Is This Lychee Leaf Necrosis?

Question

I have grown several lychees from seed, and they all have come up very nicely, but then leaves start turning brown at the edges and slowly the whole leaf turns brown and falls off. Some of the stems that I cut down after this happened are now trying to put up new shoots. Is this a sign of a blight or fungal disease? Can these trees be salvaged, or is this situation hopeless?

Please note I am not intending to grow these to get fruit. I just stick pits in soil and like to see what grows. They are inside, in a south window.

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Answer 1

Hm... It doesn't appear to be fungal disease. What I'm seeing appears to be severe nutritional deficiency. This can happen with old, used soil as well as soils with a severe pH imbalance. Testing the soil will be the first step.

These two articles will help: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/testing-soil.htm

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/soil-ph-plants.htm

Once you find out the fertility, and pH of the soil, you can begin to add what is missing or correct the pH.

The other alternative is to use a high quality soil with compost in it. Feed this soil once per season at the very least.