7 year old jade plant potentially in trouble

Our jade plant has been growing healthily and steadily from a small clipping for the past 7 years. 8 months ago we moved to a new apartment and have noticed a steady decline in the health of our plant. It has been living on the sill of our very large south facing windows. All other plants on this sill are doing well. The jade has had particular challenges as off this winter. Being in Wisconsin, the outdoor weather is very cold and the the space within about 2 inches of the windows tends to be cold, but there is also a heating vent along the sill and it moderates the temperature. We have been noticing a steady yellowing of the jade leaves (and now some dark spots/tips). However, most concerning (what lead us to making this post) was returning after having left the apartment for two days and seeing one of the branches (opposite the window) bent completely in half, as though it had gone soft and lost all rigidity. Strangely, when we found it, it was completely solid and locked in this bent configuration. We water the plant regularly (roughly every 3 days). It is possible it has grown to large for its current pot, but we don't know if this could have caused the slow decline or recent dramatic issue. Please let us know if any thumbs greener than ours (we are sure there are many) have some advise for how to move forward. Thank you!!!!

Matt and Michelle

I would be concerned about the situation so close to the window and heating vent.
When the heat is off, it gets chilled. When the heat is on it gets hot, dry air dehydrating it. Jade plant is tougher than many in this sort of situation, but I think the damaged leaf is showing signs of problems because of this.

Not sure why the branch collapsed like that.

Conventional advice is usually along the lines of, "Water this plant when the soil has dried and leaves are soft or wrinkled", but that's not good advice because it suggests you subject your plant to a long period of drought stress before you offer relief in the form of a drink. You, however, are almost certainly causing the same drought stress/response by over-watering. Since water and nutrient uptake is an energy-driven process that needs oxygen to burn the fuel that creates the energy, the excess water that occupies soil pores that should be filled with air is probably significantly impacting root function and root health. Your plant is dying of thirst in a sea of plenty.

To be fair, I should say that if you must choose between keeping the plant too wet or letting it go completely dry (to the point of soft or wrinkled leaves) between waterings, letting it go dry is the lesser of the evils, but still an evil. Ideally, you would choose a soil for ALL your houseplants that you can water to beyond saturation without having to worry about excess water hampering root metabolism/health. That solves both issuers. You can easily water often enough to keep the plant from going dry, and avoid worry about the soggy soil conditions.

Also, using a soil that allows you to flush the soil when you water makes fertilizing very easy, and eliminates most of the issues related to fertility, and all the issues related to a high level of salts in the soil, something your plant is also suffering from if you water in small sips instead of flushing the soil when you water.

The sticky thread at the top of the forum offers a lot of information that will help you avoid all the most common houseplant issues, if you decide to put it to use. I'll watch your thread to see if you have ?s.

Al

I have seen jade branches lean over like that when the plant is growing in insufficient light. Never thought too much about it, just ripped them off and let the others grow on. A spot right by an unobstructed south facing window should be plenty bright this time of year unless all the days are gray, so there must be some other explanation. I do know that when a stem gets weak, it can be quickly overwhelmed by the weight on top of it.

I agree with Diana, the temperature and humidity fluctuations are probably not helping. Neither is watering every 3 days, most likely... depending on your mix and the humidity, that could be just fine, but in regular potting soil (or my mix, cut with pumice and coir) I would water once every week or two, depending on conditions.

I prefer not to use the same mix for all my house plants, most of which graduate to the outdoors. My preference (being basically lazy) is to tailor the mix to the plant up front so that the watering interval for all of them ends up the same down the road. By adding more or less pumice, I can compensate for how much the plant drinks and how dry it likes to get between watering. I realize everyone has their own system, this is just mine.

The common advice with succulents to "water when dry" works just fine for jade plants. Bear in mind that very few plants, even the most hard core desert dwellers, really enjoy being dry for a long time (unless they're truly dormant). The trick is to figure out how fast the soil dries out (you can use a moisture meter or a chopstick or your finger) and then adjust your watering interval to match that period, more or less.