Hello,
I'm not sure if this is a coincidence, but ever since I started to use fertilizer, the leaves at the bottom of the plant started to wither and fall; the upper part of the plant looks very healthy. Does anything seem off? Thank you.

Stop fertilizing and see if things improve.

What fertilizer product are you using? Be sure to include the NPK %s in your reply, please.

Al

Hi,
I am using the miracle grow liquid fertilizer for succulents; it states 0.5-1-1.

@Ilan1234 The product you're using is 97.5% water, and likely contains nothing other than N, P, and K. At what rate are you diluting it?

I suspect there are severe nutritional deficiencies which forces the plant to rob older leaves of mobile nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium are all mobile in the plant and can be moved from one place to another) to be used as the building blocks for new growth. After nutrients and useful compounds are scavenged from older leaves, the plant sheds them. Let's see what you're doing insofar as the frequency with which you're fertilizing and how you're diluting the product.
Al

Succulents are normally fertilized just once a year in spring. I think you are overdoing the fertilizer. That's why I suggested you stop.

I follow the guidelines indicated on the bottle: 8 pumps per 1 L of water. I usually water no more than 250 ml at a time (one per week), so 2 pumps into 250 ml of water. They say to do it once per week, so I feed it 250 ml of water with two pumps once per week.

I have been doing this for maybe 3 weeks, max 4.

Isn't is a normal process for the lower leaves to fall and a tree-like structure to develop? The leaves on top and plentiful and look to be in very good health.

If your plant was fine before you started fertilizing, stop fertilizing and see if things improve. Succulents don't need that much fertilizer.

There are several potential causes for loss of older foliage on stems and branches. One is natural senescence (aging), others include over/under-watering, low fertility, root congestion, and a significant change in light intensity or duration with diminishing light load being more likely to cause foliage loss than an increase in light load.

Is your light source natural (sun), or is the plant under a grow light. It does look like there new foliage might be shading the older leaves out, which could cause them to be shed. FWIW - I have jades and a number of portulacaria, and I fertilize them at the same rate and frequency as my trees, which is once weekly at production level dose of Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 during the summer months. They get fertilized every time I water in winter at a low dose (1/4 tsp/gal water) all winter long (under lights) and they do exceptionally well. Foliage-Pro is an excellent product. It has ALL nutrients essential to normal growth, in a ratio at which the average plant actually uses the nutrients, and it derives more than 2/3 of its nitrogen from nitrate sources, which does a much better job than fertilizers that derive their nitrogen from urea, at keeping plants compact and full. It would serve you well as your 'go to' product for anything you might grow in containers, for the reasons mentioned and it's a complete nutritional supplementation program from a single source.

BTW - if you want a tree-like structure for your jade, you'll need to work at it with a set of pruners or scissors. That can usually be done with directional pruning, aka clip and grow, but there are some things that will help you attain a tree-like appearance. One of the tricks is to eliminate trifurcations (think of a trident or 3-prong pitchfork) and turn them into bifurcations (think of the 'Y' formed by a slingshot). This topic comes up a lot so I put together a little line drawing that should help you with the pruning. If you decide not to prune, you'll end up with a lot of unnaturally heavy looking branches near the top of the tree, which will detract from the tree-look you're asking about.


Keep in mind the fertilizer you're using only provides NPK, which means it lacks calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, boron, & manganese. At some point, that fact will be made manifest in symptoms if it isn't already.


Al

Thank you!

My pleasure.

Al

I have the same suggestion..stop the fertilizer for now.

Since you have already applied fertilizers, I would also suggest, if your weather outdoors is already stable where overnight temps at 50F(10C) and higher, your jade would immensely grow much better outdoors, slowly positioned to bright light then to full sun. That way all those fertilizers you gave it can be properly utilized too.
Personally, I never give fertilizers to my jades and they still grow well, as long as they get good light to full sun, proper drainage, and airflow, and watered only as needed.

Also, jades react to seasonal changes, like changing light levels and temperature. Older lower leaves also naturally die out. So do not be confused with that stage of leaf growth cycle. As long as your plant maintains a firm stem/trunk and shows new growth at the tips or anywhere up and down the stem/branches, it should be okay. Sometimes, I find fertilizers can easily burn the roots/leaves, so for the most part I hardly give that to most of my succulents.