Are the leaves big and floppy? Are they really dark green? If you said yes to both, then the plant isn't getting enough light. Indoors, even near a bright window, the light is very poor and weak. Jades really need good strong sun to look and grow their best.

Got a picture you could share? Might help us figure out what is going on.

I second Joscience.

Why wouldn't you put it outdoors to get some good "sunlight" and watch it take off? I would if I had the advantage of living where you do..:-0)

If you want to see it perk up, give it alot of sun, not just light, and make sure you are not underwatering or overwatering it.
Also if possible, open the soiless mix up. It is not to late to repot in a fast draining coarse mix..

Good luck
Mike:-)

If you have humidity stop watering in the winter. It's okay for them to drop leaves, we drop hair. Overwatering may cause an unusual drop of leaves. Just leave the plant alone and it will do better. Yes take it out side when it is pleasant, it needs fresh air like we do, It will be do well with temps. down into 20s. At the tips of the brances there are new young rosettes, the leaves have all turned up to the sun. The bottom leaves have fallen off. This is the way they get taller, in the spring after they have flowered, I will pinch back the tips to make the plant fuller. Really these are no brainer plants, just don't fuss with them. In Africa no one fussed with them on that rocky hillside except the goats or sheep to trim them up a bit. Norma

Moving the plant to a larger pot likely didn't help, these plants don't need it, especially when grown indoors. If one tends to overwater, a big pot for a jade can be a problem right there.

Seems no one has mentioned if you decide to expose it to direct sun you need to pls. do it GRADUALLY, or it can get burned.

I'd also suggest leaving it alone, Norma is right, these plants really don't want to be fussed over.

Thanks. I think I haven't been watering it enough - once a month perhaps and not very much water all the way down the pot. Also I think I will put it out in the sun for awhile and hope this perks it up.

To prove the PG's and Normas point, look at this!

Check out this link, half way down the thread.

This HUGE Jade is in a half wine-barrel!

I posted one of mine one day that is huge for an 8inch pot.

When transplanting these things, it you ever have too, the root are sooo much smaller than one might expect..It probably could of stayed in the 4inch prior. Looks can be decieving with these plants..Huge growth on top, very small roots underneath...Easily killed with to much water.

Here is a link that might be useful: Huge jade in small pot!

Aw, one more thing..Look at the size of the Jade I have in a 6 - 8 inch pot..Looks too big for that pot size right?
Nope, there was plenty of room to spare when I transplanted it for the tiny roots...;-)

The jade is almost at the bottom of this thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Big jade, tiny pot

Lets try again...Sorry
Look towards the bottom

Here is a link that might be useful: pot size, big cactus

Is anyone else having a problem opening the links that Mike provided?(Hi Mike)!

Just curious if its GW or my computer? Thanks!

Looks can be decieving..Look at top growth for the size container..A half whisky barrel!
Half way down this thread..

Here is a link that might be useful: A huge jade!

Hi nancy..It was weird..I did the right thing and yet it didn't happen..I did them over, and now they are working..

You ok Nancy?...Thinking of you and that good ole Florida weather!!!
Hugs

Hey Mike!
It's nice and warm here in Tucson! Been unusually warm in the 90's the past few days! :)

?? Big plant, small pot... Do they get very heavy? Looks like they would fall over easy. Espicially with keeping these plants on the dry side.

We get some good gusty days here so was just wondering.

like to plan ahead for when my babies grow.. Got some beautiful cuttings in the mail today! ;)

You got them:-) :-0)!!You know what to do...Sweet.

If there was wind, I would buy an over sized pot, and just slip the plant pot and all into it..One that has holes on the bottom of course..It always worked for me...It stablizes the plant to stay up in wind or anywhere for that matter.

Sometimes too, I actually surround different plants I keep outdoors with bricks, or if I have a real sunny place, dig a hole a couple inches deep and rest the pot in that too..There is all kinds of ways to stabilize big plants in small pots...I think there was a thread that talked specifically about it.
It is a great question that allows for many ideas for many to share.;-)

I havn't had the issue of mine falling over yet in those little pots..lol
Well, some kind of animal did knock a couple over in the summer, si that is also why I had to find a way to keep them from getting knocked over

Good to see you again.

Mike

Thanks!

I like the idea of Pot inside another. In ground won't do it for me. I really need to plant movable due to rough summer monsoon storms. Bricks sound good too. We have alot of stray cats.

