I have been given a jade tree that is approximately 2ft tall with a 5in pot. The soil is very dry and the tree has fluff white spots around the leaf bases. I’m new to jade and looking for watering and insect care ideas or resources. If known what about cutting off branches, where to cut for a good heal.
Looks like Mealy Bugs to me. I have lots of Jades and they often get attacked by Mealy Bugs, especially indoors in the winter, but also outside in the summer.
If the infestation is in just a few spots, use a QTip dipped in rubbing alcohol, or just a toothpick to pick off the fluff and the insect inside it. Then use a insectide spray like Safer’s End All to soak the plant afterwards.
You will probably have to repeat the treatment after several days, but Mealy Bugs are easy to control if you get after them soon enough.
Thank you. Any watering recommendations or repoting soil types? The soil in this pot is very dry and loose in the pot. The whole root ball and soil can easily wobble around or be pulled out of the pot. I’m sure that’s not good for new root growth.
Depending on your soil composition, and how dry it is, you my have hydrophobic soil. If you are watering, and the water just seems to run over the root ball, it may not be soaking it. If the water penetrates ok, then disregard.
My jades do well in mostly inorganic soil, of mostly lava rock and DE. I put sphagnum moss on top of the soil, because of my dry weather, but jades don’t really need it.
There should be some good Jade links / tips floating around here. I recommend giving those threads a read. Tons of info there that will help.
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Do you know what type of soil they are in now? Cactus soil? Potting soil? Bonsai mix?
I generally use Cactus Soil and add some perlite to loosen it up a bit more for my Jades.
For regular Jades (Crassula Ovata and their mutations like Gollum and Frodo), I water them heavily so they are soaked and then let them dry out. They don’t mind a fair amount of water. Yours look like Crassula.
If you are doing Mini Jades (Portulacaria Afra) they prefer drier conditions in my experience. I water mine well then let them go for a week or two without water until really dry. If the leaves start to look limp or wrinkly then they need water. The variegated version of Afra are extremely sensitive to water… they drop leaves quickly if they have too much or too little water. Plus they love a fair amount of sun, but need some shade so they don’t burn.
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