Killed 3 jade plants before I figured out my tap water was the problem

Abby Singh · 2026-09-22T10:45:04.924205+00:00

I got my first jade plant back in 2019 from a little nursery over in Fresno, and it died in about two months. I figured I just watered it too much, so the next one I barely touched, and that one shriveled up too. The third one lasted almost half a year before it started dropping leaves, and that one really got to me because I thought I had finally cracked the code. Turns out it was never about how often I watered. My tap water here is really hard, and all that stuff in it was building up in the soil and slowly poisoning the roots, which I only found out after a lady at the plant shop asked me one simple thing, what kind of water I used. I felt pretty dumb standing there. Now I fill a jug and let it sit out for a couple days before it touches any of my succulents, and the jade I have now has been going strong for almost two years. It took me three dead plants and way too long to just ask somebody. Has anyone else run into hard water messing with their houseplants?

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Killed 3 jade plants before I figured out my tap water was the problem | Botany Lovers - The Community Guide