Jade tree in need of help

[JimJam35]

so i found that my GFs mom had a Jade bonsai plant in her house and its looking a little under the weather. been trying to bring back to proper condition. the current problems with the tree are:

i move the tree to the sun and small amounts of branches fall off the tree, leaves start to grow but soon fall off.

can anyone give me some help and maybe proper care for this tree ( water everyday?? wait for soil to dry out before watering again?? sun all day? half the day?? weather temprament) i dont think the tree has never been given fertalizer or been repotted since they had the tree, could that be a problem??

also if anyone knows if this tree is an indoor or outdoor tree that would be greatly appreciated, and i thank you in advance

i live on long island New York

 

[Bill S]

Its a tropical, they don't like to have wet feet, let it dry down before watering again. No fertilizer until you see new growth. Still learning this plant myself.

 

[october]

Hello Jim. This tree is a succulent. Which means it is similar to a cactus. I believe the problem is too much water and not enough sun. I would give the tree 6-8 hours of sun a day. As far as watering..I would not water on a schedule, but rather only when the tree needs it. In this case, when the top half of the soil is dry. Basically if you have a 2 inch deep pot and the top 1 inch is dry, then you can water. Just a few seconds with a watering can or spray from the sink sprayer is good. Also, the soil looks like it is not the best for the tree. This tree needs a fast draining soil. I am not sure if repotting the tree would be a good idea at this time, Simply because it is not in the best health. Also, this species, when healthy, will grow it's leaves back.

Also, keep the tree away from drafts and vents. The tree should not be in an area where heating or air condition vents are blowing on it.

I hope this was helpful and good luck.

Rob

 

[JimJam35]

what kind of soil do you recomend?? and can i use the same soil for all bonsai or do some trees need different than others?? or is there a mix that is "okay" for all(generic)??

 

[october]

There are some foundations that are all similar when it comes to a good bonsai soil. Is there a bonsai nursery near you? Many of them sell pre made tropical soil mix.

Something like this would be good. I believe this one is made up of turface, course river sand and maybe some pine of fir bark...There are are a few different mixes and opinions may vary. The main criteria is that it drains well. By drains well, I mean when you water, the water should not sit on top of the soil, but rather run through the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot.

http://www.nebonsai.com/mm5/merchan...NEBG&Product_Code=TropSoil&Category_Code=SOIL

 

[edprocoat]

JimJam, one problem you have that I can see from the first picture is the tray of water its setting in. This tree as Rob said is a succulent and would prefer to be dry most times. They need watered sparsely and from what you said about never having been repotted I would say the roots are poking out the bottom drain hole or all along the inside bottom of the pot if there is a screen on the drain and keeping the pot setting in the tray of water is basically drowning the tree. They need a lot of light, they are sold as indoor trees and will do good indoors but real sunlight unfiltered by even the window is much better. These plants are fairly indestructible, you can cut them back hard and they will grow, either a branch or a leave will sprout and grow roots too. I would go find some coarse sand and mix about a third of the existing soil with the sand and repot it. I have repotted these in the past when near dead and they came right back. A neighbor of my cousin in Florida tried to get rid of one that was in his back yard that was about 3 feet tall by running it over with his riding lawn mower and a few weeks later he had about 20 of them growing around his hedge where they landed and he did not pick the pieces up, pretty tough little plants. They need some fertilzer too, once it starts to recover fertlize it every two weeks if kept outdoors as the sunlight will cause it to use nutrients while growing as they do not grow as fast indoors I would use fertilizer every two months or so when kept indoors. You can tell if the air or heat is drying it out as healthy leaves are thick and when constant dry air blows on them, like from house heating and cooling systems, the leaves thin down and eventually fall off. If the stems get an orange look to them then thats too much water and if not allowed to dry out they will get squishy soft and fall off.

ed

 

[JimJam35]

So i recently jumped in and did my first repot ever for this tree, and myself....after reading about it i decided to just go ahead and do it. the roots were soaked and so was the soil...i made up my own mix of soil that drains better than the other one after extensive reading on that also. so i root pruned what i thought should be done and re potted the plant, it is now happy and growing, with out the leaves and branches falling off!! thank you for the advice much appreciated, just need to start doing a little bit more research on branch pruning and reshape this tree since it is very off balance right now to the one side.