The fungus can cause problems for your Jade plant, and some are causal agents of fatal diseases. For example, gery mold, powdery mildew, stem or crown wilt, and root rot are severe diseases that affect leaves, stems, and roots. Various fungi are responsible for the above diseases with different treatments to control them. So, to get rid of every fungus on your Jade plant, you must detect them correctly.
Hi, I’m a horticultural consultant with a PhD in plant protection science. People often send me pics of sick plants and ask me about their problems. The Jade plant is a popular houseplant that can thrive outdoors in places without hard winters. Its parents often complain about white or black fungus on its leaves, wilting its stems, root rot and growing mold on its soil.
Here, I provided a gallery of fungal diseases that affect the Jade plant. It will help you detect your Jade problems correctly. However, I discussed all these diseases in my other posts in detail and you can find their treatments there.
Fungus on Jade Plant Leaves
In my experience, powdery mildew and grey mold are the most common fungal diseases of Jade plants, especially in humid environments. Let’s detect them by their symptoms.
White Fungus on Jade Plant Leaves
Downy mildew is a fatal disease that causes white fluffy spots on the leaves of your Jade plant. The infected leaves will turn yellow and fall.
If you don’t control this fungus quickly, it will spread throughout your Jade plant and other houseplants belonging to the Crassulaceae family.
I always recommend removing the infected parts after spotting the above symptoms as you can see in the picture. You must isolate your plant in a bright place with proper air circulation and avoid water spraying on leaves.
In severe diseases, you have to use fungicides (I mentioned them in my other post about Powdery mildew on Jade plants). Sometimes, the only way is to eradicate the infected plant to prevent spreading disease to others.
Some people sent me pic of their Jade plant infested by Mealybugs but they confused it with Powdery mildew. Mealybugs are fluffy white pests and are completely different from white fungus on the Jade plant. I discussed them in my other post “Mealybugs on Jade Plants”, recommend reading it.
Black Fungus on Jade Plant Leaves
Botrytis is a common fungal agent on various plants such as the Jade plant. It causes a black-to-grey mold on foliage. You must remove the infected parts immediately because Botrytis produces thousands of spores and can quickly infect other plants in your indoor collection.
Botrytis infection is common in humid environments and proper air circulation can help you to prevent this disease. I recommend reading my other post “Botrytis on Jade Plant” to find more ways to prevent or get rid of it.
Sometimes sucking pests such as aphids produce honeydew on leaves that provides a suit condition for growing black sooty mold on foliage. In this situation, I look for the main culprits like aphids behind the leaves and focus on controlling them and then, get rid of black mold by washing the foliage. I recommend reading my other post “Mold on Jade Plants” to deal with this problem.
Fungus inside Jade Plant Stem and Crown
The above picture is one of the catastrophic things which may happen to your Jade plant. Wilting plant because of the infection of its crown or stem by the Fusarium fungus. If you cut the stem, you will see its inside (actually its xylems) that is turned brown as you see in the picture.
I read two articles that said Fusarium oxysporum (f. sp. crassulae or f. sp. nov.) and Fusarium libertatis are the causal agents of this problem. Anyway, the only solution is to propagate your Jade plant with healthy stems. I always tell gardeners to cut the stem till see the clean part, then cut and remove 10 Cm up from this point and choose the above parts for propagating.
Don’t forget Fusarium is a soilborne fungus that lives in soil and plant debris. Hence the soil of your plant is infected and you must avoid using it again unless you have sterilized it.
Fungus on Jade Plant Roots: Root Rot
Root rot is the most common complaint of Jade plant parents. The Jade plant is a succulent and as you know it hates moist soil. Soil-borne fungi like Pythium, Phytophthora, Fusarium solani and Rhizoctonia solani are the causal agents of root rot.
The above fungi prefer soggy soils and get more aggressive. In addition, in waterlogged soil, the roots cannot breathe easily, get stressed, become weaker and weaker, and finally die. This situation provides a more suitable condition for Fungi to attack the roots.
Hence overwatering is a bad caring manner that will lead to root rot. I always recommend watering Jade plants only when several inches of topsoil dry out. Furthermore, planting in a pot with enough drainage holes and filling it with soil with good drainage is critical to prevent root rot.
I discussed how to treat a root rot Jade in my other post “Root Rot in Jade Plants”, you can read it.
Fungus on Jade Plant Soil
If you spot a white or grey mold on the top soil of your Jade plant soil, they are saprophytic fungi and cannot damage your plant. In humid and low-light conditions where the soil stays wet for a long time, these fungi appear on the soil surface.
Although these fungi are not dangerous for your plant, they are a sign of trouble for roots due to the high soil humidity. If you ignore this sign and don’t improve the humidity, your plant will be involved with root rot.
In conclusion,
Fungus on the Jade plant can be on its leaves like powdery mildew and gery mold, its stems such as fusarium wilt, or its roots like root rot. I told you how to detect these diseases correctly and what you must do to control or prevent them.
If you think your Jade plant is suffering from a problem that you cannot detect, please let me know in the comments. I will help you as soon as possible.
Elahe Rabiei
Hi, I’m Elaheh. My Academic major is plant protection, and houseplants are my expertise. As a houseplant lover, my house is full of indoor plants and it is my passion to take care of them. Hence, I’m here to share my knowledge and experience about growing healthy houseplants. I am also a plant protection advisor, so feel free to ask me any questions you may have.