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Why Are My Avocado Tree Leaves Drooping? (Reason #5 Will Amaze You!)

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Avocados are a culinary essential in so many households throughout the globe because they are wholesome, useful, and scrumptious. It is a miracle that can provide you with healthy rich nutrients, folate, healthy fats, vitamins, and fiber.

Avocado plants are incredibly easy to care for in the house. It means your home will remain evergreen thanks to their rich green foliage!

However, the sad part that keeps you considerate about their growth is the drooping of their leaves. You often end up wondering ‘why are my avocado tree leaves drooping?’.

Most of the time drooping in autumn is just a seasonal effect. Nevertheless, avocado plants can still survive such effects if properly taken care of.

Still, yellowing of the leaves and drooping can also be a sign of other causes. Have a look at the five possible reasons behind ‘why are my avocado tree leaves drooping?’.

Why Are My Avocado Tree Leaves Drooping 1
Repotted avocado plant 2 days ago and still drooping. Too much water? Too little water? Damaged roots maybe? – via Reddit

Why Are My Avocado Tree Leaves Drooping?

1. Over or Under Watering

In comparison to its growth phase water demands, an avocado plant’s water consumption decreases below the usual water requirements when it reaches its mature state, i.e., when it becomes a tree.

Overwatering

Overwatering an avocado tree can be easily traced by observing the presence of drooping pale green leaves. As a result, root rot generally occurs because the water stays for a longer period in the soil and the tree’s roots become submerged in it.

An avocado tree can survive for days without water, so watering once a week in summers is more than enough. You can change the watering schedule in winters to ensure its survival. Preferably watering after 15 to 20 days in winter would be enough.

To stop avocado trees from deteriorating because of overwatering, increase their exposure to sunlight and stop watering them for some days. If there are chances of possible fungal infection due to overwatering, spray fungicide.

Underwatering

Dull and flaccid leaves are a sign of underwatering. When not watered for longer periods, leaves lose their moisture, which causes potential damage to leaves and stems. Reviving an under-watered plant is quite easy. All you will have to do is to water it by providing shade from direct sunlight until it regains its tone.

2. Absence of Exposure to Sunlight

Avocado trees require the same amount of sunlight exposure as banana trees do. The absence of sunlight can cause life-threatening circumstances for the tree as they can barely bear shade for a longer span.

Even if you are keeping an avocado plant indoors, you’ll need to place them in an area exposed to direct sunlight. Avocado trees require at least six hours of direct sunlight exposure daily.

If kept in shade for a few days, it will start showing symptoms of lack of exposure to sunlight and leaves will end up getting droopy. The process of photosynthesis will get affected as a result of which fruits will not grow properly.

3. Pests Attack

Some of the most common threats to avocado trees that lead to drooping of leaves are:

  • Avocado Lace Bug: These are insects that look like tiny blacks spots which might seemingly get unnoticed if not inspected carefully.
  • Omnivorous Looper: These are yellow and dark green larvae with golden heads that grow older into caterpillars. They feed on the leaves and fruits of an avocado tree.
  • Western Avocado Leafroller: This is the same as loopers with a slight color difference.
  • Avocado Thrips: These are bright yellow-colored larvae with three red dots between their eyes.
  • Long-Tailed Mealybugs: These are bugs that feed on tree sap, reducing leaf vigor. They are capable of spreading sticky honeydew that destroys avocado fruits.

Place your avocado tree into the shade for some time and ensure to spray effective but less concentrated insecticides or pesticides.

Why Are My Avocado Tree Leaves Drooping 2
Please help!! Drooping leaves after putting my avocado plant in soil – via Reddit

4. Small Sized Pot

Plants require adequate space to grow their roots from the seedling stage to the growth stage. This is especially crucial to remember if your plant is in a pot because when grown in garden soil, the size of the pot becomes meaningless.

Small-sized pots should only be used when the plant is in the early stages of growth. If you start noticing plant growth, it’s better to choose a more spacious pot at least two to three inches bigger in diameter than the root ball.

If the pot is not changed, roots may adhere to the pot’s walls and attempt to absorb more water. Roots begin to die as a result of not being able to absorb enough water from the pot’s walls, causing the leaves to droop. 

While changing the pots, you will need to ensure that the roots adhering to the walls should be gently pulled out. Otherwise, it will give your plant a shock that may result in further depletion of leaves.

5. Transplant Shock

After talking about how important it is to repot the plant in a larger pot as it grows older, transplant shock is an important subtopic to explore because it has a lot to do with repotting the plant.

When a plant is repotted into a new pot, it experiences a closing of the stomata to limit the loss of water. As a result, the leaves start overheating, reducing the process of photosynthesis that happens because of a shock that the plant undergoes known as transplant shock. This shock happens typically due to the plant becoming accustomed to the prior pot’s surroundings.

However, sometimes it is not so severe but can be triggered by specific circumstances or actions, such as:

  • roots that haven’t matured,
  • plants under pest attack
  • drying off of roots due to delay in transplanting
  • too much sun exposure,
  • the plant might have borne a huge fall
  • excessive stress caused by loss of water.

Overcoming transplant shock is quite easy but needs patience. You can’t expect a result in one or two days. It might take at least one week for the plant to react, however, you can ensure its survival by keeping it in a shade for a few days with daily watering.


Conclusion

Lastly, if you are still worried that ‘why are my avocado tree leaves drooping?’ and you haven’t found a solution in the above pointers,.ask us in the comment section and we will help you out with a custom solution!

Dana

Monday 16th of October 2023

We very successfully grew a little guy from a seed with lots of growth and healthy leaves. We re-potted when the soil no longer absorb to the water quickly as we had researched. We moved it into a slightly larger well draining pot about 2 weeks ago. It’s droopy and the tips of the leaves are turning dark and crunchy. We backed off watering as it afraid it was possibly over watered but it still looks pretty sad.

Hoang Quang

Tuesday 17th of October 2023

Hi @Dana,

I'm sorry to hear that your Avocado tree is not doing well. There could be many reasons for the plant to show signs of distress.

One possibility is transplantation shock, as the problems started after you re-potted your little guy. Make sure you are providing your plant with the same care as before, including proper watering (down to at least 2 feet of the soil - underwatering your plant can also cause droopy leaves), adequate sunlight, and adequate nutrition.

Tip burn can occur due to root rot or salt accumulation. Check if the roots appear dark and mushy. If so, your plant is suffering from root rot, and you were right about overwatering it.

You may also want to get a salinity test done to see if there are any sodium or chloride salts in the soil. Too much fertilizer is a common cause of salt buildup.

It's important to diagnose the issue accurately before taking action.

I hope this helps, and please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions!