you water.... WHEN THE TREE NEEDS WATER .... too much.. is just as bad as too little .... THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW ... in your soil.. in your garden.. is for you to INSERT YOUR FINGER.. and find out if the soil.. UNDER PROPER MULCH is hot or dry .... if it is dry.. water it .. deeply.. so it gets thru the whole root system .... dig a small hole.. to find out if you are actually getting water down where you planted the roots .... if it is hot .. it will be dry tomorrow ... as one of the purposes of the mulch.. is to keep the soil cooler .... over-watering.. in soil that does not drain properly ... will kill a tree faster than under-watering.. IMHO .... in my mineral sand.. i could dig a hole the size of a 5 gal bucket.. and barely get it filled as the water would drain away.. and when the soil was finally saturated enough to fill the hole.. once i turn off the water.. it will be gone within minutes.. that is the type of drainage most trees like... and i still ONLY water newly planted trees... deeply.. once every two weeks ... the thought that any tree needs PROPER watering more than once a week.. is questionable .. unless you are not doing it properly .... good luck ken ps: forget about the first one.. it was a tree 'tard.. it has no relevance to this one.. except in how you might be watering it .... or how you planted it.... etc ...

Hello, nihal. Curled or shriveled leaves may indicate winter damage when it happens in the Spring or chemical damage from some insecticides/fungicides (direct contact is not necessary; sometimes wind drifted particles cause this). Depending on the size of the plant and the way wind drifts, damage may be isolated to the side of the shrub closest to the source of the chemical. It can also mean that you have an insect infestation such as that caused by the spittle bug. Of course, you may a Moroccan insect instead; you can find out by opening the leaves and inspecting the leaf for "things that move". Sun burn can also cause some shriveling but the leaf would first turn yellow (including the leaf veins). Drought stress can also cause curling on the edges of leaves; eventually the leaves would turn brown and fall. Finally, salt build up in potting mix can cause some leaves to curl in potted plants. To flush the salts, you can fill the container with water all the way to the brim and let it drain through the bottom holes. Do this several times once a month if your water is very alkaline. Mediterranean climates tend to be a little dry so use about 3-4" (7.6 to 10.2cm) of acidic mulch to help conserve soil moisture. Apply it a little past the drip line and water the pants when the soil feels almost dry or dry to the touch to a depth of 4" (10cm). Does this give you some ideas of things to check? Luis

When I see plants reaching for the light, folding it's leaves, reaching for the sun like it's "praying", i think, they are very healthy.. That's how i judge plant vigor... Altough there could problems associated with folding/curling leaves, spider mites for example well spin a web and fold the leaves, almost choking the leaves.. Looks kind of like a funnel.. To me, your plant looks healthy.. Remember keep a fan on them and bright light.. Also, let the soil dry out in-between waterings.. The soil should be like a rung out sponge, most of the time.. Water thoroughly, dry out, water thoroughly,dry out.. No worries, looks great!

Paul, it is hard to tell from your photos what the difficulty is. Your pot appears to be ceramic, which generally retains more moisture than a clay pot. "Soaking" it every 5 days in a ceramic pot may be too much water. And the pot looks way kind of big for that plant. What puzzles me most is your mix. What SHOWS doesn't look like what people here call gritty mix; it looks like big pieces of rock and big pieces of bark -- almost as big as the plant leaves themselves. Is that a top dressing of sorts, or is that your actual mix? If that is your actual mix and not a top dressing, I suspect all the water is just instantly draining out -- IF there is a drainage hole in that pot. I have my Haws in a bark-free gritty mix. Usually it is Turface and Manna Pro Poultry Grit 1:1. The pieces are screened to be between 1/16" and 1/8". I like them on the larger side -- but that isn't always possible with Turface. Sometimes I use Turface, Manna Pro, and pumice 1:1:1. Most of my Haws are in clay pots and I water approx. every 5-6 days -- AND I am in Florida AND the plants are outside on the porch. I have mostly Sans, Gasteria, Haws and Crassula -- and the Haws are the most temperamental of the group, to be sure. Sometimes they can take months to get "comfortable" in a pot and a mix. Mine are very fussy. I find light to be the least important factor -- and the mix and water to be the two most important factors. But -- if it were me, I would unpot it, look at the roots and decide what action to take, because it does look like your leaves are shriveling and the plant may die. Good luck -- hope you can nurse it back to vibrance.