Rehabiliating a neglected Jade Plant

[Julie A]

I have recently rescued a large Jade Plant from a state of longstanding neglect. It is about 2' 3" tall, about the same in width and the trunk at the widest point is about 3". I have repotted it (and have been quite brutal with the root ball as the soil was like concrete and I wanted to get rid as much of it as possible) and taken off the worst of the dead bits. But it is ugly and I am wondering if I have just lumbered my self with a large plant that is in the way and is never going to look nice. If It can be restored to Jade plant glory I don't mind it being in the way! The leaves are mostly small, there is very little foliage around the center of the plant and there are lots of spindly shoots at the ends of the branches. Can anyone tell me if there is hope for it and if so what can I do to help it recover?

Sorry about the lack of photos, I couldn't find a programme capable of reducing them to the max for this site.

[purzo]

Hi Julie, it's difficult to advise without the photos but I'm sure, even if the whole plant couldn't be saved, cuttings could be taken from any promising live bits and you could start again.

I us IrfanView for photo resizing. It's Freeware so costs nothing for home use and is relatively straightforward to use. You can download it here if you think it will suit your needs http://www.irfanview.com/

[Diane]

...Or you could download (free) http://www.robosizer.com/ which I use - automatically resizes images as you upload them, so easy!

[Liz M]

Hi Julie, you have an ugly plant that is very promising to turn into a beautiful plant BUT you must be ruthless. Having chopped off a lot of roots and then repotted it, you may as well go the whole hog and chop lots off the plant. I always reckon a good prune never did anything shrubby any harm and usually rejuvenates it, so give your plant a good prune and get a good shape on it. Give it a week or so to recover then water it carefully and later on feed it. Once you are sure it is responding in a positive way keep watering it until autumn then do what is normal for Crassulas and stop watering it. Keep it in a not freezing place( I know you can manage that) with the best light available and leave it in peace for winter then start watering again in spring and continue in the normal way with succulents through spring and summer. By then, only a year, you should have a healthy, leafy plant.
If it is not, I am sure you will be able to get a replacement. loads of people have them. If it is looking good , you may get flowers in the following winter. Mine and their variations flower in January in a very cool greenhouse and they are bone dry.
You have everything to gain, so go for it.

[IainS]

Hi Julie:

I've been growing giant money plants or jade plants for decades, between 2ft and 4ft, as house plants. Liz is right. You need to look at the plant's branch structure and heavily prune it back. Don't be scared. And don't worry if this drastic action doesn't leave a single leaf. It will quickly bounce back. I would disagree with Liz on one minor point. It's totally okay to heavily water and feed it immediately after the severe pruning; waiting a week is a week lost.

Stand back and look at the shape, as you might a garden shrub or bonsai. Think of long-term strength, which is the reason I always prune, building up a network of strong think branches that can hold a large amount of weight in the form of water-filled leaves. Rotate the plant as you prune so you can always see what you're doing.

I have previously found that this plant does badly burn if put outdoors in mid summer - contrary to my "outdoors" thread - so keep it indoors with good light.

[Julie A]

Dear all, thanks for the advice and suggested programmes for reducing photos and for dealing with my Jade plant. Here are a couple of photos - apologies that they aren't very good.

[img]

[/img]

Liz and Iain, thanks so much for the help, great to know it can be rehabilitated but I am nervous of how to prune this big beastie. Having seen the photos, can you tell me how much branch to leave? And where is it best to cut? On a fork in a branch or doesn't it matter? I'm assuming that I should cut on a segmant, or is it better even to break it on a segmant? As you know, the smaller branches break off at segmant quite readily but maybe it will harm the plant to break larger stems. Thank you again

[juster]

Hi Julie, I would agree with the advice to cut back. I have a large jade plant which was attacked by whitefly a few years ago. I could only think of giving it a good prune and then spraying the remaining trunk and branches, this worked well and I have had no problems since. As advised, you need to think of the final shape when doing this - good luck! Actually my plant is at present a poor shape - being half under the staging does not help; I am thinking of attacking it in the same way - Iain thanks for the advice about not putting outdoors, I was thinking of doing that.

[Jim_Mercer]

Julie

Wherever you cut the stem will always die back to a node lower down - usually just below the cut but sometime a little further. In theory you can use this to try and determine which way the new branches will grow as at each node there are two potential buds, one either side, and these buts are at 90 to the buds on the next node down.

[IainS]

Julie: Using language as if it was a tree, leave the main trunk intact. Cut back all of the thickest branches, leaving approximately one third, and therefore removing approximately two thirds. (This measurement/assessment doesn't include any thinner branches.)

I always use secateurs, cutting just above a node (which is where the leaves come out from).

Ultimately, however, the exact place to severely prune is also artistic or visual, but with the ultimate purpose of leaving a strong structure for the plant to re-grow from to future glory.

Don't be scared. I've done this many times with similar sized plants, and smaller ones, and bigger ones.

Then take another photo or two if you want to check again.

[Eric Williams]

Just for interest, what would be the best time of the year to carry out the pruning ? Cheers