Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

Best Iron to Use is EDDHA Chelated Iron

3 Comments / iron chelate, iron chlorosis, landscapes, preference /

Q. I’m starting to think about the springtime approaching and the need for fertilizing. Do you have an “iron Fertilizer” you recommend? We added the compost you suggested but I want to make sure we are on top of the iron needs of our plants. Iron chelate fertilizer that works in all soils. Its a bit more expensive but it is a guarantee. The others will work most of the time. A. The iron chelate I like to use is a little bit more expensive. The reason I recommend it is because of its stability in both highly alkaline and highly acidic soils. It works regardless of the soil or its alkalinity (soil pH). I consider it cheap insurance. Severe iron chlorosis on a peach seedling. Chlorosis is any yellowing leaving behind green veins. Iron chlorosis occurs all summer long but it is on new growth. Iron should be applied sometime in the early or mid spring, before April in our climate. The chelate I like to use is EDDHA iron chelate. It comes under several names but as long as the iron is bound to the EDDHA chelate then it is what I recommend. Other types of chelates and iron fertilizers stop working in highly alkaline soils. This is another iron chelate fertilizer called EDTA. It works in most soils. It is the most common form of chelated iron fertilizers for plants because its more available and cheaper.             If you are adding compost to compost amended soil then any chelate or iron fertilizer will probably work whether it is iron sulfate, brake filings, or iron chelates such as EDTA or DTPA This is because soils that have compost added to them usually are not strongly alkaline. The compost additions, along with water, usually lowers the alkalinity of the soil. The chelated iron I prefer, iron EDDHA, works over all of the different soil pH or alkalinity.             Any iron fertilizer or chelate MUST be applied and mixed with the soil in the early spring (sometime soon after February 1 in our Las Vegas climate). Soil applications get less effective as the growth begins stopping. By mid to late summer you must switch to iron fertilizers applied as a liquid to the leaves for acceptable results. This usually requires several applications to shrub leaves. Iron fertilizers applied wet to the leaves (foliar applications of iron) are not as effective and may need to be applied to the leaves of trees and shrubs several times to work.

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Bottlebrush Several Reasons for Yellowing

Leave a Comment / Bottlebrush, iron chlorosis /

Q. Two out of my 3 bottle brush bushes look dry and yellowish. The first 2 years they were fine. Does it mean they are not watered enough? Bottlebrush flowering Bottlebrush after Winter cold damage Bottlebrush with yellowing due to iron chlorosis A. Many plants in general, including bottlebrush, can be damaged if watered either too often or not watered frequently enough. If you are going to error about watering, it is better to give plants too much water than water them too often. But I think the problems iron, not water. Right now water plants like this once or maybe twice each week at the most. Yellowing of the leaves can also happen because of real low winter temperatures. Similarly, it can also happen if the soil is not improved or covered in rock mulch. Bottlebrush don’t like rock mulch at all and if they are planted in rock mulch they frequently turn yellow in 3 to 5 years. If they get yellow enough, the leaves begin to turn brown and scorch. This is what I think happened to your plants. Purchase an iron fertilizer and apply it to the soil above the roots now and water it in. The best iron fertilizer contains the letters EDDHA on the label or in the ingredients. EDDHA iron chelate is an important for iron product to use in desert soils. Iron applied to the soil will only improve the green color of new growth. The older leaves which are yellow can only be improved with an iron fertilizer solution sprayed on the leaves. Spray this solution in one week intervals until you get a dark green color. If these are growing in rock mulch, buy good quality compost, not a soil mix, and spread it around each of the plants and water it in. Apply around one to one half cubic foot of compost to the base of these plants and water it in, even in rock mulch.

