Hello, I’ve been searching for days, and have no idea what to do for my coffee trees. I believe they are about 1 year old, they came in one little coffee cup which was transplanted into a 10” ish deep ceramic pot with attached saucer that didn’t allow full drainage. I recieved thr plants for Christmas, and kept them out of direct light, watered when the soil was dry in the top 2-3 inches and never fertilized. About a month ago I noticed they weren’t really doing so well, no deep green leaves, lots of brown dry tips/ yellowing, some leaves dropping, some standing straight up. Just generally not happy.

So I did some basic research, put them in the best draining soil I could find, seperated the trees by soaking them in water and gently swishing until the roots untangled themselves and put the taller trees in 6 inch pots and shorter trees in 4 inch pots. The roots are healthy, but not extensive and go down into the pots 1/2- 2/3 when I transplanted. I made sure to keep the soil level as close to exactly where it was as I could. I then began watering when a toothpick inserted all the way into the soil came out dry, with maybe a little moist on the the pointy part. I watered slowly and gently with room temp water until it began to drip from the drainage holes, allowed the pots to fully drain on a wire rack over my sink so they never sit in water. Misted them with room temp water a few times a day, and generally gave them a bit of a pep talk. They seemed to perk up a little after about a week. Two weeks later I applied the recommended amount of slow release fertilizer for azaleas and rhododendrons 10-4-6 with sulfur. I believe the brand is expert gardener from walmart. They really perked up after that and they appear to be regreening.

Today is around 70 degrees and gorgeous, so I made a little shade for them on my southwest facing balcony by putting a thin white muslin cloth over a clothes rack and put the trees down in the shade, where it’s bright but not direct. When taking them outside I noticed they are starting to look a little worse.

Does anyone have any advice?