A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Cacti and Succulents Indoors seeking information on jade illness

I have a Jade I'm trying to help. When I aquired the plant- crassula argentea it had the following:

falling leaves substancially daily
leaves that remain appear normal
lose of most minor branches-shrivel in pieces
some lose of major branches- moldy-shrivel-able to easily snap off
1 piece of branch was mushy
odd peeling of bark on major branches mostly on 1 of the 3



actions taken;

transplant from plastic pot to clay
washed off all soil from roots before repotting
water on day of repotting (late August) not again untill 11/7/08
grow light-trying to provide 16 hrs
4 days ago began dabbing branches with alcohol


Changes

intially leaves stop falling for about a month
leaves falling seems insignificant compared to previously
all conditions on the branches continues

Yes I am all too familiar with that disease. I have gone to a university botany website. They have one answer. Destroy plant. I lost one totally to that disease. I will get you the link.. See our forums called houseplants. I have a topic on there. I have one very large Jade that had one big branch go the way of the bacterial disease. just a month ago. the rest seems ok. But I am not holding my breath.
ITs really depressing. They also say if you have any others to keep them away from your sick one. it will transfer.
Heres the Link to Penn State Plant PAthology.
Plant Pathology

I didn't realize someone had answered my question (not familiar with discussion formus). Thank you for the information. Except other than one piece I haven't had soft and mushy branches. Let me preface the following with I have pictures, when I touch the "scare" (evidence that something used to be attached to the are but it's not an open wound) they're not soft or mushy. I squeeze the branches they don't feel like they give to the pressure. What's happening is the branches shrivel and are easy to snap off. Do you think if you saw the pictures you might be able to identify the condition. The leaves are a shiny plump green ovals. Maybe I'm hoping aganist the odds.
Thank you

coqui,
You said, "water on day of repotting (late August) not again untill 11/7/08"

You didn't water it for that whole time?
Jades need watering when they dry out - a good drench or soaking. Then not again until they dry out, but mustn't be left dry for long periods of time.

A well-draining soil will work wonders for Jades. When you repotted, did you use a very light/gritty soil? Adding 50% turkey grit to the potting soil will help a lot. (don't use sand as the particles are too small and they end up compacting too closely together) Using a clay pot instead of the plastic was the way to go...good job on that!

It sounds like the plant went from too wet to too dry.
Try repotting into a nice gritty medium and get it on a regular drenching schedule when it dries out and see if that doesn't help.
I wish you good luck with it!

Nope you are describing exactly what mine had done..
I lost a 15 year old one Totally about 5 years ago to that disease. Never was a watering issue it was gorgeous. HArd shiny leaves..
Then Its sister that had been next to it when I finally threw that one out was fine for well 5 years.. just a month or so ago I had the first branch just do that shrivel and fall off thing.
Thats when I found the Penn state site that said to destroy plant.. No I did not. Can not~!
I cut off the affected piece and the rest is doing well. Theres nothing wrong with hope upon hope. I refuse to give up! This plant came from a 30 some year old mother plant! Lots of history!

Well the branches are gone. One went so totally bad that when I cut the branch off it gave off the smell of an open wound. [BLEEP] stunk up my room. about 10 day s later the whole plant showed signs it was done. Except those leave so I cut off all the leaves and am hoping to start anew with some of the old. Me too I refuse to give up!
Coqui