I'm late to this but I thought I'd add some advice. I have a small grove of about 24 trees (Hass, Fuerte and Zutano) in Southern California. Leaf tips turning brown is usually a sign of water problems. When the soil dries out, it leaches salt from the ground (which is bad) and causes the tip burn. If you have spots on the leaves, that's usually a pest like a persea mite. My trees are in Sandy Loam soil. You can tell if they need water by clumping the soil in your hand. If it drips water when you squeeze it, it's too wet. Soil that is too wet will lead to root rot. If it doesn't hold a shape from your fingers when you squeeze it, it's too dry and they'll leach salts from the ground. It should hold the shape from your fingers. They like a lot of water but they don't like sitting in water. It has to drain away. That's why most avocado groves are on hillsides. If you don't have hilly land, build a mound and plant the tree in the middle of it so the water can drain off. They like full sun but they have to be protected from sunburn when they're young if it gets really hot where you are. If the trunk or branches are turning black, they may be getting sunburned. To protect it, mix 1/2 white indoor latex paint and 1/2 water (whitewash) and paint the trunk and any exposed branches with it. Once you get a nice canopy, you can stop painting the trunk. Usually once per year is all that is necessary. Don't let the canopy touch the ground. Keep the canopy trimmed about 2 feet off the ground. My trees usually get two waterings per week in the summer when it's hot and sunny, one short and one long. If I get rain of 1/2" or more, I don't water for about a week. In the winter, when it rains here, I may not need to water at all. They usually don't like pots either. Their roots are shallow and spread out to the canopy of the tree. They can tolerate cold down to about 27F. If you get frost or snow, it will kill the tree. They also like a soil ph of 6 to 6.5. It's normal for leaves to fall in the winter. Leave them around the tree and don't let grass or weeds near them. Resist the temptation to clean up the leaves. They help protect the roots and help keep the soil from drying out too quickly. The licorice smell from a torn leaf is usually the sign of a tree that won't grow avocados. It should have a fresh green smell. Growing from a pit will usually not produce avocados and if it does, it's going to take about 10 to 15 years to produce, and even then, they may not produce good tasting fruit. Most growers buy grafted trees or graft themselves from a verified tree that produces good fruit.

Looks like mechanical damage from here, I'd forget it. Sounds like a lot of water, even for gritty mix. A lot of fertilizer too (I'd suggest too much, that's why it's so fat & plump as you said). Personally, if it were mine, I'd use a smaller pot. Unless the roots are huge, it's not good to have so much empty mix (assuming that's what's under the rocks). Some succulent growers use little to no fertilizer, feeling it's both unnecessary & makes for overly lush growth. Tho' I grow indoors only, my Aloes are in West window & I only fertilize them once or twice a year, in Summer only. Anyway, back to the damage, it looks like maybe it was bent against the edge of the pot, or a nearby one, looks mechanical (& not spreading) to me. I'd only be concerned if it somehow spreads.

Thank you Alan for the advice. We are not that far from eachother, I live in Keystone. Small world. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I tested one of the branches and it doesn't snap like a dead branch would. It bends and I had to use a bit of effort to actually snap it in two. It looks dead and dried up inside, but it's still alive and I can smell the lemon, quite strong too. I knew that the Key lime was the most cold sensitive, although didn't find out about it until a few days after I planted it in the ground, when I went back to the nursery for another non-citrus fruit tree that I have. Believe it or not, even though it is quite small, it is sprouting new growth quicker than my Meyer is. The first year it gave very small limes, that were close to ripening, but fell. It hasn't flowered since then, just new foliage. Should I dig up the Key Lime and put it in a pot? Or leave it until fall arrives and pot it and leave it? We did have a few very cold nights for N. Fl and I did cover them. Just wondering if that would do the lime good for wintertime and to help it grow without worries. If it would be better off in a pot year round instead of in the ground. I also have been clearing an area around all of my trees, so they do not have to compete with the grass and weeds, that may help them out quite a bit with nutrients. I left it alone during winter to help keep roots a bit warmer. I will leave the branches alone until at least April to see what happens. I checked on my Valencia yesterday as well and on two of the branches at the very tips to approx. 3-4" down, it appears to be burned, and the rest of the branch is brown and looks to be dead. Could this be sunburn due to lack of water? They were like that before I applied fertilizer, so it is not due to that. Thank you all so much for the help! Christine

Wow that's cool Verena, snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus) are a tender perennial, so I guess yours had a nice easy winter and are ready to get going again. If they last through spring freeze/thaw, they should flower for you again no problem - I wouldn't rely on seeing them back every year though. I was really surprised to see my thyme (Thymus vulgaris as far as I know) still alive in its pot on my deck this spring - I didn't think it would overwinter around here especially in a pot. This was the easiest winter I can remember, for warm temps combined with heavy snow cover... we must have had about a zone 6 winter I think. My Rosa gallica versicolour has emerged from the snow, with only tiny tip freeze where it poked out of its burlap... looks promising! But the offical report of the OBRHD will not be until May ;0)