An additional piece of information about the jade plant, when it was repotted last year, I noticed that it has a small root ball. Is this normal?

Lisa,

Too much water in an inappropriate soil - perhaps those conditions combined with not enough warmth and sun.

Depot it, leave it out to dry, and in the meantime search in this forum for 'Jade' or, less so, Crassula ovata.

You'll find out how to make your plant healthy again and give it a proper overhaul.

These plants want a porous soil, and many times when they don't get it they express themselves as yours has.

Jeff:

As a funny aside, when you told Lisa to 'depot' the plant, I was thinking depot from francais, as in train depot. "Does he mean to just leave it alone?"

Is depot a word in the sense of unpot? Or is it of your invention? Just wondering...

Christopher

cactusmcharris is correct.

Hi Lisa,

Besides doing the reading as suggested above, I have another idea.

You've mentioned what I suspect is a problem or at least a contributor to the problem. A large clay pot & a small rootball; that's a bad combination & increases likelihood of rot. I'd pot it down some to a pot not much larger than the rootball at least 'til you improve the mix.

Yes, pix would help, but post them here, using a photohosting site like Photobucket or Flicker (they're free).

Will a cactus mix solve this? As I want to grow Jade inside as well. The area has lots of light.

thanks.

botanical_drifter

Cactus Mix often includes a significant amount of Peat moss.

I doubt you'll find a packaged mix that is appropriate for Jades (or any other cacti/succulents).

Many of us are using soil-less, mineral-based mixes that include varying ratios of Pumice, Perlite,
Turface, Granite, Quartz, and other forms of grit. In my mixes, I use screened Fir Bark (Orchid Bark)
for the organic component - but the Bark is kept to less than 1/3 of the overall soil-volume.

Josh