I have recently begun to grow an apply tree from seed. It has been going surprisingly well until about two weeks ago now when I came home from a weekend away to find several of the leaves had wilted. Before the weekend, there were six healthy leaves holding themselves up well and perfectly green throughout, with the shoot about two inches in height. (See the first picture below) When I returned, most of the leaves had wilted and gone a brown colour. The shoot had been in the window so I believe it had perhaps got too hot, and the soil too dry causing this problem. Since then, I have transplanted the shoot into a larger pot, made sure the soil is nice and moist (but not over watered) and that it is in a cooler place but still receives plenty of sunlight throughout the day. It has the two initial leaves that are at the base of the shoot (though I have noticed one has a brown tip?!) and one leaf fully opened at the top, with a new leaf starting to grow (see second picture below). My problem is however, that it is still producing new shoots from the top of the shoot every four or five days or so, but then the leaf that is fully open then suddenly turns brown and withers within a matter of hours. I'm not sure what is the problem - whether it is slowly dieing or whether my apple shoot can yet be saved. If anyone has any advice that would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks, Sammus. Pre-weekend shoot: Present day shoot:
My first thought was over watering but since you have stated that the soil dries, and is the older leaves that are dropping, as appose to new young leaves, I feel this is a nutrient deficiency. If you see red vein in the leaves but are yellowing, this could be an iron deficiency. from your photos, I feel this may be your problem although could be a deficency of other nutrients. Iron deficiency can occur when the PH levels of your soil is too high. If you can test the PH level of you soil this will give you a good idea as to what maybe going on. In the meantime, I found this link that may be of interest, talking about apple trees, nutrients and more. Fertilizing Apple Trees
Thanks very much for the advice. I'll have a read of the website about fertilizing the soil sufficiently today and see if it answers any questions. However, when I transfered the apple seed I added new fresh soil bought from a garden centre to it so hopefully it hasn't used its nutrients, whilst the pot that it is in is made of peat and so hopefully will release some nutrients too. If the problem is a nutrient deficiency, are there any foods I can put in the soil to boost nutrients, e.g. banana skins for potassium, egg shell for calcium (I have heard of these as natural fertilizers). One thing I was thinking, is could it be that the plant has been shocked twice? Once when it got too dry and 'sun burnt', and then again when I transfered it into a larger pot? Looking at the plant today the very tip of the remaining new leaf has a slight brown tint to it - worrying signs but a new leaf is growing at the top. Of the two initial leaves that develop out of the seed (the more waxy and darker green leaves at the bottom of the shoot) I have noticed that one of them has also began to develop brown at the tip of it over the last 24hours. Regards,
