Are you starting to notice that the leaves of your soursop tree are turning yellow and don’t know what to do? There are many reasons why this can happen to your tree. And in this post, I will enumerate each of the possible reasons why this is happening to your soursop tree. In addition, I will also include the things that you can or not do to treat your soursop leaves before the problem gets worse.
6 Reasons why leaves of Soursop tree turns yellow
Nutrient Deficiency
It is very common for the soursop tree’s leaves to turn yellow if the tree itself is lacking nutrients. The yellowing of your tree’s leaves might be a result of a number of nutrient deficiencies. This includes zinc, iron, manganese, copper, silicon, or boron. You can test the soil where your tree is planted to figure out what nutrient is lacking.
Water Deficiency
Another common cause for your soursop tree’s leaves to turn yellow is the inadequate amount of water that it gets. The yellowing of your tree’s leaves is a common sign of underwatering. You won’t be able to notice this easily, so it is important to check your irrigation system regularly to prevent this from happening.
Overwatering
On the other hand, much like underwatering, overwatering can also cause your soursop tree’s leaves to turn yellow. The water can clog the tree’s roots. This will mean that your tree’s roots won’t be able to function properly and will have a hard time delivering nutrients to your tree’s leaves. It is a very common cause of your tree’s leaves turning yellow. Soursop trees would always want consistently moist soil, but overwatering them is a problem for them.
Tree Diseases
Diseases, such as the apple mosaic virus, can cause your soursop tree’s leaves to turn yellow. This is not good news for your tree, as they are not treatable. The only thing you can do is prevent the virus from spreading by not planting another tree of the same variety near the infected one. This is very easy to notice, especially if there is only one tree that has yellow leaves among the other trees that are there.
Senescence
It is unusual for the leaves of a soursop tree to begin turning yellow while it is still summer. However, they often start to turn yellow when you start harvesting their fruits. There are also cases where the leaves turn yellow after the harvest period. It follows a pattern where the leaves will stay green and continue doing their job while the tree is in its bearing period. But once the fruits have been picked, your soursop tree will rapidly go into winter dormancy, or what we call senescence.
Leaves’ Age
Like everything else, even the leaves of your soursop tree won’t be able to escape time. They will turn yellow over time and start to fall. This is not a problem at all because it is natural and you wouldn’t be able to do it even if you wanted to do something.
How to fix yellow leaves on my soursop?
The first thing that you will have to do if you start noticing that the leaves of your soursop tree start turning yellow is to find out the root of the problem so you can think of a solution. There are many causes, as mentioned above, so it is important to figure out the real cause so that you don’t worsen the tree’s problem just by guessing.
- When you have determined that the cause of the yellowing leaves is nutrient deficiency, it is important to first check the soil and figure out what nutrient is lacking so you can add the said nutrient to your soil to overturn the yellowing of your soursop tree’s leaves.
- If by any chance, your tree is just underwater, the solution is really simple. You will just need to give your tree more water than you initially gave it. This is a very little thing to do that is just overlooked because of how simple it is. Or if you are using an irrigation system, make sure that there are no problems with it and that the water is reaching the tree.
- On the other hand, if you have determined that your soursop tree is overwatered, you must refrain from watering it too much. You can also check the soil to see if it drains water well, as this is a very important thing that prevents your tree from being overwatered. You can easily notice overwatering if you have many trees of the same variety planted next to each other; the only tree that is being overwatered will have yellow leaves.
- A tree’s diseases are oftentimes not treatable, so the best thing that you can do is to just look after your tree as best as you can. And you can also do your best to keep the virus from spreading to the other trees that are planted near your soursop tree.
- As for senescence and old age, there is nothing much you can do for the leaves that have turned yellow except let them fall or prune them yourselves. This will encourage a new set of leaves to grow on your soursop trees. This will take a load off the roots too, as they won’t have to provide nutrients to the old and yellow leaves. Instead, they can just focus on the new set of leaves that are growing.
Conclusion
There are many causes as to why your soursop tree’s leaves are turning yellow. However, once you notice the problem, you should not panic because there are numerous ways to treat your soursop tree, as there are numerous causes of its yellowing leaves. You must calmly figure out what the problem is before applying the proper treatment that your soursop tree deserves. Your soursop tree’s issue won’t get any better if you treat it carelessly.
Elizabeth Mcmillan is a passionate gardener with a strong interest in plants. She used to be a teacher, but Elizabeth has spent the last few years immersing herself in the world of plants, learning about their biology and cultural value and trying out different ways of growing them in her own garden. Elizabeth Mcmillan loves indoor plants, succulents, and cacti, and her friends and family know her as a plant care expert.
