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Posted 4w ago by @TheKitKatLady

Why is my Jade dropping leaves?

Steve here used to be full and gorgeous. I even have two babies I split off from him a year ago that are as big as he is. Suddenly he will drop a bunch of leaves, and then when I go to check on him, a dozen more will drop off with the slightest touch. He’s done this a couple times in the last 2-3 months. He’s puny compared to my original picture of him, taken when I added him into Greg.

The two big leaves in the picture were laying in the soil when I got up this morning. 4 small ones were laying on the windowsill. Then I touched him and the rest just fell off. One stem just fell off. A small naked stem came out with no roots to speak of.

The other two plants don’t do this. Ideas? Thanks in advance. #jade
4” pot with drainage
Last watered 6 days ago
Jade plants usually start dropping leaves when they are getting watered too often! Another reason for the leaves to drop could be that he isn’t getting enough light but if he was thriving before and you haven’t changed his location recently i’d think it might be due to overwatering. How often do you water Steve?
@JoshsGreenThumb Greg says every 11 days. And he’s usually very dry by then
@TheKitKatLady Hmm, another reason could be nutrient deficiency or a surplus of nutrients, have you been fertilizing at all? Apart from that i could only think of temperature or humidity issues that would also cause rapid leave dropping.
@JoshsGreenThumb I fertilized him according to the Greg schedule a month or so ago, I think?? That probably was the first time I fertilized him in the 2-3 years I’ve had him. Maybe he didn’t like it? πŸ˜‚

It IS a warm window, east facing, gets 4-5 hours of sun in the morning. He’s always been in this window… albeit not with as direct of sun. However his brother is in the exact same sun conditions in another window.
@TheKitKatLady Honestly the fertilizer might have been the issue! Jade plants are usually pretty easy going and don’t need a lot of extra nutrients in the form of fertilizer! Usually it’s enough to just repot them into new substrate for them to thrive. From what you said with regard to his location i don’t think it’s a temperature, light, or humidity issue.
@JoshsGreenThumb so Greg misled me 😝 maybe I’ll just hope he bounces back. The other two got fertilized too…. Wonder why? Thanks for the help!!
It’s the sun, it’s getting too much direct sunlight in that window. The leaves turn purple when the plant is under stress. Your other plant that is okay in that spot might have acclimatised to the heat and sun but this one hasn’t. Just move to bright indirect sun and it should be fine 😊πŸͺ΄
@ElderDamascisa huh! Weird. Didn’t know that about them turning purple! Thank you for sharing that! Everything I have read says these like direct sun! It’s worth a try. Thanks!
Mystery may be solved! I reached over to touch the stem that was dropping the most leaves… the entire stem was broken at the base. It snapped the rest of the way off with little effort. I then remembered that my cat knocked it off the sill a few weeks ago. It must have damaged it more than I realized!
Oh no. Although it was broken off you can still save it. Trim off an inch and stick it in a glass of water