Q.Can You Help With My Jade Plant?
The leaves on my jade plant are turning black, one just fell off and the stems are falling over. Can someone tell me what I may be doing wrong?
Certified GKH Gardening Expert
That is bacterial blotch. Usually, from the roots remaining too wet for too long without a chance to dry out.
Most often, this is due to the nature of a container with no drainage hole. In this style of container, there is no way for extra water to drain out. This leads to pooling in the bottom of the pot. Though the top will dry out thoroughly, the bottom will remain saturated. To deal with this, it will be important to weigh the container when it is dry, and fully watered to know when it is time to water.
From here, it will be a battle to correct this.
There are two ways that I would consider going about this.
One: You can attempt to treat, and leave it in the soil that it is in. This method will be the least stressful, but will be harder to rid of the disease. It will take quite a while, but will not likely kill your plant.
With this method, you will treat with a fungicide, and keep any infected growth trimmed and discarded. Follow all packaging instructions. (Using Stropharia rugosoannulata mushroom spawn dowels in your soil will speed things up DRAMATICALLY)
Two: you can attempt to treat with a fungicide and, repot into fresh soil and into a container with drainage. This method will shock the plant, but has a greater chance of ridding the infection faster.
The second option, along with adding Stropharia spawn dowels to the soil would be my preferred method. This, along with careful watering as to not overwater, will make ridding of the infection much faster. (Bacterial infections are not good in succulents. They store water, thus store bacteria)
This article will help you to care for jade: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/jade-plant/jade-plant-care.htm
This article will help you to grow Stropharia beds, which you can transfer to your plants at any time for a soil boost:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/mushrooms/growing-wine-cap-mushrooms.htm
This article will help you with fungicide use: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/using-fungicides-in-garden.htm
