Not sure what is eating your Jade plant?
This is one of the common issues with indoor as well as outdoor plants.
Since many pests and animals like to feed at night, it becomes difficult to guess who's causing the damage to your plants.
So, how do you find them?
And what's the process to go about it?
In the following guide, I have shared a few details on this topic.
Hopefully, you will find them useful.
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10 Pests That Might Be Eating Your Jade Plant
These are the common suspects for your search for pests that may be causing damage to your Jade plant -
1. Spider Mites
Spider mites love to have colonies on the Jade plants.
They may not eat the plant entirely, but you can expect severe damage to the leaves and branches of the plant.
2. Mealybugs
Mealybugs are another cause of concern in Jade plants.
These bugs also like to have colonies on the plant's surface, and they feed on the sap from the plant.
The bugs have a fuzzy white appearance and can easily be found with the naked eye.
3. Scale
Scales are similar to mealybugs, and they are equally damaging to indoor plants.
These bugs also appear in white.
4. Whiteflies
As the name suggests, whiteflies are white, and these insects also thrive on the sap from the plant.
Moreover, all of these bugs won't eat your plant.
They will only make the plant weaker by extracting the juices from the leaves and branches.
5. Snails
Snails do eat leaves!
They are also more active during nighttime.
So, you should definitely consider them while performing the search task.
6. Rabbits
Have rabbits in the garden?
They can cause damage to your Jade plant.
Rabbits often nibble on soft leaves and branches.
However, they don't like succulents a lot.
They will only eat them if they don't find anything else in the area.
7. Chipmunks & Squirrels
Both these animals are well-known pests in the gardening world.
If you have trees or jungle around your place, you might get these visitors in your home garden.
They may also come inside the room and nibble on the leaves of the Jade plant.
8. Deers
Similar to rabbits, deers don't prefer eating succulents.
They will only eat them if they don't have any other options.
But deer can be a primary reason for this issue in your plants.
9. Rodents & Possums
Rodents and possums can also cause damage to your indoor and outdoor plants.
These animals won't eat a lot of leaves from your plants, but they will damage the branches and stems.
10. Other Insects & Animals
There might be something else that is eating your Jade plant.
So, you shouldn't just consider the above possibilities.
You may research more about the local animals found in your location.
Similarly, you can research other possible insects.
For e.g.,
If you have palms in the garden, you may have caterpillars on them.
These insects can also cause havoc in your garden plants.
In the following section, you will find more about the ways through which you can identify the pest or animals behind your Jade plant damage.
5 Tips To Find Out What Is Eating Your Jade Plant
Even though it's a difficult task to find who's eating your Jade plant, there are certain techniques that can help in this process.
Here are some useful tips for you -
1. Look For Damage On The Leaves
Most pests and animals like to chew on fresh leaves, as the leaves are their primary source of food.
So, take a look at the leaves.
Check for any patterns or bites on some of the leaves.
If it's animal damage, you will probably see these signs on the lush green leaves of your Jade plant.
For other pest damage, you will need to inspect a little deeper.
Generally, small insects and bugs try to extract juices from the leaves.
So, if you don't see any biting marks on the leaves, you should think of other possibilities.
This is especially true for your indoor Jade plant because you won't have animal issues inside the room.
Of course, if you have pets in the house, it could also be the reason for this issue.
Therefore, check the leaves properly and try to eliminate the possibilities.
2. Check The Branches
This is another part of the Jade plant where you can find the real cause of this issue.
If something is eating your Jade plant, you should check the branches along with the leaves.
It's quite important because animals will not just eat leaves.
They often damage the branches as well.
Again, this might be an issue with your outdoor Jade plant.
For branches, you can look for biting or scratching marks.
If the plant is relatively big, you may also see these marks on the main stem.
3. Check For Smell
This is useful for both indoor and outdoor Jade plants.
While performing the inspection in your garden, try to get the smell from the plant.
Of course, you should smell it from a fair distance.
Generally, the animals like deer may rub-urinate around the pots to set boundaries during the breeding season.
This is typical behavior of such animals.
If you are an animal lover, it can be an effective method to find out more about the new visitor in your garden.
4. Check For Footprints
You can also look out for animal footprints in the garden.
If the visiting animal is bigger in size, you can easily identify it with the help of footprints.
5. Set Up A GoPro Camera
As you know, the above methods are pretty much based on the trial and error method as well as your previous experiences.
If you are good at both these things, you may be able to identify the reason for such damage to your Jade plant.
But what if you don't have any previous experience?
In that case, you can make use of the camera.
You can set up a GoPro camera if you want to know what's eating your Jade plants.
You may also use any other camera, but GoPro's size makes it easy to set up around the outdoor location.
Also, it's easy to hide from animals.
Along with the camera, you will also need to install a source of light in this place.
The reason is self-explanatory because the camera won't capture anything if it becomes too dark at night.
Note: The camera should be placed at a certain height so that you will get a better view of the damage.
It will also help in determining the path of the animal through which it might be entering your garden.
Now, let's check out the FAQs below.
FAQs
It depends on the type of bugs that are causing damage to your Jade plant.
For general care, you can use a neem oil spray to remove most of the bug issues on your plant.
You can also think of using insecticides and miticides to eliminate a particular bug from the plant effectively.
Spider mites often appear white in color. They may also create webs on the leaves of your succulent.
The Jade plant doesn't attract any bugs on its own, but it is prone to several bug issues.
This includes - mealybugs, spider mites, scale, whiteflies, thrips, etc.
All these bugs feed on the sap extracted from the plant.
Mealybugs can be a big concern for your Jade plant.
For the removal process, you should wipe them out using a kitchen towel.
Later, you can spray water on the plant using a garden hose, though you need to be careful while spraying the succulents like the Jade plant.
The leaves and branches of this plant are soft and can break into pieces easily.
In the next stage, you should use an insecticide or neem oil to spray on the plant.
This should be done when the plant dries out completely.
If you do it on a wet plant, it won't be very effective.
Note: You will need to spray this solution a couple of times, as mealybugs can come back quickly after the first round of spraying.
As mentioned earlier, there is very little probability of deer eating your Jade plants.
However, they like to feast on pretty much anything with green leaves.
So, if they are hungry, they will surely attack the plant and eat some of the branches.
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