RE: avocado problem

> I have a potted avocado that went through the same issue.  I blamed it
> on 1) not enough water 2) during a particularly hot, dry, blazing sun
> week 3) when those leaves were in direct sun.  Have been feeding and
> watering, all the new growth is healthy, the injured leaves have almost
> all dropped off.  With adequate water, the latest hot, dry episodes
> don't seem to have taken the same toll.
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> [o*@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf Of Pamela Steele
> Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 3:49 AM
> To: Medit-Plants
> Subject: avocado problem pic resized 600x800
> 
> 
> We planted an avocado about 3 months ago and at first the leaves started
> to go brown around the edges. New growth came which looked really
> healthy and now these new leaves are curling up.  We sprayed it with
> insecticide when the leaves were browning. As any one any experience of
> this problem with avocado?  I have resized the pic to 600x800 pixels.
> =20
> Pamela

Hi Pamela,
     I used to grow small trees in my childhood in New Orleans decades 
ago. The warm season was not quite long enough to get fruit though. 
Eventually a hard freeze, which happens every few years, would kill them.
     In Davis, Ca. growing them in a pot is very difficult, primarily 
because of the high boron content in the local well water. As minerals 
accumulate in the pot soil, and are taken up by the plant, necrosis 
results along the leaf edges where minerals are left behind in higher and 
higher concentrations, reaching toxic levels, by evapo-transpiration. 
Those symptoms look much like your photo. Irrigation with rain or 
distilled water prevented the symptoms. Also growing the plant in the 
ground here results in healthier plants though the climate eventually 
does them in. Native soil is usually a more balanced and buffered 
reservoir of plant nutrients and water, not always.
     If mineral levels are the cause of your symptoms, it might be 
ameliorated by a soil amendment or pH adjustment. Soil pH has a major 
impact on mineral availability. I would get the soil and irrigation water 
tested for mineral content etc. and adjust accordingly.

X Flores
Davis, CA
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index