After the severe rains we've had this winter I noticed my Jade plan turning yellow and spotted. While repotting it I found the root ball soaking wet. I repotted it in new, dry, succulent soil about 2 weeks ago. Today I decided to give it a 2nd pruning. Once I did I was able to see all the stems. Each has what looks like a huge chuck eated out of it about 1/2 way up the stem with no sign of rot at the bottom. I've searched and searched for examples of this online... can't find anything!!! What is this? Stem rot or some disease eating through it? What do I do to save the plant? Thanks!!!

Because you mention the rain, I suspect the plant was outdoors for the winter. It looks like it was gnawed on, so the first suspect would suspect a squirrel or other hungry rodent. You would need to give serious consideration to a fungal root infection migrating up the stem. If the tissue between what appears to be wounds is still viable, it's unlikely that particular damage is due to a fungal infection, but that doesn't mean the roots aren't currently in jeopardy.

Here's a tip (2, actually) that can help save succulents and other plants doring prolonged periods of wet weather. 1) When it rains, tip your pots steeply. A 45* angle is best. This chances the location where excess water CAN reside in the pot. Compare B to A below to see a visual - easier than explaini8ng it, but I will if you have interest. 2) Adding a drainage wick increases what is called the gravitational flow potential. See E. Easiest way to explain it isn't very scientific, but the wick "Fools" the water into behaving as though the pot is deeper than it is, which increases gravitational flow potential. the weight of the water moving down the wick pushes water off the end of the wick. This works when you allow 3-4" of the wick to hang below the pot after a thorough watering. It works best when the hole for the wick is through the pot bottom at the sidewall and the hole the wick exits through is the lowest point on/in the pot.












There are other ways of 'tricking' excess water into draining when its natural position is in a water table of saturated medium at the bottom of the pot. The shaded areas in the line drawing above represents excess water (a perched water table).
Al

dbils said: After the severe rains we've had this winter I noticed my Jade plan turning yellow and spotted. While repotting it I found the root ball soaking wet. I repotted it in new, dry, succulent soil about 2 weeks ago. Today I decided to give it a 2nd pruning. Once I did I was able to see all the stems. Each has what looks like a huge chuck eated out of it about 1/2 way up the stem with no sign of rot at the bottom. I've searched and searched for examples of this online... can't find anything!!! What is this? Stem rot or some disease eating through it? What do I do to save the plant? Thanks!!!

It doesn't look good. When you cut the stems, what color were they inside? A healthy jade stem is greenish-whitish with a green ring in the middle. Any brown anywhere in the stem or if the ring is discolored means the rot has moved up the stem.

I've seen some beautiful huge jades in San Francisco but this winter has been especially hard on them. Jades, especially in cold damp weather, just can't handle wet soil. Hopefully you can find some green tips to start again.

Can you post as well entire plant. Offhand, just basing on the stem you have shown, as long as there is no soggy area, and remains firm, I feel it will recover. It does seem something gnawed on it, so as precaution, just dab some light cinnamon, and allow those areas to naturally dry out further and heal.

Your location says east bay, so we may have similar gradual warm up ongoing now. Since you have just pruned and also disturbed the root area, just position for now in a warm, bright area to further assist gradual recovery. Give it time. It may continue to throw off some more older lower leaves, or even some dried out branches, as it adjusts to the changing seasons. I hope you are using containers with drain holes, and add pumice to your media. That really helped my jades endure this past wet winter we had, aside from adding extra side drain hole on one of my containers, when on the inital salvo of rains, container unable to drain fast enough. That sure helped release excess water.

But we are all back to the dry and drier weather, so give your plant some time to recover.