What to do to save my avocado plant?

[adelacreative]

Hi Everyone,

I have planted an avocado plant from seed, and this is the result after 7+ months. I am not sure why the plant leaves are drying up and dying. I live in Valencia Spain, which has strong sun in summer and high humidity, and winters are mild and sunny. I've placed the plant in the terrace in sun and thought maybe the sun was too strong for a young plant, and also inside in indirect light to see if it gets better. Small leaves are growing, but it seems that when they get larger they are of a pale green and then dry up, these are the second sets of leaves that dried up like that. The soil I've had for the plant was coconut soil and I've changed it a 2-3 weeks ago with a more acidic soil. Please help, I would love to save the plant! Thank you.

[PalmsInBaltimore]

how did the roots look when you changed the soil?

[adelacreative]

I think the roots looked ok, not mushy, and were quite long. How often should I water it because I'm not sure what's too much or too little so now I do it once a week. Should I place it outside in the heat and sun, or outside but in the shade? Inside I'm not sure if using the AC can harm it. Thank you. 

[Silas_Sancona]

53 minutes ago, adelacreative said:

I think the roots looked ok, not mushy, and were quite long. How often should I water it because I'm not sure what's too much or too little so now I do it once a week. Should I place it outside in the heat and sun, or outside but in the shade? Inside I'm not sure if using the AC can harm it. Thank you. 

Being an understory tree type, keep in bright shade ..Direct sun will burn, young seedlings / saplings like this one esp...   in habitat, they'll grow up through surrounding canopy into sun over time.

Because the roots of Avocado are closer to the surface, keep moist, ...but not soaking wet. Too wet = rot.

 First flowering / fruit development can take anywhere from 7 to 15+ years from seed  and,  more often than not, the fruit can be of lower quality /  quantity, esp. if there are no other Avo. specimens of the opposite flowering type ( A vs. B for example ) nearby. 

 

[Than]

I also use coco coir and I find that plants tend to become chlorotic as the soil has no nutrients, especially Fe. I never use it alone, I always combine with a handful of manure and lots of perlite or whatever for aeration. I'm not good at diagnosing, but could it be lack of nutrients?

[SeanK]

Soil looks pretty dry. I germinate most in damp, composting leaves under a tree. Toss them out there and water 3x per week. I think it need more moisture.

Also, if the soil has no nutrients, it would need a little something. 

[adelacreative]

Thank you for your replies, I am adding more water to the soil. I thought that mixing the coconut soil with the acidic one will aport some nutrients but it doesn't seem so. While new leaves are growing the previous ones always dry up and fall. 

[FosterDog]

Mine don't like a lot of direct hot sun.  I hope your tree gets better soon. 

@SeanK and @Than I am intrigued.  What nutrients would be best?  I grow avocado from seed and they grow fast here, but I haven't had any fruit yet (19 gallon/72 liter pots).  I don't fertilize them, but maybe I should?  I don't expect fruit, but I really love these trees. 

[Than]

3 hours ago, FosterDog said:

Mine don't like a lot of direct hot sun.  I hope your tree gets better soon. 

@SeanK and @Than I am intrigued.  What nutrients would be best?  I grow avocado from seed and they grow fast here, but I haven't had any fruit yet (19 gallon/72 liter pots).  I don't fertilize them, but maybe I should?  I don't expect fruit, but I really love these trees. 

How old are they? They need to be a few years old to fruit. And I guess that in a pot they cannot grow as fast as they would in the soil. I dunno if avocados can fruit in pots actually.

[FosterDog]

I used to live in California and had a huge fruiting avocado tree.  I have been growing these for four years.  They wouldn't survive the inevitable polar vortex that occurs in Jan or Feb here, so I keep them in pots.  I will grow them until they do or do not fruit, but I did wonder if I should fertilize them.  I never have.