Hi, that's a fantastic jade you have there, what a find!

Jades are pretty tough guys and can withstand relatively bad conditions and are able to recover well when they are then looked after better. On looking at the soil its in it still looks rather peaty to me (if you dont mind me saying so?)...if a moistened handfull of the same stuff is squuezed together in your hand what happens?....does it fall apart or stay in a ball? Jades just love gritty 'soil'. It may well have sand of some kind in it which is not as good as it sounds as it is just too fine and doesn't allow air circulation which you need for recovery. I would suggest that commercially bought 'fast draining' mixes still have way too much actual soil/peat in them, far better to mix your own using coarse horticultural grit and in at least a 50% proportion.

As far as watering goes, I would err on the side of caution here, a good spray early morning/late afternoon when the sun is off the plant will perk it up no end if the leaves start to wrinkle far better than actual watering of the soil as if you chose to keep it in the same mix you may have a problem again.

I hope you will keep us posted, maybe someone else will chime in soon as it will be interesting to see what they think as the above is only my humble opinion and what works for me in my conditions! :)
Regards, Gill from the UK.

I agree with Gill on all counts.

The Jade is great, but the soil is concerning.
I would consider replacing the soil with something fast-draining and porous.

Josh

Thank you both for the feedback. I have mixed it in with some grittier fast draining mix and assessed what roots are left. I have cut out 90% of the rot but there is still some in there that i just cant get to without destroying the remaining healthy ones. Is that going to be a problem? or will the tree fight back and stop rotting?

Again thanks for the help.

Jared

Beautiful plant!

Good luck with it and the new mix you are going to use. One where peat would be only a tiny fraction if any at all would be ideal.

Mike

I've had good results with using water to blast away rotten tissue. As long as it's dried off immediately afterwards, it's no worse than a cut.

Roots will stop rotting when exposed to air as long as they're narrow enough to dry off, but rot in thick roots is going to have more moisture reserves to work with and has a greater chance of advancing.

If it doubt, sacrifice the healthy roots to take out the rot. There might be more pockets under what's left. Have you got any pictures of the area?

Jared,

You have to remove all of the rot (and while you're in there you might as well use a fungicide / rooting hormone on the end). Otherwise, you'll be growing the plant while it's still sick. You can reroot a large specimen, but you have to cure it first.

1) Cut to completely healthy tissue, making sure the last cut (at least) is made with a clean knife (spray with isopropyl alcohol) and then spray it again with the alcohol.

2) While still wet from that spraying, dust with sulfur powder / flowers of sulfur (available at a compounding pharmacist) / cinnamon, or use Rootone (be careful about the dust) on the stump.

3) Following the rooting instructions you've been given. Don't water - it doesn't have roots - just mist regularly. It should show growth in a month or so and be ready for repotting in 6 months (or less). When in doubt about watering, repotting, or looking at it for roots - don't. Leave it be in a proper growing environment and it will grow.

Its a gorgeous Jade! I hope you get all the rot removed and it grows very well for you. Best of luck.

I agree with Cactus completely!

Remove all the rot, treat the area, and let it re-establish roots.

Josh

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So I have cut out what I can see is all the rot. The large root connecting it all had to go. It was too rotten. I have dusted with cinnamon and the tree (or trees) are now drying in the indirect sun for a couple of hours.
I then shall place them back into some fast drain grit/soil in a similar shape (I liked its appearance) and forget about it. Other than the occasional misting.

Hopefully I have done right and it works.
I will keep everyone updated on how Rotten Mcphee goes.

Jared

Hi there Jared, glad some others have also confirmed what I suggested and given you even further valuable info....I hope all goes well for you both! Will be interested to see how things go, best of luck.
Gill from the UK.

hi there! i know i am very late to this thread but i am desperate to save my jade plant! my plant had been flourishing for years along with a few other succulent type plants i had...however over the summer some old fruit was left out in my apartment that attracted gnats which were then attracted to my moist plants...these gnats infected my one plant so badly that i couldn't save it...however this jade plant seems to have survived better but it also got root rot! Following instructions from another website, I removed all the dirty soil, cut off the rotting areas, dusted some comet on the roots and allowed it to sit out for about 6 days now. this is what it looks like now. the webpage I was at was very helpful however it did not give instructions about what to do next. Should I replant these in soil now or should i place them on a soil/perlite mixture and let them air out more? thank you so very much for any suggestions!

alannabh

It may have been better to start new thread of your own - but really no big problem.

I do not know what is the comet you used?(..."dusted some comet on the roots"...)

I know that fungus gnats could infest plants and if unchecked, population could be huge, but I don't remember anyone posting here that plants actually died because of FG. What plant was it? ..."these gnats infected my one plant so badly that i couldn't save it:... and how wet/moist were they?

