P.s. Please excuse my scatterbrained paragraph structure. This guy is one of my favorites but I don't know much about taking care of it and I'm TERRIFIED I'm going to kill it like all my other plants...

Julie,

I use the same excuse for my sunflowers, too - Yoko the two-coloured beastie trimmed all of the seedlings to nothing.

The tiny maroon border you have on your jade (Crassula ovata) is a response to increased light. Generally, these plants will grow best in full sun, but they'll grow in less sun, too. If it's not in full sun gradually acclimate it to full sun, if you can - it's no big deal if you don't have it all day.

No, I wouldn't say you're destined to kill it - spend some time here searching for posts involving jades and you'll learn a lot. Two simple things with this plant and you're off to the races - its soil should be porous and don't water it as often as you would other plants. When in doubt, don't.

As long as you're careful about watering and have good soil (see above) it doesn't sound too bad. The east window should be ok, I grow a variegated jade in an east facing window and it seems to be doing quite well there...

As an aside (and I'm not sure why I'm asking as I'm not terribly experienced and probably wouldn't have a clue anyway), you say your second aloe is slowly dying? Is there no way it could be salvaged as it would be a shame to have to write it off if its not completely dead yet. Offsets you could propagate or perhaps just putting in it better conditions?

Julie,

If you post a pic of the plants we could give you more specific whys and wherefores. Usually the problems with succulent plants are those two simple things I mentioned - I'll bet your plants are more than salvageable.

Rich,

See what I did the other day? It should be bursting forth soon.

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Okay. I'm going to take it to our garden center to repot it. I started the cuttings when I worked in the nursery so the only soil on hand was their potting mix. I think it would be happier in the gritty mix stuff I've seen people discuss in other posts. Thank you for your suggestions.
I don't know what to do about my aloe. It looked great when I got it (an Easter gift from my mom) but it actually got knocked out of the pot by my brother when I was moving back from school and has forever been tilted in the pot so the stem is sticking out of the dirt to about where the roots would start. I was going to take it to be repotted but I was reading a forum and thought I read that it really stresses out aloe to be repotted so I left it where it was. It seemed to be fine for about a year. But the past month or so, the bottom leaves (spikes? spears? are they called leaves?) started to wither and turn brown but it had four nice shoots that were thick and healthy looking so I nervously assumed that it was just the old leaves falling off. The four upright leaves are still thick and fleshy but are about a week ago started to turn brown and are starting to lose their fleshiness. I've been trying to only water it when the soil gets dry but it doesn't perk up that way either. It was sitting in the window with the jade so i moved it to a west window in the hopes that maybe it would get a little more light that way but no dice.
I'm sure I've done something wrong but I don't know how to bring it back and, frankly, I just don't have a good location to grow succulents.
I want nothing more than to have pretty houseplants but I just don't seem to know enough to keep anything alive : (

I have a photo of my aloe but I can't figure out how to upload it on this forum

Get the HTML code from your photohosting site (you have to have your picture parked at one, like PhotoBucket or Flickr), the code that begins with the 'a href....' line, and put it into your response's text box. Alternately, you can get the link code and put it in the Optional Link URL down below your message.

mm Okay, I'll have to find my flickr info again. Thanks.

Hello Guys,
I just wanted to thank everyone again for your help and post a quick update. It seems that I was hasty in my panic. My jade seems to be doing fine though I haven't had time to take it to the garden center to repot it (I would do it myself but I have a very small apartment and no where to do it or keep excess materials). Now that I know that the maroon-y colored margins are normal in jades I'm not as concerned. My aloe has perked up a bit as well. All of the old 'leaves' have pretty much shriveled off but the five newest ones are thick and healthy and it's even got a new shoot poking up. It'll be a weird looking little sucker but I haven't killed it yet and that's what's important lol
Due to camera issues I haven't been able to upload any photos but I will soon.

Thanks!
Julie

Sorry for all the posts. I finally got my phone to email the pictures to myself.
Sad Aloe 'leaves'...
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Happy aloe 'leaves'...
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Baby crassula, about three years old I think. Any comments on pruning vs pinching? I want more branches but not sure the best methods of doing so. They will be repotted into more suitable soil soon.
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Southern light would be better, but no hot direct sun at noon for a while. Give more light gradually, cut off the top of the Crassula it is growing too leggy. Hope this will help.

Norma,
Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, both plants are at work with me as my apartment does not receive any direct sunlight. I have every direction EXCEPT south available. There's the north face by my desk, my crassula is in the east and aloe is in the west window.

Julie, in the second pic, does the purple pot have drainage? It looks like a pot within a pot?

Your little Jade, 'pic 3' started out compact. If you're afraid to defoliate, pinch the top couple leaves. The leaves can be rooted in the same pot with mom.
There's a gap between leaves..Can you see the spot? Pinch the stems between the gap.
It will re-grow, and should come in fuller.

Cactus, I've seen your pics before..What is the reason you defoliate? Thanks, Toni

Julie,

You can cut those lower leaves off (for aesthetic reasons as well as for health-of-plant-reasons) if you want - it will spur the plant into growing more (or at least that's what the voices tell me).

Toni,

I should think you have - I post a few here. I like some plants to have a spare/bare look. See my new post on the plant pictured above.

Thanks for the responses!
The purple pot does have drainage. there's a gap between the little pan at the bottom and the bottom of the pot. Actually, i've spilled on myself on more than one occasion from tipping it and the water running out after watering.

hopefulauthor: It's hard to tell and maybe I should just post a new picture but there's actually three jade cuttings in that pot: one is already 'y' shaped (on the left). The tall one in the back I had propped up so it would grow straight but I took one of the support pencils out and it fell over so I'm thinking I should have let it grow on it's own instead of propping it : ( and then there's the smaller single stem in the front. I was planning on giving each one their own pot when I finally get out of work in time to take them to the garden center. I know they'd be happier in a more appropriate soil matrix. Thank you for the suggestion on pinching, I need to find more information on how to actually do the pinching as I've never seen anyone do it.

cactusmcharris: I'm glad you mentioned that as the bottom leaves have actually been yellowing and falling off. Is that a natural thing? I've noticed the bottom has started looking more woody--secondary meristematic growth perhaps? (botany class had a practical purpose? lol)--and I was wondering if that's why the bottom leaves are falling off.

Hi Windy,

Well I'm not McHarris, but he won't mind my answering this. Yes, bottom leaves dropping off a Jade is perfectly normal, it's their aging out, perhaps akin to our shedding older hair as we replace it all the time.

Pinching off is easy, not a big deal at all. Just literally pinch the stem between your index finger & thumb. Really, not something to be concerned about, just (be brave) & do it, these aren't fragile plants that one need be nervous of injuring, just so you know.

Thanks for the response. I'm glad it's nothing more serious. it's lost four leaves in the past week and I started to get nervous again.
i will keep that in mind lol when you pinch, do you pinch all the way through the stem? should the top of it come off? what is a reasonable distance down the stem for pinching?
here are some better pictures of the little guys.

here's the y shaped one
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little squirt
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droopy mcgee
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WCS,

Don't by shy about whacking your Jades back. You'll be very pleased in about a year if you get radical. Here's one of my bigger ones after a 2010 whacking...
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And this is how it looked about a month ago...
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I figure it will look it's absolute best after one more season of growing, but I think it's coming along nicely as it is. And yes, just appreciate the red borders. I always look forward to that come summer and am sad to see it fade as winter trudges along. Here's one of my favorite photos of red edges - it's a miniature Jade...
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I put mine outside in summer, acclimating them over a few weeks into full, all-day sun. They love it!

Denise in Omaha

Thanks Denise! I'll have to give it a try. I was wondering though, I'd really like at least one of them to grow into a nice big tree. Something I can pass down to my kids. Is it true (I thought I read somewhere in my smattering of research websites) that if a jade is cut back, that it'll never really get too much taller than it was when it was cut back? My tallest one, Droopy Mcgee over there, I don't think has passed 6" yet. Will being patient with a leggy jade leave you with a taller jade in years to come? Or doesn't it really affect the growth overall?

As always, thanks everyone for their wisdom and patience with a newbie.
Julie

Julie,

That's what we're here for, sometimes...

Personally, I go for the trunk, so I want mine as chunky as possible. I don't believe that statement is true, because artful cutting will encourage a tall Crassula ovata, assuming you're growing it as well as it can be grown there.

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