Here is a Reed avocado tree with droopy old leaves during spring flowering and flush:Īvocado leaves with tip or margin burn from chloride salt in irrigation water I’ve always thought of it as looking like the old leaves are getting out of the way of the flowers and new leaves. (See my post, “How to plant and stake an avocado tree.”)ĭrooping old avocado leaves during bloom and new flushĪnother reason that avocado leaves droop is during flowering, which is mainly in spring and which is also accompanied by the growth of new avocado leaves. This helps provide the airy environment that avocado roots need. In heavy soil, an avocado tree should be planted on a mound, and the mound should be covered with a thick mulch. These are classic symptoms of a tree that is growing in heavy soil and that is watered too much too often. Notice that the leaves are few, and the leaves are pale green and small. If this tree were to continue to be watered too much too often, such that the soil stays constantly wet, it would end up looking like this next Fuerte tree. This little Fuerte tree has been watered too much too often, and because of that its leaves are showing this sign: pale green leaves. Worse for avocados is leaves drooping from constant soil saturation. When you read these leaves, you read hydrated, happy.Ī little drooping from momentary thirst is no big deal. After watering, the leaves rapidly became turgid, stiff, and shiny. I took the picture, then I watered it, and then I returned fifteen minutes later and took this photo: The above photo shows a young Sharwil avocado tree that is signalling thirst. (Note: The leaves of citrus trees cup upward when thirsty, but avocados do the opposite.) When avocado trees are thirsty or stressed because of extremely high heat their leaves droop, sag, wilt. (For tips on preventing this, see my post “Protecting avocado trees from cold.”) After a frost kill, they appear black and curled they look burned, ironically. Young leaves like these are most vulnerable. If the temperature gets low enough, then leaves start to die. It’s a mottled, pixelated look that comes from nights that are too cold for comfort but not so cold as to kill the whole leaf. There’s no yellowing, and the spots are dark brown. Mite damage can mimic damage from other leaf stresses, such as when temperatures get too cold.Ĭold damage forms little dead spots between the veins and all over the leaf. ( See this page for information on identifying and managing avocado mites.) Sometimes you can even see their silvery webbing. Flip a leaf over to find the mites underneath doing the chewing.įeeding on the leaf veins like this indicates persea mites. Depending on the type of mite, the dots can be distributed across the whole leaf or concentrated near the veins. That’s the speckled look of avocado leaves when the tiny critters called mites have been feeding on them. And when they do, avocado leaves sometimes turn color but other times pattern, shape, or size. Here’s video of avocado trees in my yard in May of 2021, showing leaves in all natural stages: from red to lime green, to forest green, to yellow: that’s the colorful cycle of life for an avocado leaf. These leaves on a Reed avocado tree are farther along in the aging process. The above photo shows dying (“senescent,” say the botanists) leaves on a Fuerte avocado tree. The look could alarm you, as it alarmed me. If all is healthy with the tree and the soil below, then the leaves’ color will be uniform, not blotchy.īut at the end of their lives, avocado leaves begin to yellow, starting with their veins. with mature, forest green avocado leavesĪs the new, red leaves age they become light green and then deep green once mature. That’s just the way they grow ( even in the wild). While these are among the reddest new avocado leaves I’ve ever seen (they’re on a seedling tree), all new avocado leaves are reddish. Learning to read the leaves of your avocado trees can help you care for them, and it can help you just relax and appreciate their stages of life.ĭon’t let the red shock you. Many of the photos were taken in my yard but some were taken elsewhere. This is a small gallery of photos of avocado leaves along with explanations of why they look the way they do. With this post, I hope to calm your worries or clue you in when the leaves on your avocado trees take on unexpected appearances. I sent a photo to a seasoned avocado grower and he wrote back, “This is leaf senescence. It was my first avocado tree’s first winter when a couple leaves started getting yellow veins.
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