Baby Jade stressed.

[Castanea]

Hi all

Last weekend I bought a variegated baby jade from a pre-bonsai section of a local nursery. The plant had nice form and appeared to be healthy. Since wiring it into a bonsai pot only a few days ago, the plant's health appears to have declined some. The leaves have begun to wrinkle and turn yellow, and a couple larger leaves have dropped. Additionally, a couple of the tiniest leaves at the ends some branches have turned black and died back. I'm not sure what could have caused this as this is my first succulent.

Some info:

The tree was sold in a tiny plastic container, and hide a nice clump of fine roots when I potted it. The soil in the container I purchased it in was moist. I also moistened the bonsai soil after potting the tree. It quickly dried out and I have let it remain dry (that's what you're supposed to do with succulents, right?) The tree currently gets partial window light and is supplemented with a fluorescent light

Is this just typical stress following a repotting, or should I be doing something different to help it along?

Your input is much appreciated. Cheers!

 

[GailC]

Any chance it was exposed to a big change in temp? I would guess it got chilled, they don't like cold at all. Jade can take being dry but don't confuse a succulent with a cactus, they don't like to be bone dry. In the summer, I water my big jade every 2-3 days and its in regular potting soil.

I would pluck the black leaves off so it doesn't spread, the others will either heal up or fall off on their own. Jade's are pretty tough but they don't really like to have their roots disturbed. Once it gets over replant shock, it should take off.

*advice is given from my experience with a regular potted jade, I have not tried to bonsai one*

 

[aml1014]

When I repot my succulents I make good practice not to water it for maybe 3or4 days, that way any damaged roots have time to dry and callous over before I water that way I can prevent root rot. In the pics the black does look somewhat like cold damage, and the large leaves falling off is totally normal they tend to shed their old leaves after trimming. For now I would make sure that it's totally dried out before watering again that way if you do have any rot problems they should dry up and the plant can callous over, after you make sure its dry try watering it so that it is ALMOST dry between waterings when they go totally dry all the leaves will get wrinkley because the plant is running off of its water reserves. As said above jades are super tough, so I think it'll pull through just fine.

Aaron

 

[f1pt4]

Any chance it was exposed to a big change in temp? I would guess it got chilled, they don't like cold at all. Jade can take being dry but don't confuse a succulent with a cactus, they don't like to be bone dry. In the summer, I water my big jade every 2-3 days and its in regular potting soil.

I would pluck the black leaves off so it doesn't spread, the others will either heal up or fall off on their own. Jade's are pretty tough but they don't really like to have their roots disturbed. Once it gets over replant shock, it should take off.

*advice is given from my experience with a regular potted jade, I have not tried to bonsai one*

I agree. Temperature shifts manage to stress Portucalaria Afra's. In the winter I have mine in a grow room in the basement. A few weeks ago my cat opened the door to the outside, yes, my cat, in the upstairs of my house. I guesstimate that it was open for a good 30min at -15 Celcius outside. When I noticed, I closed it, and after going downstairs I noticed my bottom grow shelf that had some Afra's on it reached 10 Celsius... usually it sits between 23-27 Celsius. That cold air must have dragged in downstairs. That 13-17 degree drop affected my bottom shelf Afra's similar to what's happening to yours right now. I've since put all of my afra's on my top shelf where the temp is between 24-28 Celsius and they seem to be recovering. The majority of leaves dropped, but new growth is starting to poke out.

Reduce your watering until you see shrivelage as noted previously.

good luck!

 

[Castanea]

Thanks for the helpful advice everybody. I think it must be some combination of temperature stress and just general transplant shock. The plant probably got its fair share of exposure to cold winter air on the long car trip to my house after visiting home the weekend I bought it. Hoping to see it bounce back in the coming weeks.

Does a watering every 3 to 4 weeks sound like a good winter plan? How about fertilization?

Also, call it a hunch, I'm guessing shriveling/dieback may occur in succulents following a transplant because water is being diverted from the leaves to aid in root development. Thoughts?

 

[GrimLore]

My Wife keeps one at her Office in the Foyer in Full sun. I just asked and she never waters it more then once a week. If the weather is cloudy for extended period she waits an additional week. One thing I have seen on succulents is if you water the plant and water pockets up where the leaf grows out of the stem it can cause leaf drop. We water all of ours at the surface of the soil only, never the foliage.

Grimmy