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Heavenly Bamboo/Nandina Yellowing and What to Do

Leave a Comment / Correcting iron chlorosis yellowing late in the season, heavenly bamboo, iron chlorosis, Nandina /

Q. I noticed all my Nandinas, also called heavenly bamboo, are turning bright yellow. Is this a fungal disease problem? I’m worried that whatever this is will spread to all the other plants. A. No, it is not caused by a disease organism. This is severe iron chlorosis and fairly common to heavenly bamboo growing in alkaline and desert soils. Leaf yellowing happens frequently because of a lack in organic matter in the soil, increasing alkalinity or soil pH. I see heavenly bamboo planted with rock mulch and this yellowing frequently becomes a problem in a few years after planting in these situations. Heavenly bamboo and rock mulch and yellowing Start a program of soil enrichment and add a good quality iron product to the soil now as new growth is appearing. If there is rock mulch present, remember this type of mulch is probably adding to the problem. Plants like Nandina do not like rock mulch but grow healthier in a wood mulch environment. Personally, I prefer iron EDDHA chelate as the source of iron to apply to the soil. It is a dry powder and must be watered into the soil accompanied by a good quality fertilizer. Iron does not move from the soil into leaves that are already yellow. Iron applied to the soil only affects new growth and new leaves. The only way to improve the green color of existing yellow foliage is to apply iron fertilizers as a foliar spray. Use any of the iron foliar fertilizers (liquids or powders that are mixed with water to make a liquid) and sprayed on the leaves. Sometimes it can take three or four applications, a week apart, to get them to green up adequately. Some plants green up with a single application. The water used when spraying liquid iron should be distilled water. If using tap water, adjust the pH of the water to 7.0. When making applications to leaves always use a wetting agent such as EZ Wet. You can also improve the new foliage to dark green by pruning them back, close to the ground, and letting them regrow after you apply iron EDDHA, compost, water and a fertilizer.

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Help Save My Photinia from Dying

Leave a Comment / iron chlorosis, leaf scorch, leaf yellowing /

Q. Our red tip photinia appears to be dying. It is 8 years old and receives full sun. The leaves are turning brown and dry.  Is there a disease causing this or is it the very hot weather we have experienced this summer?  We fertilize and  apply iron regularly. Photinia with iron problems and soils with lack of organic matter A. The usual problem with Photinia occurs when their planted in desert landscaping with rock mulch covering the surface of the soil. They are planted with some soil amendment in the planting hole which disappears in two or three years. Sometime during the fourth and fifth year Photinia begins to develop yellow leaves. Photinia with the beginning of the decline These yellow leaves become a brighter yellow and begin to scorch around the edges. If this problem is not fixed, Photinia gets worse and we see die back of the stems and the canopy of the plant opens up and looks very sparse. The problem is the rock mulch for this plant. They do not like it. They like organic soils, not soils covered in rock. You have two options. Pull the rock mulch back and add compost to the soil around each of the Photinia about an inch deep and scratch it into the surface. Next cover the area with wood mulch, not rock mulch. Add iron fertilizer and a regular fertilizer to the plants. Water them in thoroughly with a hose. Cut the Photinia back close to the ground and let it regrow. Hopefully this will get them off to a good start this spring. Continual additions of compost every two years will help this plant stay healthy. The second option is to dig and remove these plants and start all over. Make sure the soil they are planted in as 50% compost mixed with it. Cover the soil with wood mulch and grow them out. Fertilize once a year in January with the commercial fertilizer for trees and shrubs and make sure you add an iron fertilizer at the same time.

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Great Price on EDDHA Iron for Yellow Plants

Leave a Comment / EDDHA iron, iron chlorosis, price /

I found this 5 lb bag of Iron EDDHA chelate (FeEDDHA) for a great price at ViraGrow for less than $60 for this bag locally. This iron chelate is stable through any soil pH, no matter how alkaline. It is best applied to the soil around the base of the tree where water can move it into the root zone of the plant. ViraGrow is  located at 1100 E. Dehli St., North Las Vegas, NV 89030. It was formerly Western Organics. Two blocks east of Losee Road between Gowan and Colton. 702-497-7371. It is best mixed with five gallons of water and applied to the soil or immediately washed into the soil after applied to a soil. This product is sensitive to light and must not be exposed to sunlight more than 4 hours. Use this on trees and vines that have shown iron deficiency in the past including apples, pears, citrus, plums, apricots, peaches and grapes. Also good for ornamentals that have show iron problems including roses, photinia, palms, and many others. Directions for use. Apply 1/2 ounce per tree trunk diameter at breast height and water it in immediately.

