Jade Plant Leaves Turning Yellow or Dropping? Here’s Why

 The jade plant succulent does get a lot of common growing issues. One common issue is your jade plant leaves might be turning yellow or even falling off. This is a semi big issue and must be dealt with immediately or your jade plant could easily die.

A lot of beginner succulent growers deal with leaves falling off or yellow jade plant leaves. It’s actually not just the jade plant succulent, it’s a lot of succulents that also turn yellow and fall off on beginners. Yellow and falling off leaves on a jade plant or any succulents usually mean the jade plant succulent is rotting/dying.

Now why is your jade plant leaves turning yellow or falling off? There are many reasons why your jade plant leaves are turning yellow or falling off. A few common reasons would be overwatering, bad temperature, bugs/pests, and lack of sunlight/light or even too much sunlight/light.

Now how do we fix your jade plant that has turned yellow or its leaves are falling off? Well it’s very easy to fix and make sure this will never happen again. By the end of this article you will know exactly why your jade plant leaves are turning yellow and falling off. You will also learn how to make sure that these problems will never happen again! 

 

Before we Begin...

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Let’s begin!

Overwatering 

Probably the most common reason why your jade plant succulent has yellow leaves or the leaves are falling off is because of overwatering. Like most succulents, the jade plant does not need a lot of water. If you overwater this succulent then it will start to show symptoms of root rot. 

Root rot occurs when a succulent has been overwatered. The soil stays wet with water for several days, this allows mold and bacteria to grow and appear. That mold and bacteria will then begin to attack your jade plant giving your jade plant signs/symptoms of root rot.

That’s why the yellow leaves occur and the leaves will also fall off. All because the jade plant has root rot from overwatering. The leaves will start to turn yellow and they’ll fall off because the roots have been attacked by mold and bacteria, slowly killing the jade plant. The jade plant is slowly dying, and it’s letting you know it is by the leaves turning yellow or falling off.

To stop root rot, simply unpot the jade plant. Let the roots sit out with no water for about 2-4 days, until the roots are completely dry. This will kill the root rot which is the mold and bacteria. After the roots become dry then repot the jade plant in new fast/well draining succulent soil, and also in a new pot. If you don’t want to buy a new pot then just take out the old soil and wash it out of the pot. 

After repotting water the jade plant and don’t water it for about a week or until the soil looks or feels really dry. Make sure to give the jade plant enough sunlight.

Follow these little quick steps and you will get rid of root rot, the yellow leaves, and the leaves falling off.

Underwatering:

Another common reason why your jade plant has yellow leaves or leaves falling off could be due to underwatering. Underwatering happens when you haven’t watered your jade plant for a couple of weeks, maybe even a month.

Underwatering causes yellow leaves all because the jade plant is dehydrated and needs water immediately. Underwatering symptoms would be dry/wrinkled leaves and then the jade plant will slowly turn yellow and lose its color simply because it's dehydrated.  A lot of plants lose their colors and turn to other colors when underwatered, the jade plant turns yellow.

Underwatering also allows the leaves to fall off. This happens again because the jade plant is dehydrated and the leaves can no longer hang in there because it has no water.

This is why it’s very important to water your jade plant succulent 1-2 days a week or when the soil looks or feels very dry.

Lack Of Nutrients 

If your jade plant is lacking nutrients then this could be why its leaves are turning yellow or falling off. Of course lack of nutrients will only be an issue if your jade plant has been in the same pot and soil for several years. This happens when you haven’t repotted your jade plant into new soil that’s fresh and loaded with nutrients.

This will cause yellow or falling leaves all because your jade plant isn’t getting the nutrients it’s supposed to be getting. If you haven’t repotted your jade plant into new soil with nutrients and it has yellow or its leaves are dropping, then it might be time to repot it in new soil.

Use Well-Draining Succulent Soil

This succulent grows best in well-drained succulent soil. It's very important that you use well-drained succulent soil so the soil doesn't stay soaked with water for several days. If you overwater the succulent and the soil stays wet and not dry for several days, then mold and bacteria will grow and appear. The mold and bacteria will then attack the roots of the succulent giving it root rot. Root rot is known as the #1 most common reason why a succulent will die.

