Avocado trees are a challenge in patience. It can take years for them to bear fruit, and it can take over a decade when you grow them from a seed. The long growth time means there are plenty of opportunities to run into problems. One common problem is drooping leaves. You may be wondering, ‘why are my avocado leaves drooping? Let’s find out!
Reasons Avocado Leaves Droop
Many things can cause drooping leaves. They’re all pretty easy to fix.
Overwatering and Underwatering
It’s typical for overwatering and underwatering a plant to share symptoms. In this case, both of these can make avocado leaves droop. Ensure you water your avocado tree correctly.
Overwatering can cause many different issues other than drooping leaves. It can lead to fungal diseases like root rot. When you overwater your avocado tree, it can’t absorb oxygen properly, leading to droopy leaves and death.
Underwatering your avocado tree is far less common than overwatering. They don’t need to soak in water to survive, so don’t assume underwatering when you see these symptoms unless the soil is very dry and you know it hasn’t seen water in a long time. Underwatering will cause dry leaves when they droop, which isn’t present in cases of overwatering.
Not Enough Sunlight
Avocado trees need a lot of sunlight. These plants need direct sunlight for at least six hours every day. If yours is an inside plant, it may not get enough sunlight and start to droop.
Transplant Shock
When you repot your avocado tree, it may not adjust well to its new home. When this happens, your plant gets what is called transplant shock. It takes precious energy to adapt to new soil, a new pot, and any other new circumstances when a plant gets repotted.
What Can You Do About Drooping Avocado Leaves?
Now that you know the potential causes of drooping leaves, what can you do to help your avocado tree?
What To Do if You Overwater or Underwater Your Avocado Tree?
If your avocado tree is overwatered, you need to water it less. Wait to water the tree again until the soil is dry two inches down or until a moisture meter says the soil is dry. You can water your plant the right amount but still see symptoms of overwatering. If the soil doesn’t drain well enough, it will hold too much water, leading to overwatering symptoms. You will need to change the soil for something more suitable with better drainage.
Underwatering your avocado plant is far less likely. In this case, you should increase watering frequency when you see the leaves are limp but crunchy.
Not Enough Sunlight
Helping your avocado tree get more sunlight seems simple on the surface. You just need to move it somewhere with more light. However, if your plant is inside, you may not have a more suitable place. Avocado trees can withstand a bit of shade. If you can find a spot near a window for it with less shade, you may see improvements just from that.
If you don’t have a good place to grow your tree, you will need a grow light to meet its sunlight needs.
Transplant Shock
If you just repotted your avocado tree and it shows symptoms of transplant shock, you may be able to avoid making any significant changes to the rest of its care, like giving it more or less water. In fact, more changes may make it worse.
When your plant suffers from transplant shock, the best thing to do is to wait it out. It needs time to adjust to its new pot, soil, or environment. Leaving the plant alone is the best move. Only water it when necessary, and don’t move it while it adjusts.
If the drooping subsides and your plant goes back to being healthy after a bit of time, you were likely just dealing with transplant shock.
In Conclusion
There are many causes of drooping leaves in avocado trees, but they are all easily fixable. Soon your plant will be back in good health!