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| The leaves on my avocado tree are turning brown. They started at the very tip and now have covered half the leave... What could be the cause? Your help would be appreciated... |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by The_Mohave__Kid Nevada (My Page) on Mon, Aug 16, 04 at 19:06
| I know very little about Avocado but this is what I would do if I was in your shoes ... Anytime I saw leaf tips turning brown as you are I would check carefully the root zone ( NOT SIMPLY THE SOIL SURFACE ) ... too much or little water ?? ... too much salts ?? ... poor drainage ( Smelly rotten egg soil ? ) windy spot ?? ... I would at least make a check in the "Sunset Western Garden Book" .. Avocardo trees are sensative to ... yep ... salts .. poor drainage and wind ... the biggest problems they face in your area ... don't do anything until you check the soil in your root zone with a digging bar or soil sampler ... Lastly ... give your extension service a call ... there is a very good one in your area I believe ... it's free and they know their stuff ... Chances are you are battling the end of summer blues ... it's very hard sometimes to balance water needs and drainage in the summer in our area of the world. Good Luck ... Let me know what you find out. Good Luck ... |
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| Avocado is a difficult one to diagnose when the leaves brown in that pattern -- that is, from the tip upward. If your plant is in a pot, or if it was planted in the past one or two years, I'd vote for short of water. So, if that's your situation, check the potting mix/ground to determine how moist, dry,or wet it is. Then make appropriate corrections in your watering. The other possibility is truly bad news. This time the diagnosis is avocado root rot. Could happen in pots, but more likely if in the ground, this because the disease-causing fungus is widespread in So California. Again, check the soil. What you want is evenly moist, not wet, also not alternately dry then wet. And, because aavocado roots are quite close to the surface, a mulch of several inches of compost on the soil surface is beneficial. |
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- Posted by sacratomato70 9 CALIFORNIA (My Page) on Sat, Sep 25, 04 at 12:57
| I have several avocado trees still in pots which I bought a few months ago and have yet to plant. During the summer the leaves turned brown but the tree was still green and doing fine. I have noticed the leaves turned brown from the intense sun. I have noticed every year when temps are 90+ degrees and the sun is unforgiving, my avocado leaves turn brown. I have since moved the trees to an area with filtered light in the afternoon and the leaves have since grew back. Overwatering or constant wet conditions can also cause leaves to turn brown, but I also have seen the trunk and branches turn rusty colored and spotted when that happens. If you plant in an area where it is muddy or water exists all of the time, your avocado will not do well. They like to be watered and allowed time to dry. Also young trees and seedlings are sensitive to wind. if exposed, they may lose their leaves, but the plant is still alive. Once the leaves are lost and it is not a pretty site at times, give it a little TLC and avoid windy areas. The tree will start regrowing leaves in no time. |
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- Posted by cooliflower (My Page) on Mon, Mar 6, 06 at 7:13
| I think I know the solution to that problem... The brown tips are due to anthracnose! A big word for a small problem! Being from France I don't know the English name of that blue powder that you need to duluate into water and spray onto the tree... Anthracnose will go in no time! I'm pretty sure you can find the name of that product now that you know the name of the disease!!! Take care: |
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- Posted by cooliflower (My Page) on Mon, Mar 6, 06 at 7:31
| It's called "Bouillie Bordealise" in French and the Engislh name is actually "Bordeaux Mixture"!! It's actually the common name of cupric sulfate, it's blueish and needs to be sprayed on the top and bottom of the leaves as well as the branches and and trunc! Hope i helped! |
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| I am in Middle Tennessee and have 3 avocado plants started from seeds, they are approximately a year + old and I have had them outside in containers for the summer and they did well until just recently. The leaves are turning brown on the tips. I wasn't sure about the cause thinking maybe it had to do something with the cold. We have just had some cold nights, where the temp dipped into the 40's and 50's. I pulled them in for the night for the colder nights, now. Will the cold affect them that way? I don't know what my zone is, some sites say 7 and others say 6. Any input would be appreciated, Thank you... |
