Good luck and let us know, chrisgg. Camellia sinensis can suffer from algal leaf spot and show some reddish spots. Poor soil drainage, imbalanced nutrition, and exposure to relatively high temperatures and humidity predispose sinensis ot infection by algal leaf spot. I have not seen fungicides recommended for this (that does not mean there are none); the only suggestion that I have seen is thatt we use good housekeeping/sanitation techniques such as... no overhead watering, disposing of plant debris under the canopy of the bush (throw the debris into a trash can not in a compost pile), water early in the morning, lessen the amount of water if the mulch appears moist all the time, etc. You can also correct drainage problems, allow some separation between the camellia and other plants to improve air flow, do a soil test to check if you have high/low mineral levels, etc.

Can you check the soil moisture around the base of the main trunk, notplantsavvy? It could be that the soil around the root ball has dried out. In cases of soil moisture issues like that, the leaves begin to dry out from the edges and brown out completely. It happened to me two winters ago (shrub was planted in the ground though) due to a sprinkler system that was left turned off too long in the middle of a dry winter. Make sure that the area around the main trunk receives sufficient moisture. On the other hand, too much water can also cause similar symptoms specially if the soil does not drain well, if the pot has insufficient drainage holes or if the pot is allowed to sit in water. In this case, the roots slowly develop a fungal infections called root rot and are unable to provide the plant above the ground with the amount of moisture that the shrub needs. The plant browns out just as if the plant was not receiving enough water because, in a way, it was not. If you examine the roots of these plants, you will notice that the roots are brown. I assume that you have no pest issues with this camellia because you reported no damage to the top/bottom of leaves, no damage (cuts, etc) to the trunk and things like that. Luis

I bought from plant from a person out of OH. The plant had been stressed, as it went from outdoors to indoors because I live in NY (zone 5a I believe) where it was too cold to live outside. Once it moved indoors, the leaf "blight" continued. I used a general fungicide that was recommended by a local nursery -they admitted they were not very familiar with the plant. The water did drain out, but I fear it may have drained out too quickly sometimes. Around the fall time when I brought it inside, I also was unlucky to have fungus knats infest it, which definitely weakened and stressed my poor plant. It sadly died despite my best efforts to keep it alive :( With it also being indoors, I think it was too dry for it. I do not have any full scale photos offhand, but I will look for some when it was alive to post later.

Camellias are woodland plants that prefer shade, mulch, somewhat acidic soils and temperate climates (cool-to cold, but not extremely cold winters). Generally speaking, they are not indoor plants, and will usually do best if grown outdoors. In areas with very cold winters, camellias can be grown in unheated greenhouses, on porches that provide protection from cold winds, or in a well-lit, unheated room. The dirt should not be allowed to dry out, but shouldn't need to be watered daily or even every other day. If the dirt is drying out that quickly, it's probably because of indoor air circulation... the warm, dry air that humans like in the winter is not the cool, moist air that a camellia wants. If the grow light puts out heat, that is another thing camellias don't want, and it will do its part to dry out the soil too quickly. 12 hours of bright light daily isn't necessary, and may be counter-productive. It would help to know what part of the world your camellia lives, but if you have a space where you can grow it outside without it getting frozen on a regular basis, that would be ideal. A stressed camellia should not be fertilized... that will push the camellia to try harder to do something it's already having trouble doing. If the plant really needs a larger pot, that may help, but it sounds like the plant is getting over-watered and is probably in a too-warm, too-dry environment. Good luck, Virginia