Hey, Paul, I'm almost afraid to say anything. That doesn't mean I won't!!!! LOL Sorry you lost a large portion of the plant. I would not do anything at this time of year living in Michigan... but you knew that. In the spring, I would cut the longer branch on the left with the nubbin about half way down and the one on the right just below the current leaves. I promise, if this doesn't work to your satisfaction, I will give you a new plant from what I have and I know you know what's in the greenhouse. The only thing I don't know is what specific jade you have...

FYI: I will be whacking this plant in early spring. That is a 6' door wall behind the plant.

Including any one of these....

Paul:

Personally, these plants are so common, i would not worry too much if I lost a branch, or the entire plant. (Not that this has ever happened to me since I learned the keys to growing them well.) They are easily and inexpensively replaced.

Christopher

From personal observation, there's a flipside to that coin. I've noted that a significant fraction of growers have that nurturing gene, which obligates them to do what they can to rescue plants seen to be circling the drain instead of looking at them as disposable. There is also that feeling of accomplishment that comes to play, something we don't get from adding a plant to the compost pile, but is inherent in any successful rescue. Rising to the challenge of rescuing a barely viable plant is also a step toward becoming more complete as a grower. Finally, some growers are just reluctant to admit failure, even if only to themselves. There is something admirable in the character of someone unwilling to just give up on something.

Al

I have to say that for the most part I agree with you. A good portion of my collection is composed of plants rescued from the clearance rack. And it does give great satisfaction to bring a sick plant back to health, as I have remarked in a recent post, Snowflake Sprouting.

But having limited growing space, and being able to fit only so many plants into that space, sometimes I have to make choices. And for me, those not as aesthetically pleasing, the most common plants or those I have the most of would be the ones to go. That being said, i do not throw away plants very often. More often than not, I am compacting the pots together, to fit just one more in.

Christopher

Bummer, Paul...I know the feeling.
I've pruned some Jades before and had them shed a longer section of branch than I'd hoped....had it happen on 'Hobbit' and 'Crosby's Compact' Jades specifically - and they were both in pots about the size of the one shown.

Josh

â¢Posted by bikerdoc5968
Sorry you lost a large portion of the plant.

Thanks. Not crushed by this incident or anything like that. But having such a large section just abort was quite an unpleasant shock though -- particularly as its prior form seemed to have such potential. This one always colors up nicely for me even in the summer.

I believe it is a Crassula ovata v compacta.

â¢Posted by kaktuskris 6
Personally, these plants are so common, i would not worry too much if I lost a branch, or the entire plant. They are easily and inexpensively replaced.

Oh I know that, Christopher. Just have gotten rather attached to the little thing. And being such a small plant, the loss of a large branch is impossible not to notice.

â¢Posted by tapla
Finally, some growers are just reluctant to admit failure, even if only to themselves.

Yes, I've oft been "guilty" of that.

So o'mighty bonsai guru ... any suggestions as to a course of action? (The pot, btw, should such info be of value, is roughly a 5"Lx3"Wx2"H just to give a better sense of scale.)

I'm seeing what looks like a girdling wire just above the soil line (someone thinking about layering the top off the plant?). If it IS a wire, it's not yet tight enough to restrict xylem flow of water and nutrients to the top of the plant, but it would be tight enough to be shutting off some of the flow of photosynthate and other bio-compounds in the phloem stream to the root system. Still, I don't think it's tight enough yet to be blamed for the poor health and shedding of branches.

When plants are struggling and there is no evidence of insects or obvious cultural limitations like too cold, too hot, too much or too little of something the plant absorbs, root health becomes a prime suspect. I notice you're growing in a bonsai (training?) pot, and it's not very full. If your soil supports perched water, the shallower the pot, the higher the % of saturated soil after a good watering.

{{gwi:2125810}}

I don't know anything about your plant's history, except that you pruned it a while back. If the plant's vitality level was low at the time you pruned it, it may have simply run out of the energy it needs to push a new flush of growth. A plant's energy reserves are finite, so if the plant is out of gas, and since plants are organisms that shed parts to keep a balance between the top of the plant and the bottom (especially in the case of extreme disparity), you might be seeing the plant discarding what it can't support.

Also, many fungal infections that start with the roots become systemic and incrementally destroy the plants plumbing (vasculature), also a possibility.

I'd lift the plant and check the roots - see what's going on there, and if there's a remnant of a tourniquet or former anchor wire girdling the stem, I'd be sure to get that off. After you find out about the roots and report - maybe something will come to light that indicates a plan worth following. I'd also think about using a fungicide on the roots if they are in bad shape, and think seriously about repotting into a very airy and fast-draining soil that allows plenty of air exchange in the root zone.

A good share of the time, isolating a cause involves eliminating everything on the list of possibilities until you come down to the factor you can't eliminate.

Al

LOL Until you said something, Al, I never noticed that it DOES look like there is a copper wire ring there near the base. (And I've had this plant for years! Shows how observant I am. heh) Nope that is not a wire ring. It is just a particularly prominent/obvious band like those which occur at the "joints" where the leaves and leaf nodes are. Some of the other such bands can be seen somewhat along the branches in the other photos. Not sure why that particular band is so "in one's face" -- whether just a genetic quirk, age, or perhaps indicative of some oddity in growing conditions at that time? Would be kind of neat if all the joint areas displayed a prominent band like that.

As far as a perched water table .... were you referring to one occurring due to differences in the soil makeup throughout the pot or one simply because of being in said pot? If the soil ... then doubtful. Its make-up is quite uniform throughout.

The soil is not as free draining as your gritty mix would be but nor do I want to use such in this case. Summertime, especially, the pot dries outs very rapidly as it is. (I keep it outside on my completely exposed SE balcony during that time.) Watering daily or more is simply not going to happen. That said the soil is roughly equal parts perlite:charcoal:bark:peat:sand.

The roots looked pretty good though I can see where it will be desirable for me to remove/prune back the lower 1/4-1/3 come spring.

This post was edited by paul_ on Sat, Dec 13, 14 at 12:20