The Tropical Fruit Forum

It definitely looks like a ROOT problem.
Evidently roots can't absorb water/nutrients and this brings all the symptoms you see on the tree.
Success/failure of any tree is mainly under the ground and this is particularly true for avocado.
I'd try to dig a litle bit in several spots at different distance around the tree trunk to visually inspect the status of the roots.
Ideally you should find a thick net of thousands of healthy white/creamy coloured feeding roots.
If they are not present or they are dark brown/black then you should start to worry A LOT....

Ah Ok, thanks for your reply,  then i can have peace of mind.
I would'nt like to grow a SOURSOP thinking it's an ilama and then finding out after several years that i was wrong 

I think absolutely NOT.
Tha said, I'd prefer budwood from a health tree instead

Black sapote?
Some people say the taste is very bland, is it true?

That's definitely a great news Mike 
You've both white and pink/red fleshed varieties?
what can you say about the taste?

Holy s.....what kind of temperatures/humidity/wind speed  range you had to experience such an awful damage?

No Brian they are not. Look at the last picture and compare them to the normal ones very "fresh" and pointing upwards.
These ones look "sad" and even at the touch it seems they are lacking water....bad sign since the tree is well hydrated...

YES thorns are really scary but they disappear on mature trees and high branches :-)

I strongly doubt yours are really Flacourtia Jangomas.
Don't trust any vernacular names (coffee plum, indian plum, governor's plum...) because they can be deceiving.
Mine is locally called SARALI and just after a long research i found out to be actually Flacourtia Jangomas.

I post some pictures .
This is the actual tree, 5 years old from seed (more like a big shrub about 3m tall)





The long, sharp and scary thorns along the base of trunk and main brunches. Thanks god the upper branches and canopy are thornless





Here a detail of leaves and young fruits. At the moment unfortunately no flowers









Here the fruits, most of them are  in nice clusters









Here is a ripe fruit. It's a tiny fruit, about 9-10 grams. Skin turns deep purple, it's thin and edible.
Flesh is deep yellow  firm ad a bit juicy if fully ripe.
Taste is very pleasant, strong, sweet with a hint of sour and tangy. If eaten unripe it can be very astringent
Seeds are flat and don't bother










Very easy to grow, mine is actually on a thin limestone layer among rocks.
All in all i love it :-)

Many thanks to the administrators and contributors to this Forum..
I learnt and I'm learning so much here.
You can count me in
Lorenzo

Beautiful harvest Lory! What does the Annona taste like?

If you mean the Guyabano, annona muricata is sweet with a hint of pleasant acidity, excellent fruit.
Soursop has several named and unnamed varieties and they can GREATLY differ concerning fruit quality and taste, some being extremely sour some really sweet

Thanks Guanabanus. Never mind you have no experience with durian. Your experience in other crops can help. I am a retired man planting some tropical fruits mainly durian. Beside fungal diseases, this fruit has many other problems such as uneven ripening. Some fruits remain hard even after 2-3 days after dropping from tree. When the pulp is hard, not the normal tender soft,could it be due to over N or K. When seeing heavy leaf drop, I applied 1-2 kg of 15-5-20 per tree about 2 months after an thesis. The early clone like musang king takes only 90 days to mature.

I completely agree.
Just back from a trip to Davao, Mindanao island.
Apart from the cultivated ones, there are thousands of Marang, Mangosteen, Soursop and Durian trees growing beautifully without any care.
Soil in that area is of vulcanic origin, naturally rich not only in N, P and K but especially in Iron, Manganese, Zinc, Magnesium, Sulphur, MOlibdenum, Boron.....all these micronutrients make a HUGE difference....together with a neutral-slightly acidic pH....