Melaleuca losing leaves

[Daniel C]

Hi All,

These two Melaleuca were potted about a month ago and have been losing a few leaves especially recently. I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of some good resources on what conditions they enjoy or have any general advice?

Is it a case of not enough water? Any help would be appreciated.

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[Raging Bull]

Hi Daniel, they appear to have healthy green growing tips but dead and dying leaves that are a bit older. I would suggest they are under stress from irregular or insufficient watering. You haven't given your location or their growing conditions, i,e. full sun all day, part shade etc. If you have a very free draining potting mix they may have dried out on a hot day in the past and are now recovering and dropping the older leaves that were stressed.

[Daniel C]

Hi @Raging Bull,

Thanks for your reply. This is in Melbourne and they get sun for most of the day until the afternoon. There were a few hot days recently and there have been some days I've missed watering.

My plan is to water daily. The plants are in free draining standard bonsai soil mix.

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[tgward]

is that some sort of mould or fungus on the background plant?

[Bougy Fan]

Whenever I repot a mel that has leaves I sit it in a saucer of water. Have not had any issues since I started doing this.

[Daniel C]

I'll have to check if there is any mould on the background hedge.

I did read about putting them in a tray of water. Is it something you do long term or just after repotting?

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[dansai]

You can leave them in water all the time, although a lot of people only do it over the warmer months.

Can I ask what your potting mix is like? I know you said it's a standard Bonsai mix, but a "standard" mix doesn't exist. Is that a gravel dressing on top? Or is the whole mix that gravelly? If it is, it would be drying out very quickly and may need watering multiple times a day during warm weather. Most Mels love water.

[Daniel C]

This is what the nursery I usually goes to calls "Bonsai potting mix" but I honestly don't know exactly what it consists of. I'll need to ask them next time I go.

I believe you want free draining soil most of the time so the roots don't rot but haven't fully wrapped my head around the best kind of soil for each tree.

Thanks for all the advice anyway.

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[Daniel C]

Yes, just a gravel dressing on top and the soil mix for the rest with a small layer of pebbles at the base.

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[dansai]

The mix looks good, but it will dry out quick. So either leave the tree in a tray of water over winter or water twice a day while hot. Personally I've only ever lost natives to under watering, never overwatering. And I water a lot!

[Stevie_B]

Hope I haven’t high jacked the post, but does the Mel have a problem with root pruning too much off? Would going too hard on the roots cause enough stress to cause leaves dropping?

[Promethius]

This is what the nursery I usually goes to calls "Bonsai potting mix" but I honestly don't know exactly what it consists of. I'll need to ask them next time I go.

Wouldn't be Gardenworld, by any chance? Looks like mix I've used from there in the past. I had issues using it straight from the pack, because I stupidly assumed it would magically not have any small particles whatsoever. It became a solid claylike mass in all my pots and sadness ensued. It's not a problem with the mix, just the operator. Like any substrate, it should be sifted first to remove small particles. Works quite well now that I do that regularly.

Probably nothing to do with your current issues, given the recent repot. Just a friendly heads-up.

Edit: just realised the age of the original post. Oops.

[dansai]

Hope I haven’t high jacked the post, but does the Mel have a problem with root pruning too much off? Would going too hard on the roots cause enough stress to cause leaves dropping?

Quite possibly as there are less roots to take up water. But most Mels will bounce back if kept moist.