Beginner Gardening: My 8' tall Kona coffee tree is fruiting... and dying! Help!, 0 by rattusses
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Subject: My 8' tall Kona coffee tree is fruiting... and dying! Help!
Forum: Beginner Gardening
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rattusses wrote: My coffee tree has absolutely shot up in the past year and a half. It had a terrible case of scales for much of its young life, until I came along to rid it of the little buggers. It has about doubled in size since it was cured. It flowered profusely, and currently has over 100 cherries ripening on its branches. The problem is, it has been dropping leaves from the middle for over a year. The leaf drop has gotten progressively worse and now sheds about 4-8 per week - that's a lot! They are constantly curling and browning. Now, three of the limbs have started to shrivel from the ends. This has me really worried! The leaves on the top are fine. History: I repotted it Thanksgiving '09 (it had started dropping leaves before that, and I thought potting it up might help) and the roots looked and smelled good. I used a cactus/palm mix for the soil. For fertilizer, I used those Jobe sticks for about 6 months, then read they were bad news. I pulled them out and the only fertilization I have done is a monthly 10-10-10. About a month ago, I started fertilizing with a little kelp (it's a .3, .25, .15) with its watering. It gets watered enough to drain into the saucer, about every 5-6 days. In analyzing its care, I realized that I shouldn't be letting the soil absorb the water that has drained, so I raised the pot up about an inch to allow the water to evaporate instead. I also read another thread about coffee plant issues, and my best guess was nitrogen issues. I have started fertilizing it more, with little change. What should I do to make sure my beautiful tree doesn't die? http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg0518524... Close-up: http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s262/a1issa/coffee-2.jpg Full tree: http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s262/a1issa/coffee-1.jpg Flowering, in May: http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s262/a1issa/IMG_1266.jpg http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s262/a1issa/IMG_1266.jpg |