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I grew a mango tree from seed five months ago. At first, it grew normally, but when other leaves were about to grow, they just dried out, got really hard and fell off. They had cca five millimeters. Now every time new leaves start growing, I have to slightly water them - just the little growing leaves - at least 10 times a day for them not to dry. And I really have no idea why is this happening, even though I live in Czech republic. My sister doesn't have problems with mango leaves at all... I started growing another mango tree and it did exactly the same thing, which you can see in the picture. By the way, I'm sorry for my bad english.

mango tree leaves

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Don' apologize for your English. I wish I had taken the time to learn a second language! A few questions? Is this potting soil from a bag or is this soil from your garden? Is your plant living out of doors or indoors? What have you used for fertilizer? What does cca 5 mm mean?

Your plant has serious Phosphorus deficiency for sure and it looks as if someone is eating the leaves of your plant?

What did you do or are you doing that is different from your sister?

Watering a little 10 X a day is not a good practice for any plant. Watering leaves does nothing for the hydration of a plant, in fact, if this plant is out of doors in the sun (?) the water sitting on the leaf could be magnified and cause burns.

The only soil that should ever be used to plant plants in pots is sterilized potting medium that actually has very little or no soil added. I've found that there are countries where people have a hard time finding bagged potting soil. Making your own soil is doable but it is also hard to find the ingredients such as worm castings, coir, vermiculite, pearlite...Garden soil is way to heavy to drain sufficiently in pots or even planters. It is also unknown what one gets in the shovel full of soil they chose to dig up.

Lots of pathogens that in the normal body of the garden soil has predators and controls. None in a shovel full of soil.

Lets work on finding some sterilized soil first and transplanting, again. No rocks or gravel below the soil and above the all important drainage hole at the bottom of any pot meant to house a plant.

I would also find a pot 1/2 the size of this pot. Too big of a pot, too much soil for newbie plants without vigorous root systems is a recipe for root rot and death. Matching the size of a plant to the pot is one of the keys to success with potted plants.

Firm the soil, lightly but firmly to get rid of large air pockets. Keep the soil surface one inch from the rim to allow for proper watering technique. When you've watered thoroughly feel the heft of your pot and plant. Don't water until that pot feels lighter, much lighter. While you are learning this technique also use your finger and check the soil's moisture down a good 2 inches.

The root system; when you transplanted this guy what did the roots look like? Until your plant is growing vigorously make sure when you water the root zone gets very moist. You don't want a lot of wet soggy soil around a wimpy root system, so much wet soil will cause root rot. You could send pictures of the roots before we guide you through transplanting again?

I'd get a clay pot, inexpensive, with a saucer, 6" wide X4" high. Cross my fingers you can get a little bag of sterilized soil! Send answers for more information...thanks!

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