Bearpaws
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Avocado tree

Hello, I'm new here and really hope someone would be able to give me advice!

This is our avocado tree:
Image
https://imgur.com/gallery/nJLQa

I'm not sure how old exactly it is, but it's around / over a year approximately, and unfortunately it has some brown spots on the leaves.

Also I have already snipped off few other leaves where the brown spots were big.

My question is - does anyone know what could be the reason for these brown spots, and how to fix that?
Thank you very much in advance!

P.S. We are going to plant it in a bigger pot very soon. :)
Last edited by applestar on Sun Feb 25, 2018 7:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Edited to display the photo. Welcome to the forum!

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Did you grow it from seed in water at first or did you start the seed in soil? How long has it been in this pot?

3 possibilities occur to me -

- avocado is sensitive to salt, this includes chlorine in the water. So if you water with tap water directly, there might be some salt build-up in the soil. Over fertilizing with chemical fertilizer could cause a build-up too. >> soil needs to be flushed occasionally with de-chlorinated or rain water

- avocado does not like wet feet (roots). If you leave water in the saucer (though this is a shallow saucer and probably doesn’t hold too much) that could cause root rot. If the pot does not have good drainage hole(s), same thing. It’s hard to tell but if the potting mix is too moisture retentive, that could be the problem too. When you repot, be sure to use a well draining mix — add Extra perlite if necessary.

- baby avocado is sensitive to strong sunlight. Assuming you live in the northern hemisphere and days are lengthening, this window might be getting stronger direct sun ...or is suddenly getting direct sun. Monitor the sun exposure in the window and if this is the situation, acclimate the plant to the additional exposure slowly — it’s like getting sunburned if you get too much sun too quickly. They need to get used to it.

Showing a close up image of the brown spots might help tell which of these might be the problem....

When the weather gets warm enough — night time temp 55°F or warmer — I put all my avocados outside for the summer. I wait this long because mine are really big and once they are out, they stay out, but you could start much earlier and just bring it back inside when it’s going to get too cold. You have to give them time to get used to the sun — start in shade at first and increase direct sun a couple of hours at a time or the leaves will burn and branches will turn black. I put them under canopy of tall trees and increase exposure until they get full morning sun, noonday shade, and a little westering/setting sun.



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