Something eating jaboticaba leaves?

[Chuck]

I just looked closer... there are no pests under the leaves and the black spots are not sooty, it doesn't rub off, it's inside the leaf material. See pics.

I've been reading that jaboticaba thrives in pots and now I'm regretting putting it into the ground in the first place. It's been in the ground for exactly a year now... is it possible to transplant it back into a pot?

In far South Texas these plants do just fine in the ground. If you dig it up you will probably damage roots and being as how the plant is stressed already any root damage will not be a good thing.. It will be much better if you fix what is actually wrong with the plant first as transplanting will not help with fungal problems. Cure the fungal problem first and then address the watering and nutritional issues. Growing this plant in very sandy soil will be challenging. You may have to amend the soil past the drip line with compost and perlite and let the roots grow into it if you can't figure out a way to keep the soil damp at the plants root zone. This is a very slow growing plant and it takes a long time to mature and produce fruit which in a way is a good thing as the root system doesn't grow rapidly either. So if you dig a big hole and transplant into a big container you may be successful at transplanting.

 

[Cptcatz]

So just want to give an update...I dug it up and repotted it on November 4. A couple weeks ago it started putting out new leaf growth and now has new leaves all over the tree. They look so healthy! They are the first non-burnt leaves I've seen in many months on this tree. I don't know what it was in the soil but it appears to like the pot much better.

 

[Marck]

That's wonderful news. Your Jaboticaba looks much healthier.

 

[BigNerdBird]

Exact same thing happened to mine. I live in a harsh desert climate and left it out in the sun for a few hours, and all the leaves looked like this. They gradually fell off, leaving a stick with like 5 burnt leaves left. I watered it for months and kept it indoors under a grow light, but it remained totally unchanged. I decided to let it die and left it in a shaded alley outside with no water for months, but it retained those last few leaves and wouldn't die. I finally gave into the guilt while fertilizing my other plants, and gave it some, expecting nothing.

Suddenly it has new growth. Most of the plant still looks dead and the new leaves are misshapen, but it's growing!!! So my guess is that the comment about nutrition deficiency was correct, in combination with heat stress. They are understory plants tho, so probably also avoid extended direct sunlight to be safe.