From some of my Adenium seedlings the leaf tips are drying, and eventually fall off. It seems to be only the oldest leaf tips, and not all of them do have it. The new leaves are all fine. What is the reason for this, and is it normal?

Hi Willeke!

I'm glad you posted this question. It made me peruse the internet to find answers to this issue and I learned a number of things. The reason runs the gamut: over-watering, under-watering, too much fertilizer, salt build-up, fluoride in the water, climate change, transplanting...and many other reasons that cause stress to the plant.

Bottom line is that it is not caused by a disease...it is a symptom of the plant having gone through some kind of stress (past tense). And this browning of leaf tips occurs in virtually any plant form. @RickCorey What say you?

Thanks Kadie. I hope I can transplant them soon. Than it is better to keep an eye on it. I will take a better eye on watering from now on. Glad that the new leaves are fine though.

Me too, Willeke, me too! I sympathize with what you are going through. You're a good mommy!

I commented on the same thing last month. I attributed it to the plants being touched/rubbed by adjacent plants and the inadvertent contact with my homemade insecticidal soap. I was told dormancy played a part in the leaf-loss I was seeing.

Perhaps dormancy can also play a part in it. It is a strange thing that not all of the plants do have it, and also only the older leaves. The problem is that mine are in trays with no hole in it. So it is difficult to keep track of the water they get. Also with fertilizing I can not clean the water between to fertilizer periods.

Leaf changes from January to February.

1/4/16

2/8/16

Yours are way more dramatic than mine. I only have a few of my plants loosing some older leaves. Most of them are still fine sofar. They only loose one or 2 leaves sofar. The bottom leaves. Yours are much worse.

Probably because of their exposure to the insecticide, Willeke. All that has changed now. New leaves are growing and none of the remaining older leaves are browning/dropping.

That is good news Ken. At least you did learn a valuable lesson now. Hope they will be in good shape soon, and make nice new branches.

Hi Kadie and Willeke.

I think you got better answers than I have! I would have focused only on my own greatest fear for potted plants, too much fertilizer or salt build-up. When I heard "no drainage holes" I would have assumed that was the whole problem.

But keep an open mind!

When you transplant them, will they go into pots or into the ground? If you put them in pots, I hope the pots will have drainage holes and you will remove or flush the old mix to remove as many fertilizer salts as practical. But I always focus on drainage, and I blame bad drainage for every possible problem.

>> not all of the plants do have it, and also only the older leaves.

I think that's the most important symptom. I think it means the plants are fairly happy and are not in any danger yet.

Thanks Rick.

I guess the drainage can be the problem. Because of the lack of it I can not flush the soil. So it is possible they get to much salt build up in the soil. Perhaps I better not give them fertilizer every time. Better give them clear water once in a while.

Thank you @RickCorey for your reply and insight.

The tap water over here leaves hard-water deposits such as salt, calcium, and other minerals. I see these white deposits on the wall inside the pot as well as around the drainage holes. I agree that flushing the plant's soil media with rain or filtered water from time to time is a good thing.

Because of previous experiences, I shy away from using chemical fertilizers...they have a high salt content. Two of the fertilizers I use now are bone meal incorporated into the soil media at transplant, and fish emulsion liquid about every 4 weeks. As far as I know, these do not have salts.

I also do not use chemical fertilizer. I have a biological and seaweed emulsion. I only think I do use it to often perhaps. I give a lot more often than once every 4 weeks.

I have seen that too with my Adeniums, it will slowly dry out the leaf tips and drop the older leaves especially if those leaves are the leftover during dormancy or previous growing season, and the new ones will sprout later on. I used to wonder if my plant is sick and observing other plants here, they do the same, drop the older ones, and come up with the new one. Just natural leaf senescense as seasons change, that is how I see it. The plant is slowly reallocating its resources to new growth.

I would be more concerned if the branches, stem or caudex is getting soft and drying up..then a disease is on hand.

For seedlings it is perfectly okay to use weekly. I was referring to the seedlings that have already been transplanted into their 4" pots with bone meal amended soil media.

Why are they getting dried leaves than if I can use it weakly. Is the concentration to high, or should I flush in between two fertilizing times.

Rainbow said:The reason runs the gamut: over-watering, under-watering, too much fertilizer, salt build-up, fluoride in the water, climate change, transplanting...and many other reasons that cause stress to the plant.

Bottom line is that it is not caused by a disease...it is a symptom of the plant having gone through some kind of stress (past tense).

Willeke, the new leaves are not affected, so perhaps the cause had been rectified already. Flushing every other week is a good idea.

Thanks Kadie. Will do that.