Root rot usually happens when plant sits in soil that is too wet for too long. Succulents do not need that much moisture and should be potted in medium that will drain well and dries fast. If still wet after approx. 3 days, it could be too water retaining.

If all the stems/trunks of your jade are free of any rot, I think it is time to pot them up. Did you check them by gentle squeeze to feel if they are possibly soft? - they shouldn't be. Pls. tell us what potting medium are you planning on using before doing so...

What's Comet, the scouring powder to scrub pots? Yikes that's mighty harsh, hope that alone doesn't kill them. What was that supposed to do pls?

I wouldn't use plain soil ever for this, I would only use 50/50 perlite to cactus & succulent soil. I wouldn't water for a few days either.

You paid $80 and it is worth $600? Yeah, right.

Spanish, this thread originally started and ‘ended’ in Sept 2011, the current poster has ‘tagged on’ :-)

Gill

thank you SO much for your responses! yes, i feel dumb admitting now that I listened to a websites instructions to dust a small amount of comet( the scouring cleaner) onto the roots. The website stated that the scouring powder would ensure that there were no other gnat larvae living that could kill the plant. The problem with the plant was that first I noticed root rot and the white fungus growing on the plant near the soil, when I inspected closer and poured a small amount of hydrogen peroxide on the soil I noticed that a bunch of bugs and gnats came to the surface! That is when I removed the plant from the pot, removed all the soil, cleaned and trimmed the plant, and left it to air out. I believe the gnats came into my apartment and then took home to my overwatered plant and as the root rot got worse the gnats reproduced in the soil as well. But yes I do believe i must have been overwatering!

I did squeeze all of the roots to make sure that none were hollow or rotted on the inside. However as you can see from the pictures, they still look kind of sad and I'm concerned about the roots not looking good. However, clearly I am new to this and don't really know what I am looking for! I was planning on using a mixture of perlite and a potting mix made by miracle grow that is for cactus,palm, and citrus potting mix. Do you think this will be okay? Do you think that I should clean the roots off a bit more before replanting? Thank you SO very much I am so appreciative of the help!

I never heard of Comet cleaning product to be used for plants...It contains bleach, and that would kill larvae. It also contains small amount of silica dust, lung irritant. I would have never thought of using it, but light dusting probably would not cause problems for plant and be quite damaging to larvae - that's what you needed to eliminate.

I do not think FG came into your house. You said you may have been overwatering, and that is what they like, moist environment. Same for most larvae.

I wouldn't worry much more about roots if what is left are healthy. If any are dead - dried or broken, cut them off. In proper conditions, new roots should grow. I do not use soil for succulents, but many ppl do, mixing it 1:1 with coarse perlite. I believe some use Cactus & Succulent soil, or Citrus mix. (I wouldn't recommend using soils that contain "wetting agents" - they keep it moist for too long; or if they contain lot of peat - check ingredient list before buying.) Make sure you add lots of perlite to get good drainage. Don't skimp on it, using just a handful won't really do anything. You could try to get some more soil off the roots, especially if that is peat. If it doesn't want to come off using your fingers, you could use a stick (like a chopstick or bamboo skewer) to tease it out.

If my plants, I would pot them up separately. In case there is some rot left, it won't spread to other plants. Do not overpot using large pot. Put pots in location that is bright, but keep out of strong sunlight for about a week or so, and start moving into more and more sunlight every few days. I would start watering after about a day or two after potting it since it has roots, but make sure you don't overwater again. Check potting mix with skewer before watering again, to make sure it dried up deep in the pot.

The potting mix of perlite and c&s soil will work, just be sure that you use at least 50% perlite. I use a cup to measure mine, but any scoop will work. Put one scoop of soil, then one scoop of perlite into a bucket or container. Mix and pot your plant. DO NOT get the mix wet - as some sites say to do.

Sift or rinse the perlite to get rid of dust.

The mix should be very gritty, like this -

If your plants won't stand up in the mix, prop them up with some stones. I use big river rocks because I have them in my landscaping. Like this -

Some people use chopsticks to prop up the plant and other tie them. I have more success with the rocks of various sizes.

Good luck! I live in a humid and wet area and I fight rot during the summers.

Edit to add -

After reading Rina's last reply, I realize that I misunderstood and thought that all of the roots were dead. So yes, water as she suggested if there are some good roots. Didn't want to confuse you on that.

i can not thank you enough! Im awfully bad at growing plants, however my beautiful jade and other succulents have been so hardy and grown so beautifully over the years, I was so sad that I might lose them all. I am so grateful for your advice! thank you so very much!

You are not “bad.” You are learning.