Hello,
Our jade plant was left outside on our balcony after we moved to Greenwood Village about two weeks ago, before the last snowstorm. With the...
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Frost-bitten Jade #862872
Asked March 30, 2024, 2:49 PM EDT
Hello,
Our jade plant was left outside on our balcony after we moved to Greenwood Village about two weeks ago, before the last snowstorm. With the moving madness, we forgot it was out there until after last weekend’s snowstorm :(
We left it alone for the past week and started making cuts this morning to remove the clearly dead branches. I’m wondering if we should cut further back to the main stalks until I’m no longer seeing hollow center rings (which you can tell were damaged because of the frost due to the brown coloration in the center as you can see in the photos attached) OR if you think we can leave some branches with that slightly brown center ring like we currently have pruned down to? From some of the cuttings we can clearly see the non-repairable parts of the plant where the center ring blew out, browned out, and then was starting to dry/hollow out. The vast majority of that kind of intense damage has now been pruned off… only a couple of pieces that look like that remain slightly above two Y’s because we were hoping to guide the plant to regrown in that shape. Some small new growth at the bottom surprisingly seems to have survived the situation with little to no damage.
Any/all advice you have on next steps to take to try and nurse it back to health will be MUCH appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your help
Arapahoe CountyColorado
Expert Response
Hello Ashley,
We are sorry to see the freeze damage which occurred to your Jade Plant. However, we are happy to see the new growth near the base!
Our recommendation is to continue pruning it back until you see uniform coloration of the interior tissue and no spaces, i.e., a solid stem. Additionally, prune the stem right before a ring. New growth will come from that ring on the stem provided that stem is healthy.
Keep in mind that severe pruning may cause additional stress to the plant. Continue to address the plants needs with regard to lighting and watering.
Time will tell if your Jade will be able to entirely recover. If the main portion fails to thrive Jade plants can be easily propagated through leaf propagation.