It may feel like summer today, but fall is on the way. You can feel it in the early morning air, while you're working in your garden. Your trees can feel it too. The days are getting shorter, which means the sunlight is less intense. Tree leaves begin to adjust by producing less chlorophyll, allowing more orange and yellow pigments to show through. It's part of the process that produces our colorful fall foliage. There are many trees around town that seemed to have had "fall foliage" colors all year long. These trees, particularly maples, never turned green.
If you look closely, leaf color may vary from pale green
to a burned look, in extreme cases.
Trees that look like this are suffering from a condition known as iron chlorosis. They need iron. They're anemic, if you will. Left untreated, iron deficiency will eventually kill the tree. The good news is there are several things you can do to correct iron deficiency. First of all, you can apply an iron supplement to the tree. You can purchase iron supplements in liquid and granular form.
All iron supplements will help, especially those that are "chelated".
Existing trees can absorb and take up chelated irons more readily than other forms. Iron supplements should be applied now, as well as spring and summer. To fix the problem long-term, you have to fix the soil. Our native soils typically contain sufficient iron to keep trees healthy. The problem is our heavy clay, high alkaline soils prevent certain trees from taking up iron on their own. Amending the soil is the answer. www.theflowerbin.net
www.theflowerbin.net
Thursday, September 14, 2017
How to help trees with iron chlorosis
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