Is my new Carambola tree Dying? (it's dropping it's leaves) :-(
johnathanjones
15 years ago
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johnathanjones
15 years agoRelated Discussions
When will my plum tree drop its leaves?
Comments (4)when its darn well ready??? .. and ma nature puts it over the top ... an history of late fertilizing.. that may have interrupted fall hardening off???? ... including fert' a lawn which the tree sits in the middle of???? there is a very active fruit forum ... should we fail you ...but you are more than welcome here.. anytime ... all that said.. young trees do weird things.... i think i read that in the fruit forum the other day .... ken...See MoreLemon tree dropping leaves and branches dying
Comments (4)Catherine, Can you post a picture of your tree showing the dying area contrasted against those parts still alive? Also, we'll need to see a close up photo of the trunk/root area to see whether there might be rot that's causing your tree to decline. To post photos, place your pix in Photobucket and hover over each until you see the HTML link. Copy each HTML link onto the body of your message and you'll see the photo when you 'Preview Message' just as we will. A few quesitons for you: 1) How much water did you apply? (You may need additional periodic and SLOW, SOAKING water applications.) 2) Have you ever fertilized the tree? Using a specific Citrus & Avocado granular fertilizer, hopefully? 3) Do you see any girdling of the tree - have animals chewed around, especially at the bottom near the trunk/root interface? 4) I'm assuming you're on hard clay soil (like me/near Glen Park) - is your tree planted on a slope that drains well? 5) What part of the City do you live? Are you more warm like near SOMA and Potrero, or cold/foggy/windy as in the Sunset? I wouldn't say it's been particularly warm in SF, but it's dryer than prior years, so dehydration is a possibility. However, there could be other things going on, so the photos and your answers to the questions above would definitely help. Tim...See MorePotted Kumquat dropping leaves like crazy, help me save it!
Comments (18)First I'm not a container grower....probably would kill everything if I tried...but aren't those leaves displaying that Christmas tree pattern with darkest green around the veins and midrib? Would that be magnesium deficiency? Also wondering if the soil may be accumulating salts if it hasn't been flushed now and then? I understand that's a new pot but wondering if you water it enough now and then to get a good flow of water through the soil to dissolve and flush through any excess minerals/salts that would accumulate from evaporation. Fish tanks and potted citrus accumulate salts/minerals since the water evaporates and leaves behind anything that was dissolved in the water. Again, not a container expert but perhaps this will offer some other options for the experts here to discuss. Perhaps it's time to leave well enough alone if you are getting flower buds....but don't some trees flower when they are under stress?...See MoreWhy is my Kumquat dropping it’s new growth?
Comments (9)Hi Jarod, See the link at the bottom. It is a VPD vapor deficit chart. You can also find it in my idea book. In the chart find the intersection of temperature and humidity. The new growth is falling off because the VPD around the new shoots is either in the dangerous level, high stress or flower area. You need to keep the VPD in vegetative or nursery VPD to have the new growth survive. The higher the VPD the more moisture gets pulled from the plant. At 71-73F and 50% you are have a VPD of between 1.32 and 1.45 which is way to high for new growth. It is actually much worse than that because you have to use the surface temperature of the leaf which is going to be much higher than the air temperature. Without a breeze indoors leaf temperature in a sunny window would be closer to 80-120F. When you put those temperatures in the VPD you will see you are way off. In my idea-book there is a battery operated mister which I use which is really helpful. You need to mist the new growth as frequently as possible. Outdoors wind is going to cool the leaves. Indoors air doesn't cool the leaves so you need to add some mechanical fans. That is complicated to do as too much air will also dry the leaves out if the humidity is low. I grow in clay pots and love them. Very hard to overwater in a clay pot if you are using a good potting soil. The downside of clay pots are the weight when you have to move them around. Fixing the potting soil WILL NOT fix the VPD. Waiting to water when the meter reads 2 in my opinion is too little too late. Your mature leaves look pretty healthy. You really need to lower the temperature below 70 to work with 50% humidity. Indoors fall and spring are the easiest time to grow citrus indoors. Winter and summer are the hardest because of the low humidity in the winter and the high heat in the summer. Also you have to keep an eye on the radiant heat from the light. You need to measure leaf temperature with an infrared thermometer to get accurate information on what is going on. When you buy potting soil look for the maximum humidity on the package. Also referred to as maximum water content. If you over water the plant it will self balance to the maximum humidity. You want to keep citrus roots in the 40-60% moisture level. VPD-Bioengineering-Chart-1.jpg (5032×3388) (ceresgs.com)...See Morejohnathanjones
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