Can you post a picture of them?

Mold on top of it? Do you have photo pls?

Bugs in the soil - it could be that soil is very organic, and there are many bugs feeding on it. There are so many different bugs, hard to ID without photo.

Jade should be in well draining mix, potted in a container with drainage hole and receiving very good light. Pls. post photos if possible for better advice.

@greenman28 no, it was just on the top layer of soil! thanks for the helpful tip in the future though! i appreciate it.

You bet :-)

A simple treatment for soil mold is to spray the soil surface with various preparations, such as: water and alcohol, water and lemon juice, water and vinegar, water and hydrogen peroxide.

Josh

While I have no objection to the spraying of various things to discourage mold, you should be aware that mold growing on the soil is a good indication that the soil is too wet. Especially for a jade plant, wet soil = dead plant!. Succulents, of which jade plant is one, need for their potting soil to get dry, all the way to the bottom of the pot, between waterings. This will also discourage thingies that are living on the soil. If you can learn to test the soil moisture before you water, you'll have gone a long way toward being a successful plant person. You can test the soil with an electronic moisture meter (be aware that they can easily stop working) or a bamboo skewer, even a pencil. You push these last two into the soil, then pull up the tester, and run it between your fingers - it should feel dry. Don't water until the tester is dry (or reads dry if its electronic.) When you do water, water plenty, allowing it to run freely out the drainage holes.

As far as "mold" on the leaves or stems of the plants, if you see it, it's not mold, it's mealy bug. You can wipe them away with a Q-tip dipped in alcohol, as many people recommend. Be aware that if you are seeing them, there are probably dozens that are too tiny to see, hidden in the crevices of the plant. You'll need to spray the plant with a mixture of soap and water - best to use a pure soap, such as castile, or insecticidal soap. Mix 1 teaspoon into 2 cups of water. You can add a little vegetable oil (1/2 teaspoon) and/or alcohol (1/2 teaspoon). Actually, people use these ingredients in many different ratios and formulations.

The important thing is to spray the plant once a week for 4 weeks - this makes sure you kill all the crawlers as they hatch, but before they can lay more eggs.

Indeed, that's the route I was heading down, regarding mealy bug cotton....but she clarified that it wasn't on the leaves, so I didn't bother.

Josh

From the pic I can't tell if that's a mold or hard water deposits.

The soil does not look like something Jade would do well in. It looks very dense/heavy/like it would take a long time to dry out.

I would guess the critters in the soil were fungus gnat larvae. Very common in dense soil like that, especially if it has peat in it.

Between the 2 factors, I would repot.

If you decide it is fungus gnat larvae and they persist after a repot, 2 things. Please stop watering Jade plant so often, let it get much more dry before adding water. And you can put any products made to control mosquito larvae in bird baths in the water you give plants when they are thirsty. Anything with BTi in it, such as Mosquito bits or dunks. The fungus gnat larvae are sensitive to it just like the mosquito larvae. Adults may still find their way to plants, but won't be able to create any babies by laying eggs in the soil of your plants. When they hatch, they will be killed by ingesting the BTi.

Could the insects perhaps be springtails? I've had a recent bout with them, this photo is zoomed in substantially. They can be white or gray and love hanging out on the soil surface or on the terracotta itself (as pictured below). No remedy for then that I've found yet...

The bugs are likely there because they like wet and organic soil, that's what they feed on. For the long term, anything that they 'like' should be eliminated.

Succulents need good drainage and also air exchange - that will not happen in the dense soil.

I can't tell if it is actually mold that you scraped off the leaves - it sounds unusual, I would also think as others pointed out, that maybe there are mealy bugs there that will make cottony, fluffy webs where the eggs are. But this fluff doesn't really get scraped off, it is soft and would get kind of squished. So I believe that it was something else on the leaves. If it was mold, the reason for it should be identified and perhaps, plant sprayed with fungicide. But please don't start using all kind of sprays unless you know for sure what the problems are. Do you know where the plant was kept before you received it? Could it have been just very, very dirty - dust build up, or soil splashed and dried on the leaves...(my plants lived thru some major reno very recently, and got very dusty...)

Best thing you can do for your plant is to repot it into better mix that contains lots of inorganic particulates (grit, perlite, pumice...) and smaller amount of soil. Water 'when needed' - as the Ficus Wrangler suggested, test the soil with a bamboo skewer or chopstick trying not to poke the roots (do not waste $ on moisture meter...the cheep ones are not worth few dollars they charge for them - I would rather spend it on a new plant or better mix - and the expensive one is likely not needed for few plants).

Many ppl grow succulents successfully in a mix of cacti&succulent soil with perlite in 50/50 ratio (I don't, so can't say how good it is).

Could you post a photo of the whole plant?