Yes, pictures will help!
Take some pics of the soil mix, too.

If Jades are kept dry, they can tolerate fairly cold temps.

How cold is the coldest your greenhouse might experience?


Josh

Hi Josh! Thanks for responding!

I'll post the pictures tonight. I don't have my camera with me. The Jade is in whatever soild I bought it in. It looked like it had just been re-potted when I bought it and it came from a very good garden shop, so I trust them. The Aloe is from the same place, but I may have re-potted that one. Can't remember. If I did, I probably used a standard potting soil. This was before I started really researching what each plant needs.

It's tough to say how cold it will get. I live in RI, so we get temps below zero. As I said, the window is very old and poorly insulated. I just bought a small thermometer to monitor just how cold it gets. I'm hoping that if I leave the blind over the window open on cold nights, it won't drop below 50, but I can't be sure.

I do let both dry out completely between waterings (not until the leaves shrivel, just until the soil is dry on top).

Kim,

To add to what Josh said, you might want to cut back on watering the Aloe until it gets warmer, or when you water it and your Crassula ovata, do so on a warmish day, in the morning, so that the plant will have a chance to dry out during the day. The most sun you can give it would be beneficial. I think that they don't like being moved from warm to cold to back to warm, or vice-versa, so if you think they'll get cold, limit their water intake. Both of these plants generally will handle cold (above freezing) temps much better if they're dry, and can handle short periods of freezing, too, with little to no damage, but they cannot deal with the cold and wet roots happily.

My pleasure!
My Jades experience temps in the 40F's pretty regularly without incident.
Last December, however, I nearly lost two of my prize Jades. Wet soil,
at 28F, for several hours. The Jades rebounded, but I wouldn't dare subject them
to any treatment worse than that!

The soil on top of the container will dry much sooner than the soil in the root-zone.
A chop-stick, placed in the container, will help determine when the soil is actually dry.

I think it's safer to water by the "plumpness" of the leaves. When the leaves begin
to slightly soften - not necessarily wrinkle - it is safe to water. I also prefer to water
in the morning, and especially on a sunny day. This gives the plant all day to make use of
the moisture.

I am suspicious of any bagged potting soil or nursery blends. Even the best nurseries seem
to use Peat Moss as their primary soil ingredient, and that can spell death for many houseplants.

Josh

Okay, here is the Jade. You can see it lost some leaves on the bottom, but it looks pretty healthy on top to me!

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Here's a top view:

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And a close up of the new growth. Yes, I see the green in the soil. I was watering too much for a while. I'm better now. Promise!

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Like I said, it has been doing really well. I'm not sure if it's in it's perfect conditions, but it's making progress. Does it need a trim down on top, maybe? My primary concern is not freezing it this winter.

Here is the Aloe plant:

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I'm wondering if I need to re-pot this one and bury that stem. Also, what the heck is up with that leaf being brown on the side? Do you even call those thing leafs? Haha.

And here is the baby I started from a leaf of the Jade plant that I lost to cat attack. I know the soil is garbage, so I plan on re-potting with a better mix. There are actually two babies in there. Should I separate them? I just pinched them both back a bit. I was trying everything to stimulate growth. I gave two cuttings of the same plant away and they're going nuts! One of the women I gave them too said she used Orchid food on it (it was all she had), so I gave it a try and it actually greened up!

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This one I usually keep at work, but I brought it home to re-pot. Not sure what the white spots are. Any insight on that would be great.

Thanks for having a look!

One more thing:

I found this little dude at Home Depot today and didn't want it to suffer any longer. Any idea what it is? It's in a 2" pot right now. I have a spare 3" terracotta if that would be better. I'm going to re-pot it in a cactus mix anyway, just wondering if it can go up a size. I've heard a clay pot that breathes is better for cacti. All it was labeled as was: "Home Cactus".

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Oh yeah....and that's the VERY bad cat. He snuck in there for a sniff as I was taking the picture.

Kim,

If anything, the plants are doing all right, particularly your Crassula, but the Aloe (and the Crassula, too, for that matter) would do better in a soil that has less peat/organic material in it. The Aloe in particular needs to have more porous soil (and as much sun as you can give it inside, where I'm presuming you're growing it in the winter), but it's just a minor condition - the plants look pretty healthy. I thought the white dots were a trick of the light angle, but I don't know what they are if they're actually there, along with the pink elephants.

