Hi Rose, its quite possible too much water. Here near chicago its been warm and i notice lowest leaves are similar as your description. In my case its the water coming out of watering can and or hose hitting the lowest leaves each day sometimes resting on top of soil thats doing it for me. Martin Chicago Ebay ID - Dieseler6z92 Member- Garden Web, Figs4Fun, Friends of The Fig Society

i dont know your area ... but i have two thoughts ... first.. you said.. it needs a lot of work ... so i imply.... infer ... that this jungle was basically abandoned for a few years ... let me suggest.. simply being there... and taking command of the yard will start to solve the problem ... e.g. ... if the lawn is mowed weekly ... and kept short.. like a lawn is supposed to be.. they are going to not being hanging out in the lawn ... so simply by mowing.. you are taking control ... same thought with overgrown gardens and bushes ... and do keep in mind.. spiders are most apparent .. in fall ... thats when we get these kind of posts... and that is because.. they have had all summer to grow and mature. ... sooner or later ... even in your zone.. winter will come.. and the populations will ebb ... simply based on the cycles of the season ... so i would highly recommend not going with the nuclear option this late in fall ... perhaps this is not a proper suggestion for NC .. i dont know ... a quick call to your LOCAL COUNTY extension office.. might get you some very LOCAL pertinent information on the current populations of any given plague.. maybe its just been a big year for them.. in your area .... and you might ask a new neighbor... if its in their yard also ... again.. to find out if its not just your jungle .... as for the crumb muncher ... teaching them to respect such.. is much easier than eradicating .... and for sure.. at that age... give them a baggie of goldfish crackers as you launch them out the door.. and teach them to eat NOTHING in the yard ... and to bring back the empty bag ... and mommy will fill it up when they want more ... believe it or not.. that are very malleable at that age.. and a lot smarter than given credit for .... and if youa re giving out food.. they will be back ... lol ... for about 16 years min ... lol .. as to mushrooms and their ilk ... i consider them a free show of ma nature ... they are one of ma natures decompsers .... there is simply no downside to them.... most of the time... they are decomposing rotting wood under the surface... or on old used up mulch ... its interesting to learn what they are ... but there is little to do.. to be rid of them.. so go zen.. and accept them ...basically.. the same with the spiders .... [i suspect you might find a big dead stump somewhere out there... and the pattern of the shrooms/fungus its its dead root mass] enjoy your new yard ... but do keep in mind.. it is going to be winter... even in NC ... ken

The plant isn't basically healthy, it's basically stressed and showing symptoms of that stress. Distal leaf tissues usually as a direct result of the plants inability to move enough water to those tissues to keep them hydrated due to compromised root health/function, which most often occurs for the reasons outlined; plus, there remains the possibility of chemical or nutritional toxicities. Wind, like low humidity, might be an exacerbating factor, but I highly doubt it's the primary issue. Also, how much a plant tolerates isn't a very good gauge of what it likes. Plants don't operate well at the limits of what they are genetically programmed to tolerate, and when they grow under that sort of stress we should expect to see symptoms made manifest. SK - You can tell if your soil is retaining an excessive amount of water by watering to complete saturation, waiting until the soil stops draining, and then tipping the pot at a steep angle. See fig A & B: If a fair amount of water exits the drain after you tip it, your soil is holding more water than the plant prefers. There are ways to fix that, but I don't know how far you want to chase this issue. I'll give you as much help as you want. A VERY high % of issues that impact the vitality plant are caused by soil choice or nutrition. You can learn How to Deal with Water-Retentive Soils, or much better - learn how to avoid them altogether. Your plants will thank you. The fertilizer charge in your soil is appropriate, but Miracle-Gro potting soil has a poor reputation because of its excessive water retention, and dissolved solids from fertilizer solutions accumulate in soils when you aren't flushing the soil when you water. Soils like MG force the grower to choose between excess water retention or the accumulation of dissolved solids that accompanies watering in small sips in order to avoid soggy soils. Both choices are poor choices. Do you have a water softener? If so, what kind? It's hard to diagnose a toxicity issue unless you know what the plant might be sensitive to, and w/o some history of what your nutritional supplementation program has been like in past months. Sometimes, knowing how the plant has been tended reveals clues that point directly to a likely cause, but in this case, so far, there isn't enough info. Al

Here is an update on the tree. We had some pretty big el nino rains over the winter time, so I can see the bacteria/fungus happennig. I am not sure how old the tree is. maybe 2-3 years? When I took over the house, it had a few avocados on it, and I read that they don't produce until about the 4th year, so maybe it is older than 3 years? I want to clear out the grass beneath the tree, thinking they are just eating up any nutrients that should go to the tree. Should I do that? or does it not matter much with these trees? Here is a new photo of the tree and it's tag. From what I am reading, this tree is fairly frost tolerant? It has tons of these little buds now that you see on the first picture., I assume they are leaf buds. I only water it infrequently with a deep watering if it's been without rain for a while.