To avoid mold/bacteria and root rot, you must use well-drained succulent soil. Well-drained succulent soil will keep the soil dry at a very fast rate preventing mold/bacteria and root rot from appearing. Any succulent grower expert will tell you that you need well-drained succulent soil, it's definitely a requirement for growing this succulent and every single other succulent out there.

We recommend using arguably the best succulent soil out there "Ramsey Succulent Soil"

Ramsey Succulent soil is arguably the best succulent soil on the market simply because it gets the job done and is loaded with nutrients.

Ramsey Succulent Soil has ingredients such as perlite, sand, and seaweed. Perlite and sand are known as the best ingredients out there if you want your soil well-drained. The perlite and sand will soak up all the excess water that your succulent does not need, preventing the soil from staying soaking wet for several days. So yes, Ramsey Succulent Soil will prevent mold/bacteria and root rot (the #1 most common reason why a succulent will die) simply because there will be no excess water.

That's not all tho.

What makes Ramsey Succulent Soil arguably the best are the nutrients that's in the soil. These nutrients will help your succulents grow bigger, faster, and healthier.

Ramsey Succulent Soil has seaweed fertilizer, which has 60 trace minerals and nutrients. Yes, your succulents will be absorbing 60 trace minerals and nutrients. This will make your succulents grow bigger, faster, and healthier without a doubt. Compared to other succulent soil, this succulent soil will make a huge huge difference for your plants. Don't believe us? Check out this picture below. You can definitely tell which succulent soil is better for your succulents.

Ramsey Succulent Soil: Click here to Purchase

 

Lack Of Sunlight/Light

Another reason why your jade plant leaves are turning yellow and dropping could be because of the lack of sunlight/light it's getting. This issue mainly happens when growing indoors, all because there’s not enough sunlight indoors.

Sunlight will turn the leaves to their beautiful colors that they are supposed to be getting, while lack of sunlight won’t. When a jade plant gets enough sunlight, it will look very bright with green and red leaves. When it doesn’t get enough sunlight it will look yellow/pale, and the leaves will start dropping.

Make sure you are giving it enough sunlight/light to avoid yellow and dropping leaves. The jade plant should be getting at least 6 hours of sunlight/light per day. Of course it can still grow indoors, but if your jade plant has yellow or dropping leaves it might be a good idea to try giving it some more sunlight.

Pests 

Jade plants and other succulents can get pests. These pests will make your jade plant yellow and make your leaves drop. This happens because pests will eat at the roots of your jade plant, basically trying to kill it. This will allow yellow and dropping and pests must be taken care of immediately.

There are many pests out there that can damage your jade plant, but the most common pests are mealybugs. Mealybugs look like white powder and cotton, but they aren’t. Mealybugs will eat at the leaves of your jade plant, basically sucking the life out of the leaves. This will cause the leaves to turn yellow and to drop, all because of the mealybugs eating away at the leaves.

To learn more about mealybugs, check out our article on them. This article will also teach you how to get rid of mealybugs on succulents.

Aging

The last common thing that will make your jade plant leaves turn yellow or drop would simply be aging. Yes, jade plants are known to live for years! However, as they get older and older their leaves will slowly lose their bright colors and look pale. 

Just like humans when we get old, we get pale and wrinkled. Jade plants do the same, but this will only happen if they are very old, we are talking like 10-15 years old! If you have an old jade plant and its leaves are turning yellow and dropping it wouldn’t be bad to get yourself a new one! Of course keep the old one potted, just maybe get it another little jade plant friend.  

That’s it!

Yellow leaves or leaves dropping on a jade plant is very common, it happens a lot. A lot of jade plant growing does go through this but it can definitely be solved. 

We hope we could help you out today, and we do hope your jade plant leaves turn back to normal and stop dropping. I know it gets very discouraging, but if you follow the steps then you can definitely help your jade plant recover. You can do it, you just will need to keep trying new things and experimenting things to solve this issue. Best of luck.

Thank You!

Thank you for visiting our website and reading our article. We hope we brought value, and great information to you today. Our goal is to help fellow succulent lovers like you! Any questions or if you’d like more tips email us or comment below! 

If you are interested in buying live succulents, soil, cuttings, etc. We have them available here on our website. Go to our homepage, or click the links in our articles for more information.

We thank you so much for your time.

Thank You!

Ramsey Succulents

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