Wednesday, March 28, 2007

 

I'm burning, I'm burning...

Every time I think I'm making progress, my avocado plant lets me know that this isn't the case.

Throughout the winter, the tiny greenhouse had been keeping the plant just warm enough to keep going. The inside always seemed damp with condensation on the walls, even when the garden was covered in a layer of snow. And every time I touched the soil, it seemed wet as well. What I don't think was happening, though, was any of this moisture was reaching down to the roots.

So cold wasn't the biggest danger, it was me not thinking I needed to water the plant. The end result is that the leaves at the extremities of the plant turned to brown crisps - which showed how cocky I had got as that sort of change doesn't happen overnight.

Similarly, the twigs the leaves were on were so dry they snapped easily.  The damage only affects the thin, upper twigs and the top 6 inches of the main stem as the rest is healthy, as you can see from the long leafy branches lower down.

Hopefully, in the summer the leaves will come back again although dehydration does seem to be a common problem at that time of year too.

Maybe I should go and find out how to grow avocados properly. I wonder, for example, if they appreciate ants digging a large nest into the earth in the pot as I spotted today.
Parched avocado plant
Parched avocado plant
Parched avocado plant

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