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- Posted by soteriagal 5 (My Page) on Fri, Nov 14, 08 at 14:54
| I got one avocado tree that I brought in for the winter about two months ago and it has falling leaves and leaves with brown tips. It has ONE branch left with green leaves, some of those have the brown tips. The bare branches have black tips. Not a good sign! It did great in our central Indiana toasty summer and in my greenhouse. I have had NO LUCK trying to sprout seeds in water OR in wet dirt. I actually finally BOUGHT this tree in the spring. Bought two of them, at $45 each, but thanks to a week of hard rain, the soil in the pots turned to mud and I had to replant them twice. One died. As much as I enjoy gardening, with all the fuss and money spent on this tree, I could have enjoyed lots of avocados from the store!!! If this one croaks, I'm done trying avocado trees! |
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| Hi, I am in Maine. I just received an avocado tree from a friend. She is going south for the winter, so I taking care of it for her. The tree is about 1.5 feet tall. When she gave me the tree, 2 leaves had brown tips on them, now 5 of them do. What are causing these brown tips? And, is there anyway to "fix" it? Thanks! |
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- Posted by soteriagal 5 (My Page) on Sun, Jan 25, 09 at 10:57
| UPDATE: My avocado tree finally croaked. I am DONE trying to raise the blasted things! I could have bought tons of avocados at the store for the money I put into buying them and trying to raise them. Live and learn! |
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- Posted by Annie(sunshinne8@yahoo.com) onSat, Sep 18, 10 at 6:22
| Hello Friends, I have been growing avocado seedlings for many years, but now I cannot manage to find the cause of the brown starting on the tips of the leaves and them consuming the whole leaf. I thought it might be an acid balance problem, and therefore added some pellets to help adjust it, but it is still happening even to the new leaves. any suggestions please :-( |
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- Posted by Ray Florida(raydarling@live.com) onThu, Feb 10, 11 at 18:09
| I have an avocado tree that I planted about a year ago. It has been doing fine until recently. I noticed the leaves and then the branches and trunk turning black. Not totally but in splotches. Can anyone tell me what my problem may be? |
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- Posted by sabrina(antiebean7@hotmail.com) onWed, Apr 20, 11 at 19:24
| Ray, did you figure it out, I have a tree, and the tip of the trunk is turning brownish black, dying. I was thinking of pinching off or cutting the top to try and save it. |
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- Posted by Gerry Anglin 8B(Gerald.anglin@sbcglobal.net) onFri, Apr 22, 11 at 19:23
| I just planted a 6ft winter hardy (14 degrees)tree(Lulu I think)that just started getting brown tips. They advised me that the tree with not survive 14 temps until after 3 years or so. It must be protected duing the early years. The coldest it may get is 16 degrees and that is rare in San Antonio. Can anyone speak to their experience with the cold hardy varities? |
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- Posted by TheMasterGardener1 none (My Page) on Mon, Apr 25, 11 at 0:12
| I would think over watering and lack of drainage is the biggest causes of problems. They probly like very sandy fine rocks alot things to help drainage. I would plant in HUGE containers with alot of sand and rock mixed w soil or in ground. Try letting it dry untill wilt then feed a good compost tea applying to roots and leavs(they like to be dry for a while befor watering). After a few weeks then it will thrive. |
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| I have a new avocado tree..just planted it. very careful not to overwater it. leaves are turning brown on the tips. I see a bunch of questions about this above....but I don't see any answers. Any advice? I live in Southern California/Riverside County. |
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- Posted by elaine los angeles(elanvital@earthlink.net) onFri, Aug 12, 11 at 10:30
