Why are avocado leaves turning brown?

Avocados are popular plants to keep at home. Let’s look at a common problem: avocado leaves turning brown (leaf burn) and how to stop it.

The name of an alligator pear can often refer to avocado as one of the fruits that belong to Persea Americana, belonging to the family of Lauraceae, A native tree of The Western Hemisphere from Mexico south up to the Andean regions.

Avocado fruits on a tree
Avocado fruits on a tree

What is an Avocado?

Avocado fruits have the appearance that is green or yellowish in the flesh. They are similar to butter and have a sweet and nutty flavor. Mash avocados form the principal ingredient in guacamole, a famous sauce that is a staple in Mexican food. In some varieties, avocados are high in vitamin A, thiamin, and riboflavin, and the flesh may contain as much as 25 percent unsaturated oil. They have eggs-shaped leaves or elliptic ones that measure between 10 and 30 centimeters (4-12 inches) in length.

A cut avocado. The seed is in the center and covered by the flesh.
A cut avocado. The seed is in the center and covered by the flesh.

Why are avocado leaves turning brown?

One of the most visible signs is avocado leaves turning brown. The browning of avocado tree leaves is often due to salt accumulation in the soil. Dry conditions may also play a part. Inadequate irrigation can also contribute to avocado leaf burning. However, dry winds can also dehydrate the leaves and frost could play a role.

Why are avocado leaves turning brown?
Why are avocado leaves turning brown?

Under-watering

Avocado trees that aren’t properly watered may result in brown leaves since the roots do not contain enough water to feed cool or cool leaves. If there is sufficient moisture in the first four inches of soil, the avocado roots will stay cool and hydrated and in cooling and hydrating other parts of the plant.

Sunburnt

The sun’s rays can cause avocado trees to become brown. Put, they get dry. While it’s difficult to tell whether the sun’s rays are making the leaves brown, it is important to ensure that the tree is receiving enough water. Then, you can look at the sun, frost and then analyze the salt and chlorine levels in the water. If you’re giving your tree enough irrigation to ensure that the soil is moist, but the tree’s leaves are brown make sure that the tree isn’t spraying from the sun. Similar to other tropical fruiting trees, avocados prefer full sun.

Too much sun can cause the soil around the avocado to get dry and cause brown leaves.
Too much sun can cause the soil around the avocado to get dry and cause brown leaves.

Frost

Frost can also eat away avocado leaves and cause the leaves to brown. Contrary to other reasons for the problem, the main method of determining whether frost damages the avocado tree is if leaves curl and turn brown. It is usually recommended to avoid letting your avocado trees get exposed to temperatures lower than 25oF when the possibility exists.

Salt Accumulation

Sometimes avocado leaves change color because of the rise in chloride and sodium salts. When the avocado’s leaves turn brown because of salt accumulation, the reason is usually due to irrigation. Other factors could be at play, such as a lack of soil moisture, excessive fertilizer usage, poor quality salinity, or even the absence of water and light irrigation.

Iron Deficiency

The lack of iron in avocado trees could be seen in soils that have an alkaline pH. Iron deficiency can be found on avocado trees due to the tip burn. You might often observe a slight change in the veins turning yellow and leaves dropping.

Fungus (Anthracnose)

Avocado anthracnose is the result of the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. If you observe changes on the leaves of your avocado, you may observe that the leaves start to turn yellow before becoming tips burned before changing to brown. It can cause leaves to drop, lesions appearing on the shoots and lesions on the fruit, and the decay of the fruit—the spores of fungal infection capable of spreading via splashing water.

Examples of how avocado tip burn evolve over time.
Examples of how avocado tip burn evolve over time.

How to stop the avocado leaves from turning brown?

  • One way to avoid burning caused by avocado leaf burns is to supply the tree with frequent, thorough irrigation. Since this tree’s tropical in its nature, it’s well-adapted to climates with long heavy, heavy rains and not short, shallow ones. If your garden is getting dry, consider mulching with leaves and pine needles to improve water retention in the soil.
  • To eliminate salt from the soil, you can use deep watering vinegar, reverse osmosis, reverse osmosis, and chemical amending. The most efficient methods to eradicate salt are deep watering or vinegar as a solution.
  • Avocado leaves turning brown may result from the excessive application of fertilizers. The process of deep watering helps to release fertilizers too. Be sure to add the right amount of fertilizer following the label directions.
  • If the frost is heavier or longer, you might want to cover your avocado trees outside with sheets or bring the avocado plants inside until the glaze has gone.
  • If you live in a hot and dry climate, you may need to water your plants regularly.
It's very common that the tips of the avocado leaves 
start turning brown and then fall off.
It’s very common that the tips of the avocado leaves
start turning brown and then fall off.
  • The mature avocado trees possess a large canopy that covers all directions. The roots are as long as the shelter and sometimes even farther. To water the origins, you need to sprinkle water along the edges of the canopy and not directly on the trunk of your tree.

How to reduce Salt Accumulation in Soil

Follow few step to reduce the salt accumulation in soil.

Deep watering

To ensure consistent watering takes place, the water hose near to the tree’s root and let it run.

Vinegar

In a 4L watering, added 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar to water Avocado that was beginning to brown.

Reverse osmosis

Reverse Osmosis involves using an electric pump to increase pressure on the RO salt side. This causes water to move through the semi-permeable RO membrane. Dissolved salts are almost completely removed from the reject stream (roughly 95% to 99%)

Properties of water

Certain kinds of water have less chlorine than others. Here are some examples of high and low chlorinated water.

High Chlorine Water

  • Tap water
  • Irrigation water
  • Most other treated waters

Low Chlorine Water

  • Rain water
  • Chlorine-evaporated water
  • Charcoal-filtered water

What should I do once the avocado leaves are turning brown?

It’s common for as high as 10 percent of leaves to change color. There’s no reason to do anything unless the percentage is greater than this. Additionally, there’s no need to trim the brown-tipped leaf away from your plant. The remaining leaves are still in use, and leaves will shed themselves whenever needed. It is a fantastic mulch and could also aid the other plant species in your yard, especially when you have plants that are a companion to those avocado plants!

It is vital to know that when you increase humidity, the damaged leaves will not change color, and the new leaves won’t change to brown. Additionally, the excessive moisture won’t cure brown leaves; it will stop any further damage.

Algal Leaf Spot of Avocado

It’s easy to spot the avocado leaf disease when the yellowish, green, or red-orange spots appear in a mass in the leaf of avocado. It’s a small-scale disease that occurs mostly in areas with the production of tropical avocados. It’s extremely common in an avocado plant in the southern part of Florida. These symptoms appear first on the leaf’s upper surfaces and can be characterized by green, yellowish or rusty spots. Sometimes the areas expand to branches and twigs, or they join to create larger blobs of damaged tissue. The most common symptoms are during the summer and fall months.

Leaf Spot Treatment

If younger trees or are important landscaping plants are affected, treating the spots on the leaves of avocado is easy. While the sites may not disappear following treatment, it is possible to stop the formation of new places by reducing the size of the tree and spraying them by spraying copper with fungicide.

Don’t forget to check out our other blog about Why is My Avocado Plant Dying?