White Sapote - Yellow Leaves

Tepary

I live in Los Angeles (near Santa Monica). I planted this White Sapote in a whiskey barrel about a year ago. It has barely grown and now it has yellow leaves, although it also has some new growth.

Any advice? Attached are a few photos.

Thanks!

-Robert

Attached Thumbnails

     

Bowani Siam

Hi!

The yellowing and dropping of the old leaves could be due to sudden temperature fluctuation, dry conditions or overly wet conditions. It could also be due to a lack of Nitrogen. There could also be grubs in the container chewing on the roots. In fact, it could be due to a number of things!:

http://bit.ly/m5VD29

White Sapotes, (Casimiroa edulis), respond well to Citrus fertiliser and high amounts of well-composted organic matter.

Is yours grafted onto a dwarfing understock?

White Sapote is a pretty big tree in the wild that needs to be pruned regularly if you wish to grow it in a container long term. Wine barrels are good to grow plants in but unless they are lined they tend to lose moisture pretty quickly. In fact, the wood draws moisture away from the soil.

Seeing as it has good-lookin' new growth, I wouldn't be too worried about it. Just make sure it's plenty warm and has constant moisture but not inundation. A good way to regulate the temperature in pots is to mulch well, keeping mulch away from the trunk!

Tepary

Thank you very_sarcastic for your sincere reply. I'll bet there is too much moisture. I've been wanting to get a high quality moisture probe and maybe now is the time.

I'll give the tree some citrus fertilizer, too.

Thanks again for your help.

-Robert