Can I save my jade plant? (suspected root rot?)

Hi everyone,

I rescued this plant today from outside a relative's house who recently passed away. It was always kept in a conservatory but had been moved outside as there was no one at the house for the past few months. The pot had no drainage holes so it was completely waterlogged.

I tried to free the roots and planned to re-pot in some new dry soil. The root was covered in a solid block of soil which took a while to gently loosen. I didn't know if to carry on removing it as I was worried about damaging the roots so I stopped (see picture). Most of the roots were weak and just fell straight off, and some of the bigger ones were a bit squishy inside when I looked. I am worried that it might be root rot and want to stop it before it infects further up the plant.

I am a beginner in plant-care, and don't really know what is the best thing to do:
- Do I just leave it and hope for the best with new dry soil and not watering it for a while?
- Should I strip the plant roots back a bit more to the stumpy bit? Will the roots re-grow if I remove a lot?
- If not, is there a way to reroot the plant from further up the main trunk?
- Or, should I just chop the branches off to create a new plant?

The plant itself looks ok I think, the leaves seem firm and healthy like my other jade plant. I will be keeping it inside from now on.

Thanks :D

 

You can just take off a stem and allow the stem to dry for a few days and the cut to callous over.
Then just bury it an inch into a well drained cactus compost, it should root easily if kept warm on a windowsill.
Equally, just a leaf will root and create a new plant, but its a longer process.

 

Amazing piece of really useful information, Pete.
Hope you succeed in saving the Jade plant and/or reproducing it, Please-help-my-plants. Send some pics if you are successful