I have a 8 months avocado tree and suddenly i am noticing dark spots on the leaves, and black tips in the leaves as well. What can the problem be? Overwatering? Too much fertilizer? I have no clue.
Hi there, Happy Monday! Based on the photos, I would say currently the problem is very, very minor. However whenever people ask "am I watering too much," in my experience with houseplants 90% of the time the answer is yes. Try watering less! The brown circles on the leaf *could* be caused by a fungus indicating too much water, but they're currently SO minor I wouldn't worry. I would say this plant probably doesn't need very much fertilizer. Also remember that leaves don't last forever. Sometimes a leaf dies and falls off a plant. That's not necessarily a bad thing! It is a natural process- even healthy plants lose leaves sometimes. I have hundreds of healthy plants at home and some have browning tips and I'm constantly removing dead leaves but I don't worry too much unless I see many signs of decline. I've heard a lot of stuff about browning tips being caused by components of municipal water and that distilled water is better for plants but honestly I think that's kind of a waste of good drinking water. Feel free to ask more questions!
I agree with you on that, Andrew, but I know other people much more conscientious than I who fill up their watering jugs or in my neighbour's case, old wine bottles, and let the water sit for a few days so that the chlorine evaporates. Wouldn't plants want some of the minerals that are lost in distillation?
I think it really depends on your standards for success and what plants you're trying to grow. Whether or not plants want whatever minerals comes out of our tap I am unsure- plants have evolved to be watered by rain and groundwater so I would guess they're not usually relying on minerals coming from water, and they are sensitive to various concentrations of salts, etc. I just don't stress very much about some burnt tips hehe.
Well, i have been checking and in the last couple of days it has gone worse... how can i stop this? Thank you very much.
I plant my avocado into the ground outdoors for summer. That heals damages, that are much worse than yours.
Well, i live in a flat, so that's complicated. It stays in the terrace during the day if that helps. I don't know what the problem is, it has advanced a lot in the last 2 days...
ah I missed that photo, thank you! It doesn't look like fungus. Is it just the one leaf? It looks like it might be sunburn- does it get a lot of direct afternoon light? How often is it watered?
It is mostly indoors close to a window yes. It is almost everwhere but mostly in those two (the closest to the window yes) i water like once every two weeks, when the top layer starts to be dry, i wait like 3 days and then i do it. Could it be too much fertilizer? I put it last week and i might have put too much?
It could definitely be too much fertilizer, additionally it could be sunburn. Whether it is too much fertilizer or sunburn, now that it is losing some leaf tissue it will need less fertilizer, so be gentle with fertilizer the next few times. If it's the two leaves closest to the window, I would say its likely to be sunburn. I might try moving it somewhere where it would get less direct light and more indirect light.
