my dear fellow Travelers,

on my path I've stumbled across beautiful community of Nexians. Browsing your wisdom for over a year, still working on my introduction essay in my head. Experienced with few mind-altering tools within past 15 years I am preparing for unexperienced. Sustainable actions with patience are the key, I hope whole world realize it by now.

I've made few starting mistakes with cultivation of my hopefully new friend for life, seeded and born right with my baby boy. Soil is without compost but there should be enough nutritions for start and my pot is probably too big for desired root structure.

Could you please help me diagnose what is happening to my Mimosa friend? Leaves seem to slowly dry out / burn from the bottom branches towards the top. But before they do, dark dot mark appears on the bottom of the leave first (2nd, 3rd photo). It may be incorrect pH level, I haven't tested it yet. I would be honored if some of you, my fellow Travelers, gave me an opinion about it.

humilitas

Hi Humilitas,

Let me start of by saying that it's encouraging to see more people like yourself strive for greater sustainability by growing your own plants; apart from the leaf tips and spots, your Mimosa is looking robust.

I have only ever grown Mimosa in inert medium with synthetic nutrients, but I may be able to offer some advice. Usually tip burning results from over feeding, in your case the soil you potted your Mimosa seedling may be too rich for the plant. The dots you are seeing may also be the beginning of this tip burn or perhaps even a fungus, though I doubt the latter as the plant looks healthy enough. To remedy this tip burning I would suggest flushing the pot with lots of pure water to try and remove some of the excess nutrient salts.

If you can, investing in a combo pH probe and conductivity tester to test the conductivity in millisiemens and pH of the runoff water will help ascertain to a certain degree what levels of nutrients are available in your potted soil as well as the overall health of the root zone.

Keep that green thumb of yours and you'll reap the benefits soon enough. First picture is of my first Mimosa a few years ago and the second is the same plant a few months ago.

My eldest mimosa tree has become so barren, I need to get it some nutes. I would like to put it outside but the climate in my area would destroy it.

MH is a very resilient plant; an invasive and pioneer in most places, so its likely something to do with the medium it grows in. Is this some type of pre-mix from tree store? Many mixes, unless otherwise noted, are fertilized with chemical nutrients, and as was mentioned, the burnt ends could be an indicator of excess nitrogen or other fertilizers in the soil.

Personally, if i suspected excess nutrients, i would conduct a flush and see if that helps improve its health at all.

Thank you kindly for your interest and help. I started with flushing immediately after Phaneron post. Colour of leaves faded out to yellow and then fall off. As assumed correctly, I had average pre-mix medium from store and I have changed it for different kind designated to professionals, whatever that means. I have better feeling after replanting but you can tell plant is struggling and fighting but definitely not giving up . Bottom branches are gone, only new top ones left but I plan to bend it once needed. I'll include photos, unfortunately I do not have them at the moment. Again, thank you; it's a pleasure to know I am not alone.

If you can, pick up a bottle of plant success orca Liquid Mycorrhizae; a little goes very long way. You can also try a product called rapid root.

After using these two products, i experienced the greatest root health and development wfor veggies and medicinal plants that i had ever seen.

People forget that root health the most important aspect of any plant. Get those roots healthy and colonized with beneficials, and your mimosa will bounce back in no time.

What pH are your plants happiest?

Yeah, those babies need some help getting the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in place for their leguminous root nodules. Good call.

Orca Liquid Mycorrhizae is on its way, I should have it by Saturday. I'll start applying it right away. Any advise about application amount or should I stick to label suggestion - Use 1-5 mL per 1 gal of water.
Also pH meter is on its way, I am really curious what environment peat moss with perlit created. This all should have been done already within pre-planting phase, I know. I'll keep you posted about progress / results.

Gratitude for all your help.

Biggest of the bunch, about 4-6 weeks old from germination.

Dear Friends,

your advice healed my mimosa. Plant success orca Liquid Mycorrhizae worked and beauty is now flourishing. I've measured pH in soil with result 6. Thank you all for your support. Here are some week old photos.

Congrats on your success; glad they bounced back

Wonderful thread! Happy for your nourished green friend
Appreciate the information shared here, I'm very new and curious to learn more about plants in general.

Great success!

I can't see any spine on your mimosa. Is it a thornless strain ?

Still small. If you zoom, you can see the hairs. Spines should start forming in a few weeks/months

I was just going to say this plant is probably too small for thorns but also I was not sure if there are more strains of Mimosa Hostilis.
I want to ask more experienced Travelers. As I am from Northern Hemisphere, winters could be tough here. Plant will be held indoors but will it survive without additional artificial light? I will try to move her everyday (I have window facing east and west) to gather as much natural light as possible but winters could be pretty dark for days - weeks.

If you're serious about maintaining the plant, i suggest investing in a full spectrum led grow light; they get cheaper as the technology improves.

At a minimum, a basic LED grow light should suffice.