Yes, increased porosity - you can get it from adding more pumice/perlite/gravel/decomposed granite/Turface...well, just read the 'Rooting in Turface' thread and you'll get lots of ideas from those smart people about how to improve the soil's draining quality.

Was there supposed to be a picture with your last post?

That last plant is a variegated Aloe, I forget its name, common name Partridge Breast Aloe (someone pls. help me out here). (Not a cactus, but a succulent.) I have one of these too, just forgot its name.

I would not pot it up larger, it doesn't need it yet; maybe just give it a faster draining mix (no peat & much more perlite or pumice).

I'd get it out of that outer pot so the drainge holes can get air.

I'd let others speak about the Jades, except to say those tiny white dots are normal for Jades sometimes, not bugs, nothing to be done, they are not a problem or abnormal.

Pls. do not bury that other Aloe deeper (as you asked), it may risk rotting the stem. Aloes lose their lower leaves over time, that's normal for them. I'd remove that brown leaf or at least cut off the brown tips, as they will not get better (sorry). Yes, Aloe leaves are called leaves.

Karen,

It's not variegated, but its name is Aloe variegata....

Kim,

I see the picture now. Be careful with watering this one - I've always found it troublesome (I've grown lots of Aloes) in particular, but I just never learned how to water it.

And yes, as Karen said, the depth at which the Aloe is currently at is fine.

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Wow! You guys are great, thank you!

Okay, I potted the two small plants in a cactus mix. May not be the best, but it's all I have an I know it's better than what they were in. I got as much of the old soil off as possible without losing too much of the roots. They both had really good root systems, so I must be doing something right! The two Jades didn't come apart easily, so I left them. The little one lost a few leaves, so we'll see what happens.

I'm going to wait on the bigger Aloe until I get a more porous soil. I trimmed back the brown tips, but when I cut into the leaves with brown on the sides they were leaking brown fluid, so I started cutting them off (but my Mom who stopped by at just the right time) stopped me and said I should probably ask someone who knows what they're talking about. So I'm asking. :) I cut off two and there is one more that is brown inside. Do I go for it? As soon as I figure out a better mix, it is getting re-potted.

I'm excited to learn about the Aloe Variegata!

Cactusmcharris, what an adorable plant muncher! Is she a long-haired calico? That's what my female is. Same colors, different mix. SHE knows how to leave the plants alone....or at least knows how to be sneaky about messing with them. :)

I can't figure out why you are cutting leaves off in the first place. Scars from sunburn are not life threatening. Cutting off the leaves just might be.

The brown fluid is called Aloe juice, and is a powerful laxative. It is made just under the skin. Aloe gel is the translucent middle part of the leaf. It is this portion that is soothing to burned skin,

Those disfigured leaves would have been replace eventually, and were providing energy in the mean while. Don't 'go for it', instead try to figure out what practice Benign Neglect means. Your plant needs it.

Brad

Kim,

We are, and humble, too.

For those two plants you needn't go into the specialist's realm WRT soil, because they're not that choosy, but if you're going to branch out and start growing more C&S, you'll want to make your own potting mix with (usually) fairly readily-available ingredients.

Aloes shed their leaves as they grow, so generally the lower leaves are in a process of dying most of the time Unless it's spread to the trunk/upper leaves, I think your plant is fine. You can trim them off, but it's a bit unsightly, IMO.

Zoe's semi-long-haired. We have another one who's primarily orange and is much fluffier - Caramela is the most sociable of the pack and mother to all new pack members (2).

Well, I was cutting off leaves because I didn't know if it was something that was spreading. I've never seen an Aloe do that. Obviously, I don't know what I'm doing. That's why I'm here. I know I fuss over my plants too much. I'm working on it. I just started learning about what each one needs and how much I've done wrong.

I'll leave it alone for now and see what happens.

I'll have to look into making my own mix. My Mom just ratted my Dad out for not trimming back the cutting I gave him, so I'm going to give it a trim and try to save some babies for myself.