I recently planted 2 mango seeds. The other one is doing fine but this one I'm a bit worried. The leaves are droopy and a bit shriveled. The seed itself also seem dehydrated (seed size shrunk! Noticed it about a week ago). Both are put under direct sunlight and I use grow lights in the evening. There's a possibility of it being overwatered but I usually put the same amount of water for the other baby tree. I put little seaweed fertilizer last week on both of them too. As you can see, there are new sprouts (came out 2 days ago) but one of the new sprouts has a brown tip. Does anyone know if this is alright or have any other thoughts? Thank you!!!

As a bonsai practitioner, I have to know a LOT about how plants work in order to be successful. Technically, a new leaf cannot grow from the bud in question, only a new branch with the potential to give rise to many leaves can grow there. In every leaf axil (an 'axil' is the crotch formed by the leaf stem [petiole] and the branch the leaf is attached to) and above every leaf/bundle scar (the scar directly under the bud in your image), are a row of latent buds waiting to be stimulated to grow. In healthy trees growing outdoors these buds produce random branching whenever growing conditions are very good. Trees growing indoors, due primarily to lack of light and inadequate air movement, often need these latent buds to be stimulated chemically into becoming active. I'm not talking about them being stimulated by actually applying a chemical stimulant; rather, I'm referring to the change in the plant's chemistry which occurs when the growing tip of the branch is removed. This area at the tip of the branch is called the branch apex, plural is apices, or it's often referred to as the apical meristem. Primarily in that area of the branch, a chemical, auxin, which suppresses activation of these buds is synthesized. Auxin moves only downward toward the roots, so removing the the apical meristem where it is primarily synthesized sharply limits auxin flow and its suppressive influence on the axillary buds we're discussing. This allows another chemical (cytokinin) to become dominant, and one of it's jobs is to activate the axillary buds. This antagonistic balancing act between auxin and cytokinin is the chemical relationship on which almost all pruning strategies are based. This is a Ficus microcarpa cutting from which the apex/apical meristem has been removed. since that halts almost all synthesis of auxin, new branches are forming in the axils of both mature leaves. As these branches develop, many single leaves will grow along the new branches, and they too will have a row of buds in their axils, or if the leaf is shed, above the scar left where it was attached (what your image shows). So, leaves that form at nodes while the branch is extending will always remain a single leaf - like the two mature leaves in my image - they can never be anything but a single leaf. All growth that comes from the dormant buds in leaf axils or (the same) dormant buds above old leaf scars, will always be branches. BTW - these buds remain able to be activated at any time during the tree's life, even if the scars are no longer visible and bark growth has completely obscured the older leaf scars. Questions? Al

It is flowering and it isn't horribly etiolated suggesting you're doing a decent job taking care of it. I agree that your plant will shed its older lower leaves as it grows but the older lower leaves don't look like they are on the verge of being shed to me. I've seen leaves bend to unusual angles when a succulent plant isn't getting enough sunlight. You typed that the leaves are droopy but are they droopy because they are shriveling away and no longer turgid or are they still fairly firm but just angled downward? Also, I see the older lower leaves are bigger than the newer younger leaves so I'm thinking maybe for a time during the winter the plant wasn't getting enough sunlight but now during spring the amount of sunlight has improved.

Hello Ken! Thanks so much for replying. Yes, the leaves are slightly paler than the other green ones. The 'clay balls' are LECA. It is indeed a kind of mulch to protect the soil. I've been told they actually absorb humidity to keep the soil kind of damp. Hmm..about the leaves dropping...I live in tropical Singapore where its spring all year round. The leaves dont drop as much as I kind of cut them off when they get almost all brown. It seems like some of the old leaves are not standing as upright as they all did in my very first pic so that worries me. I know what you mean about how some of the leaves are drooping...I've looked closer and realised their bases are quite thin and so it becomes top heavy and droops down. About the lamp..it's purely aesthetic. Does not do much at all! I asked an FB group on gardening and they told me to try spraying Mr Gannick Foliar Fertiliser on the leaves so I've tried that today. I'll keep this updated. Thanks again, Ken.