Author Topic: Starfruit / carambola problems, advice needed!  (Read 361 times)

LostBoy_Dani

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Starfruit / carambola problems, advice needed!
« on: April 20, 2023, 07:00:00 PM »
Hello all! I have a young carambola I got around a year ago, and it's always sort of struggled. I recently a few weeks ago repotted it. It's in an area with mostly shade, but a bit of morning sun because I felt that would be best. I also amended the soil so it's got better drainage. It's having a hard time and has had some defoliation and decline but I'm unsure if it's transplant shock, too much rain (we have had MUCH more than usual in SoCal zone 10A), too much cold at night, nutrition, disease, or what! I'm still new so can't always tell what the problem is with something that sounds generic to me like "brown leaf tips" :(( can anyone assist in seeing what's wrong and if I need to do something different? Or does it just need time to adjust?






K-Rimes

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Re: Starfruit / carambola problems, advice needed!
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2023, 07:09:34 PM »
I also had many that struggled, especially in pots and killed most of them. They like to be moist, but not soaked, and they get upset like yours look when over OR under watered.

They look AWESOME ever since I put them in the ground in 10a, so I don't think your climate is the problem. If you have soil to put them in, I would recommend doing so.

digigarden

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Re: Starfruit / carambola problems, advice needed!
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2023, 07:54:22 PM »
Probably the sun is too harsh/too cold/air too dry.

Carambola is literally UNKILLABLE over here. You can remove an established tree but it will come back forever.

SHV

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Re: Starfruit / carambola problems, advice needed!
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2023, 10:09:12 AM »
This time of year, my carambola always looks like trash coming out of a CA winter. Lots of defoliation and the tree looks half dead, then it comes back with a vengeance.  If you don’t see new growth in the next several weeks following the recent weather improvement, then it’s time to start worrying. 
Don’t be afraid to give it a little more sun.  I planted mine in the ground in full sun 6 years ago and it’s grown like a champ.

LostBoy_Dani

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Re: Starfruit / carambola problems, advice needed!
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2023, 05:50:07 PM »
Thanks everyone! Today I ended up doing a rescue mission since it really didn't look well. Did this both with my carambola, and also a Soursop I have that was practically dead. I was a bit aggressive, since it looked like it was going to die anyways so why not do a last ditch effort of something more intense

Took the tree out, removed soil and cleaned pot. There was def rotting roots. You could smell it and there were brown patches of soft roots. I cleaned the root ball with the hose, being quite aggressive and removing all the dead / rotting roots I could, just using my hands and water so I could really feel where the roots were soft and also be more gentle (I have a neuromuscular condition that affects my coordination so often when using tools I have even more trouble knowing how much force to exert and can't control it as precisely as I want, so I use my hands for most things). I removed as much of the soil from the roots as I could. I spent quite a lot of time just cleaning it up so there was as little rotting root and soil as I could remove. New soil, lots of draining, no compost, soil is just sand, coco coir, and a bit of azomite and rock phosphate. I dipped the roots in copper fungicide, a bit worried that will be too aggressive but I was confident that if I didn't, residual disease would still remain and just keep spreading. Potted them up, and watered them in with the liquid version of rock phosphate. I'm hoping they will pull through, I know I was very aggressive but so far I've found that many plants I do this with have fared better than ones I've tried to rescue with more gentle means. We will see! Fingers crossed!