JoJo

Thanks Mike...doing well. Hope you are too!
Its suppose to be fall according to the the calendar, but its still very hot here(mid to upper 80's)...suppose to cool off at nights soon, I hope!

Looks like jojoplants and I are having similar type weather.

Thanks for fixing the link...its working now :o)

HI Puglvr1
I think you and I have the same calender and someone forgot to put fall on it! LOL!

It's after 4 here and 83 right now. Yesterday was 91! We do cool off pretty good in the night, but the days have been about 10 degrees above the norm.

I guess it's a good thing i'm a summer person! HATE the cold! LOL!

All,
One more thing - The nites in GA now are in the 40s - Is that too cold for a jade to leave out overnight? what temp should I bring it in? the day temp is in the 60s
Thanks for all your help,
Karen

Well from what I have been reading, I would say no, especially if you want it to flower..

Just make sure that you are not keeping the soil too wet. I would tend to leave the soil on the almost very dry side at those temps. Wet and cold= rot..

Am I learning something here yet?

I hope so..

I have never put mine outdoors, but if I am getting it right from all these wonderful people here, I am next year for sure, till the frosts start...

Mike

Note: I don't grow these anymore BUT

Have heard that folks should listen for frost warnings & then bring them in BEFORE the frost. That said, if you're in the 40s already at night I would suggest you not water it again AT ALL until you move it indoors. Better safe than sorry!

Hey Mike....I see that you're really getting a hang of the Jade thing!

Karen1....it will be fine in the 40's. You might want to think about giving it a major prune-job if you desire a more robust plant. See the link! Don't let it scare you though. Jades will grow back from a complete stump.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jade plant mutilation

John, Karen, and Mike (and anyone else I missed) are all correct! I'm still leaving
my Jades out, and we're in the 40°F's at night now. A few days ago, I had to water one
of my Jades, so I brought it indoors that night, since the potting mix was fairly moist.
A small precaution, and perhaps unnecessary....but it made me sleep easier. ;)

Josh

Hi all, I hope I am not butting into this conversation. In Calif, dry very little humidity, very little water, it just won't sink into the pots, they are full of roots, no soil,'Jade' plants will take temps. down to 20F I have not lost one yet, the Eastern and So. state have trouble growing 'Jade' this time of year, we are inbetween seasons, spring is also like that. Just leave them alone. When you must transplate them or pot them up be sure to remove all soil, and loosen up those roots. Mine are all packed hard. If you trim off the roots, it will stress the upper leaves. If you cut off the leaves on top, it will allow the roots to grow faster, and the stem to fatten up. Also less chance of the plant tipping over. Did not proof. You guys are getting it right, I am so proud of you all. I don't think I will be needed at all anymore. My Karen from New York is getting better and better all the time, keep up the good work Karen. Norma

Jojoplants, you are so right...fall? We have hurricane
"Ida" just south of us right now and might be heading to FL!
Luckily though, it looks like it will weaken by the time it gets here...I hope?

Our night temps haven't been cooling down as much as I'd hope, we've only been betting down into the mid to upper 60's. Maybe two more weeks? I usually love fall and winter in FL as soon as we actually get it that is. I hate the extreme cold too, I guess that's why we live where we do?

Great info on growing Jades here...thanks everyone!!

Hi Norma...You nor anyone else never buds in..:-). We are gald you do join in the conversations!

I am a bit confused on what you say though...How can you leave a Jade out at 20 degrees and not loose it? Please explain so I can be safe..Thanks..

My local nursery lost their heat one night, just one night, and it went down to 27 degress, and they lost all their jades but one? In pots that is.
The one they didn't loose was in a ten gallon container, a huge one, but it did loose tons of leaves and branches..That one finally did come back..

Hi everyone else. I am soooo sick, and barely enough energy to post, but had to chime in on this one before rest!!

Mike

One more thing doesn't make sense..Soory..Slooow brain today..

If a jade is just about made up of 90% water, except for stems, how can a hard freeze not make them turn to moosh the following warm sunny day, or at any temp that rises above 32. Wouldn't it die either way?

Sorry for the questions and confusion on my part...

Thanks again Norma..;-)

The stems are where the life force exists most strongly - limbs and leaves can fall like rain, but as long as the (main) stem "trunk> is viable no freeze will kill the whole plant. Of course, there are limits to this.

On the odd winter nights in San Diego where it got, ahem, 'cold' (35F/3C) and during rains, I've lost branches/leaves on other Crassulaceae, but as long as the stem remained turgid, all was made right in a few months - new leaves and branches grew.

