Jade with unknown disease

13 years ago

Hi everyone, this is my first post here but I'm hopeful someone will be able to help me after reading several other informative threads!

I'm having a problem with my jade where the edges of the leaves are turning dark brown/black and the affected leaves eventually fall off. The lesions are sunken and generally show up on the edge of the leaves but some leaves have spots on the upper surface. From reading online, the only common diseases for jades I was able to find info on are: bacterial soft rot (nothing here is squishy), powdery mildew (I don't see any fungal structures), and black ring virus (lesions are on edge of leaves and not ring shaped). Does anyone know what this might be???

Some plant information:
My jade was taken as a cutting from a healthy plant about 3 years ago. I repotted it for the first time in January with cacti/succulent soil and the roots looked healthy. It was in a southern window that gets direct sun for about 4 hours a day until I noticed the disease. Now I have it quarantined in a west window with no other plants, but the change in light seems to be fine. Over the winter, it got a bit leggy so I pruned it three weeks ago which is when I noticed this problem (the bamboo stakes are propping up my cuttings while they root but the main plant is stable). I live in a dry apartment with low humidity and only water my jade once every week and a half to two weeks so I don't think excess moisture is an issue.

A little about me:
I'm studying plant pathology of field and ornamental crops but don't know much about diseases in cacti and succulents. I have many other house plants and an extensive orchid collection, but all except one of those is healthy. (I think my vanilla has crown rot or I damaged the shoot while training it onto a new trellis. The tip of the shoot fell off but the damage/rot hasn't spread and the plant looks happy otherwise.) I have a cactus and a small echeveria in the same south window the jade was in and both of those are healthy as well. I did purchase some new orchids in February and had a problem with fungus gnats at that time, but I'm worried I may have brought home more than pesky insects!

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Comments (4)

bunnyrampage
Original Author
13 years ago
Here is an additional picture of the leaf damage
cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5
13 years ago
Classic case of too much water / not enough drainage. Lighten up on the water, make the soil more porous (cutting it with 50% perlite's a good start), more warmth / light - a combination of all those things will put your plant right.
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bunnyrampage
Original Author
13 years ago
Do you really think it's too much water? I use a wooden chopstick to determine when to water and only do so when it comes out dry after a couple minutes... Why would too much water cause the edges of some leaves to turn black with black spots on the surface of others? I'm just curious and want to learn more about this condition since there really isn't much information easily available online.

Also, will it harm the jade to mess with it again so soon after repotting in January? The mix I used was 30% perlite (not sure of the percentage of other components but I know there's also sand and maybe coir?) so should I cut the total perlite to 50% or cut my current soil another 50%?

I don't know what to do about the more warmth/light suggestion as I'm pretty limited by the weak sun during our Wisconsin winters. Putting it in my south window is the best I can do, although the days are getting longer/warmer now so it should be getting stronger light anyway. I'll move it back to the south window as long as this isn't actually disease that might spread to my other plants there!
cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5
13 years ago
I still contend that that's not so much a disease as a cultural (mis)practice. Sand is not your friend in this mix, but perlite is. You won't harm the plant by going in so soon again. I'm assuming there's a drainage hole in the pot (which isn't covered by pot shards / a rock). Yes, despite your watering schedule (which is one I too use in winter, about once every 10 days or so for plants in growth), the soil isn't porous enough and this is the result of it. It's not fatal, as you'll find out in the next month or so after you modify your soil. Soil recipes are as varied as we are, but cutting your potting soil with 50% perlite is one way to get the plant healthy again.