| Had brown leaf problem myself - to the point of my young potted tree nearly dying - from tips and through veins on most leaves .. Come to find out it was SALTY WATER ! The water in the San Fernando valley has too high minerals and it was killing my avocado (what a sensitive plant). Decided to post to help people out who might have this problem, who are watering their tree - and in turn killing it with minerals! THE ANSWER FOR HIGH MINERAL / SALT CONTENT IN WATER : - add 3 capfuls of white vinegar to 1 gallon of water every single time you water your plant Got the 1st & 3rd idea from a flowershop nearby, and it's done wonders. According to my doctor mom Vinegar binds with salt in someway and deactivates it.. Has taken 6 months or so but all my avocado leaves are turning green and multiplying beautifully - !!! WOW !!! And the last of the brown ones are falling-off. Nearly lost my potted avocado tree - so good luck to all of you out there; may this help and your avocados thrive!!! |
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- Posted by eleanor gauteng south africa(ell.vaneck@gmail.com) onWed, Sep 7, 11 at 16:29
| been most interesting reading the letters about this problem, my avo tree came up all on its own less than a meter from my front door, started bearing fruit in the fourth year and has been bearing ever since, and we have COLD winters down to zero at times, its protected at the stem, but its about 5 meters above the roof already and has escaped destruction!!!!! Just all the leaves have varying degrees of dry brown from the tip up, 3 years going already and its bears very well, but l feel sorry for the tree and it looks miserable, will try the vinegar tip,hope it works,the avos are delicious!!!! |
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| eleanor, Just a thought, $0.01 worth, but if you have a concrete slab driveway or house slab, the tree roots as they grow bigger run under your house,they may be affected by the alkaline soil conditions near concrete(potassium and sodium hydroxide ions). |
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| Could somebody please tell me what happens to the seed after the tree grows? say about 2yrs old? My plants are indoors. We were able to keep the sprouted seed on water for over a year the leafs are about 11x4.5" and the tree itself is about 14" it hasn't drop any leaves! now is living in dirt, in a plastic plant pot 12"diameter x 10" tall, not to long ago I noticed very small flies, which doing some research and them turned out to be gnats...sad, so I replaced the dirt of my plant and rinsed throughly it's roots. Still looks kinda a sad to put it through such trauma...but I noticed it's pit is drying out. Is this normal?? As for now I'll check my planties dirt. Cheers! |
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- Posted by citrusfishee 4 (My Page) on Tue, Apr 24, 12 at 5:58
| I was having this same problem with my potted Hass seedling, until I tried Elaine's tips. The combination of white vinegar and filtered water have worked WONDERS. The plant came back healthy and better than ever, and I haven't seen a brown tip since. *knock on wood* I also just started mulching with crushed tea leaves. Jury's still out on that one. |
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| Leaves of my avocados also turned brown after some time. I grow the plants in my appartment and try to keep the soil not to humid and not to dry although during the winter they like to have drier soil. Brown leaves turned out to be related to lack of potassium in soil (avocado itself needs a lot of it). I bought small sticks with minerals (they are called flowering plant fertilizing sticks) and put on of them in soil. The plants started giving new leaves and new branches! So far with no brown spots on it. |
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| Anthracnose is usually spottiness throughout the entire leaf. Your problem is almost certainly nutrition, too much or too little. I don't know about salts/ph, but in other tropicals zinc and manganese shortage/overage can cause this. If it is in the ground and you are overfertilizing, not much you can do. If it is in a pot, you can try flushing it with water to wash away excess, just don't drown it. If you are not fertilizing, do it, just make sure that it contains trace elements. Follow the guidelines for fertilizing avocados. |
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| Hi. I went on-line looking for advice about my Avocado Tree leave tips turning brown, and I went with the advice about adding 3 caps of white vinegar per gallon of water. And it has worked! It seems my water is too salty for my tree. All the new leaves that are coming in on my tree, Coco, are staying green. And since he is in clayee soil, I only water him once a week. He gets 3 gallons of water and I'll give him used coffee grinds which he seems to love too. I am so happy, Coco is happy. |
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| Perhaps the vinegar added to the water is simply lowering the pH into a more desirable range for your trees. I could see this working if your plants are in pots. You may want to test the pH of your soil. |
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