OTOH, Kalanchoes from Madagascar melted like cats on a hot tin roof.

I agree with Jeff. I occasionally whack my Jades back to nothing but trunk and they come back like gangbusters. What I do up here, where we get harsh winters, is leave them out until they're predicting a hard freeze. All of mine are budding up now, getting ready to bloom.

The key is small pot, full sun (as PG said, gradually if you haven't been growing them outside...), water only when dry, leave out until first freeze. You'll have a happy-happy Jade if you follow these very simple guidelines!

Denise in Omaha

Hey John...

I think am learning so many different angles of growing jades and succulents, thanks to everyone here.. Funny, just when you think you are successful at something, there is so much more to behind it to keep us humbled ha?

Thanks to everyone for helping me understand the freeze thing. I guess if you don't mind loosing everything but the main trunk of a jade, you could leave it out at 20 degrees.

It is also a nice feeling to know that if any of us ever for some reason forget to bring it in from outdoors on a frosty night, it will make it.

Mike..:-)

Karen1 Here - Thanks to all of you for the tips on my jade plant. I've left it outside for a week now and it looks much better. With Hurricane Ida's arrival today, I brought it inside last nite for awhile and plan to bring it out again if it is 40 degrees at night. I won't put it out if there's a freeze warning. I will trim and shape it better and put more jade in the big pot to grow. Thanks to all for your expert assistance!

Can someone tell me whats wrong with my jade plant? Pls see photos... leaves are curled and pointing down. Pls help!!

Your plant needs more light - color is too light; leaves far apart. It shouldn't be overwatered - water only when soil deep down is almost completely dry.

Perfect! That was the plan, to repot. I just wanted to know what the problem with the plants was... I will repot and give them better light.

Pinching the top set of two leaves off the growing point of each plant should make each plant branch out more, hopefully at each node below where you decide to pinch. It will stop the plant growing tall and single stemmed and give a low branched look.

Alternatively, you could let some of them grow as tall as you wish and pinch out later on, but bear in mind they might decide to only branch towards the top. We can try to encourage branches to form and grow where we would like by pruning, tip pinching, rubbing out soft new growths, but nothing is guaranteed!

Gill

Great Gill, will you be kind enough to post a pic showing exactly where i should pinch? I have no idea...

You can pinch between any two sets of leaves. I usually pinch off the top two, unless the stem is already too long, then I pinch at my desired height.

I wanted to say thank you for this thread. I recently received a beautiful and huge but severely overgrown jade plant. Although it was enormous and looked healthy, all its leaves were curled down (in fact even some entire branches were curled). I pruned it aggressively and its new growth looks normal. So I came on here to see if it's a special type of jade or just needs some love. Sounds like the latter!

Lisa Wray

Could you post photo of your plant for us to see pls? Thank you.

This is when I first got it. You can see the curled branches especially have the leaves pointing downward.

Lisa W

Thnx for the photo. Big plant, but it was light deprived. Don't know how long ago you got it - did it 'recover' somehow? Did you do any pruning - pinching?

Rina -- thanks for asking, I only got it a few weeks ago. Yes, I pruned the heck out of it! It's starting to sprout all over now but I don't think the old leaves will ever turn up.

Here's a photo where you can see my aggressive pruning job and some of the new growth. (And some of the old leaves which turn down.) I was worried to cut it so much, but it responded perfectly with new growth. I think it will have a ton of new branching soon.

I have it in an east-facing window, so it gets nice light in the morning. In a few months, when I'm confident it's doing well, I may prune back the last few of the leggy, curved branches over the side of the pot. I feel really lucky to have gotten such a beautiful old plant and hope I'll have it for many years :)

You're doing it a huge favor, that's for sure! Do you have a South or west facing window it could stay in until it warms up and it can go outside? They love sun.

Lisa W

New growth looks good! As much light as possible will help to keep it compact. South sunlight is good, but probably only few hours - if there is any chance of giving it more, it would help greatly.

You could have many new plants from pruned off branches...they root quite easily. That is - if you want more! :)

I have the same issue with the suddenly down-turned leaves. My aunt gave me this jade in April and it didn't get enough light in my old apartment. I moved so now it has all of the sun in the world and re-sprouted and has been thriving in it's new location. But over the Christmas holidays I think it dried up a bit and I noticed two fallen leaves and suddenly some of these stronger leaves are turned down. Any diagnosis? (Here is a before and after of my plant this July when I first moved and today).

This thread has been SO helpful! Thank you to everyone for posting and sharing your photos!