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I'm having some problems with my Moringa Oleifera. It's about 6 months old and is placed in a sunny window (oriented south), in southern Sweden. It's been growing well and looked healthy until recently.

Now, many of the leafs are getting spots, turning yellow and eventually falls of - see photo. Since it summer in Sweden now, I don't think it's lacking sunshine. Neither do I think it's gotten too little or too much water since I try to keep that under good control (letting it dry up, but not too long, before I water it).

Any ideas about what could be wrong?

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I can't see a photo, nor a link to one, but my answer isn't dependent on that anyway. This plant is a pan tropical tree - its fast growing, and lives for around 20 years, reaching a height of 12 metres at maturity.

I'm sorry to say, if you're trying to grow it on a windowsill, that's why it's got problems. As it's fast growing, keeping it in a pot small enough to be on a windowsill means it cannot follow its natural inclination to put on growth very rapidly, because there's insufficient room for the roots to grow to support the topgrowth. After 6 months, it may well have reached the outer limits of its growth within the pot. It does sound as if its got some kind of Leaf Spot infection, but plants are more likely to suffer infections if their conditions cause them stress.

This plant appears to be possibly suitable for culture in a semi tropical greenhouse or conservatory, in progressively larger containers, rather than as a houseplant on a windowsill. Once it's reached a certain size, then stooling/pollarding is possible to keep it at around 1-2 metres, but it does need good root room.

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Weird about the photo, it's visible in the article to me. However, thanks for a great answer. I know it might not be well suited for planting in a small pot. Though I will try a larger one to see what happens! –  Henrik Aug 27 '12 at 21:27
Photo's visible to me now - looks like Leaf Spot, possibly bacterial. Just remove the affected leaves, pot on to a larger container, and take care not to splash the leaves with water when you water the plant - bacterial leaf spot is spread by water splash. Hopefully it'll recover when given more root room. –  Bamboo Aug 27 '12 at 21:42
Ok, thanks. That very helpful, I did not know that water splashes could spread bacterial leaf spots. –  Henrik Aug 28 '12 at 5:22
I need to clarify that - water spray or droplets will spread it if its present already. If its not, then its fine. –  Bamboo Aug 28 '12 at 16:30

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