Lucuma yellowing leaves

[gacevedobolton]

Hi Folks,

My lucuma has recently started showing some yellow leaves. This happened after moving it from the backyard to the front, where it gets more sun, and unfortunately wind. (I'm in Costa Mesa, Zone 10b) I'm moving it back, but wanted to see if there are other factors I should be considering or looking out for. Generic searches for "yellow leaves" bring results of chlorosis, overwatering, underwatering, etc.

The tree has been doing well, other than the yellow leaves and not producing any flowers this year.

[Rob From Sydney]

Had a similar problem with a loquat seedling a bit back. I just gave it some seasol (liquid fertiliser) and it bounced back.

[gacevedobolton]

Thanks for the suggestion. It's still hard to get Seasol in the states unfortunately, will look for something comparable.

[j_tropical]

Iron Zinc Chelated Solution like 3032 helps reversing yellow leaf on many situation.
Please do post the result if/when you get success, might help others. thanks

[gacevedobolton]

Thanks for the suggestion on the iron zinc solution. Leaves continuing to yellow so will give that a try as well.

[Seanny]

Some leaves on my tree are turning yellow and dropping.
Probably time for the old leaves to go.

[NateTheGreat]

Looks like a weird potting mix. My lucuma love water. I don't think they'd enjoy being in a wood-chip-based mix.

[gacevedobolton]

What potting mix do you recommend? Alex from Papaya tree nursery had it in similar mix when I got the tree from him. I did add the chelated iron and zinc, let's see if that helps.

[NateTheGreat]

Well he probably knows best. I'd recommend something soil-based if possible. Ideally just in the ground. I have mine in a mix of peat and soil, and a bit of sand and gravel. For a while I worried since it would feel so heavy, like it was waterlogged, but cutting back on watering made them less happy, IIRC. This was a few years ago. Not sure if it's ideal, but the leaves look so different. Maybe it's a soft one and mine is firm or something. I keep thinking yours might be a feijoa.

[gacevedobolton]

Definitely not a Feijoa! It's the Pecan Pie variety that Alex sells. It seems to be putting out some new growth and also what looks like potential flowers buds. The soil itself was a mix of potting soil for acid loving plants and some regular potting soil. There might have been some wood flakes in the mix. Looks to have stabilized, so perhaps the iron/zinc and moving and sheltering from the wind helped.