Spots on avocado tree leaves

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nealdt Lakewood, CA Feb 27, 2013

Hello,

I planted a Holiday avocado in my back yard last year, and for the past 2-3 months I've noticed small spots on the leaves that I'm having trouble identifying.

The first and third picture attached show small brown spots on the underside of the leaves, and how it looks from the topside as well. I thought they might be persea mites or similar, but all the material I've read about those mites says that the spots would be aligned along the veins like this: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/O/I-AC-OPER-CD.012.html . Also, I haven't found any of the characteristic "silky web" nests that the mites are supposed to make. Am I being too literal in interpreting "along the veins"? Or is this some other pest/disease?

Also, the second picture shows (probably) unrelated damage on some of the upper leaves, large brown blotchy spots. The tips I know are just leaf tip burn, but the spots are more worrying and don't match anything I can find on Google. Does anyone know what this might be?

Thank you for all your help.

Thumbnail by nealdt Thumbnail by nealdt Thumbnail by nealdt
Post #9433721
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OCCAROL Santa Ana, CA(Zone 10b) Feb 27, 2013

Wish I could help you! I had to look up Holiday Avocado, as I hadn't heard of it before now. Persea mites are a gimmee on avocado trees, and I've never seen (even with a magnifing glass) the webbing. I have tried everything from spraying to predatory mites on my Pinkerton, to no avail. That is what your first photo looks like though. I don't recognise the spots in the second photo. You say leaf tip burn in your comments...that is usually caused by salt burn...either over fertilizing or our hard water. We haven't had enough rain this year to leach the salts below the root zone, so maybe a deep soaking would help that. I can tell you what cold damage / sunburn look like, but I don't see either in your pics. Hope someone that KNOWS avocados chimes in here! Now you know why they're so expensive in the markets! LOL!

This message was edited Feb 27, 2013 5:18 PM

Post #9434048
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themoonhowl Prairieville, LA(Zone 9a) Mar 07, 2013

Possibly fecal deposits from thrips? Here is a link that may be of use

https://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/530-27.pdf

Post #9441795
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picturelady1 San Antonio, TX Apr 08, 2013

I'm not an expert by any means, but I noticed some of leaves on my tree had the same thing, what I did was look at the leaf, all mine that had this were old leaves. So I plucked them off or they eventually turned yellow and fell off.
Look at the new leaves and see if they have any of these spots. If so they you have an issue with pests or you could be watering too much. The soil should be totally dry before soaking again. Most of the time I do a good soaking once a week on the same day.

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