Etogaur
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:52 pm

My Zanthoxylum is losing leaves... Is this normal?

I recently bought a Chinese pepper tree/Zanthoxylum and it seems to be growing quite healthily.
It's got lots of new growth and has shot up quite a lot, I will try to add a picture if needed but my Camera isn't working at the moment.

I've been watering it fairly often, keeping the soil dark rather than dry and avoiding watering it too much.

It's leaves and some of the branches seem very... weak though. They are dropping off at the rate of 3-4 a day and whilst it's a fairly large and robust looking tree it's getting a little concerning.
It's one or two individual leaves and then maybe a small frond and I intentionally poked one to see if it would fall away, it did :l

It doesn't seem normal for a tree to be losing leaves in spring...

It could be people in my house brushing against it and knocking them off during the day but it doesn't seem too likely since it's on a windowsill.

It's facing south-west and gets a good amount of indirect sunlight, the last tree I had died after a particularly hot summer on the west facing window so I learnt the hard way on that.

I haven't started pruning it either as I wanted to be sure I didn't mess anything up.

I'm also giving it some plant food now and then, diluted appropriately of course.

Anyone have any suggestions?

tomc
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2661
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 2:52 am
Location: SE-OH USA Zone 6-A

Stick a chop stick into the soil in your pot. If it comes out dry, it needs water today. If wet, check it tommorow.

Check soil for moisture every single day.

The two most common problems are irregular watering and low light levels.

Etogaur
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:52 pm

It seems to be doing alright now, thanks for the tip. I've been keeping it watered each day and it's been getting a good amount of sunlight. I think it was just down to people brushing it as they opened the window.



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