting a small amount of leaves but it is such a beautiful cherished plant, I certainly don't want it to spread. Is it a pest of some sort? Should I be using something to treat it? Was the grow light a bad idea? Also the roots are huge for the size of the pot. Any help would be really much appreciated.

Thanks SO much! Sorry for the barrage of questions - I am such a newbie!

Leah

Welcome, Leah. That is a lovely jade in spite of the disease. I don't know what it is and I don't grow jades indoors. But I have seen many people coming in with new to them jades and newly repotted ones and newly moved ones. It seems to make jades very unhappy to be moved or bothered. It causes stress, it seems.
Do remove any diseased leaves and stems and move them far away from the plant. I would not re-pot it until it recovered from whatever is ailing it.
I think the grow light is a good idea. Unless you can see the leaves affected are in direct line and getting burned. But it looks like some of them are under and shaded by the others. I doubt a light a few feet away would affect them adversely and jades do love light.
I hope your plant inproves to its natural beauty.

Hi Tina,

Thanks for your message! I have been removing all the leaves that seem to be affected in case it is in fact a pest so it doesn't spread.

I know you mentioned the light was a good idea and I thought so too because in my mind 3 60 W incandescent was not too much light.... But I also came across this online http://www.missouribotanicalgarden....dening%20Help/images/Pests/Scorch223.jpg

which is apparently sunburn and does look like some of my leaves!

As a precaution I've turned the light off for now.
Would applying a mild insecticide - I've heard of diluted water and soap or diluted rubbing alcohol be a good idea - do you know anything about that?

Thanks so much!

I did not see any signs of pests on your plant.
I would still use the lights but for shorter periods of time. Or is there a way to remove one or two of the bulbs involved in your light stand?
I don't think you need any insecticidal soaps right now. Nor alcohol. I would stick to the less light until it builds up what it needs to deal with that first. See how it responds before looking to add stress to it further.