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Ash Trees Do Not Normally Need Applied Iron

Leave a Comment / iron chelate, iron chlorosis, which plants need iron, yellowing /

Q. Should I give my ash trees the same iron treatment as fruit trees? A. Ash trees seldom need iron so unless you are seeing some yellow leaves with green veins in the spring and summer months I would save your money. They will do better with organic wood mulches on the surface.             But they seem to do all right with rock mulch but most of the ashes would prefer the soil to have more organic material in it. Arizona ash seems to be perhaps an exception. Fertilize them once in late January or early February with a tree and shrub fertilizer. Ash tree used as a street tree in North Las Vegas

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Kumquat Yellowing in Landscape Planting

Leave a Comment / iron chlorosis, rock mulch, yellow leaves, yellow plants /

Q. Here is one of two kumquat trees that I am trying to grow. As you can see it is not working.  I feed and water them what is the problem? Can you help?  Or should I discard?   A. The issues on the other picture could be related to a mineral fertilizer problem. This one could be the same but with the leaves gone it is hard to tell. It also might be related to whatever soil amendments you put in the ground when you planted the trees. But I am pretty confident it has to do with the soil, fertilizer issue or irrigation. It does not help much that they are surrounded by rock mulch. Let’s handle one at a time. Make sure the tree was planted in your soil at the same depth it was in the container. If there was some extreme cold weather, it might also be cold weather damage if you did not see this before it got real cold. Irrigation. Irrigations should be generous but not frequent. A tree that small can get by with ten gallons of water at each application. If these are on drip emitters you should have enough emitters or run the minutes long enough to deliver ten gallons at this size in its life. This time of the year once a week is often enough. When you start to see new growth, bump it up to twice a week with the same volume of water each time. Fertilizer. Go down to Plant World Nursery on Charleston (they are the only nursery I know of in town that carries this) and buy a one pound container of iron chelate fertilizer. If you ask for Doug, Brian or any of the main staff they will direct you to the right one since I recommend it a lot. They even have my name on the label now so people will believe them when they direct them to this product.   For each tree mix about two or three tbs in a one gallon container, stir it and distribute it around the base of the tree where the drip emitters are. Water it in with another gallon since it is sensitive to light. Get some rose fertilizer (like Miracle Gro type) and use it on the kumquat or get some fruit tree fertilizer stakes and put the fertilizer under the rocks or drive two stakes close to the emitters. I think the Miracle Gro is better. Fertilizers are salts. Keep all fertilizers at least 12 inches from the trunk when applied. Mulch. If this were me, I would pull the rock mulch back a couple of feet and put down some good compost (don’t buy cheap stuff) and lightly dig it around the trees from the trunk to a distance of about two feet from the trunk. I would cover the area around the tree in wood mulch but not bark. Keep wood mulch six inches away from the trunk so that it does not cause the trunk to rot if it gets wet. Older trees it doesn’t matter. Lets see if this works for you.

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Orange Tree Leaves Losing Green Color (Yellowing) With Green Veins

Leave a Comment / citrus, iron chlorosis, poor color, sick, yellowing /

Q. I have 9 orange trees on my property and pamper them like my “kids”.  One of them (perhaps two) is losing the green color in the leaves although the veins are staying green in color.  I would like to send you a couple of leaves for your inspection as I have tried to trouble shoot the problem using the computer and pictures. A local nursery disagrees with my request for manganese sulfate to resolve the problem. Would you send me an address so that I can send a few leaves for your inspection and suggestions? A. A picture of the leaves will work just as well as sending me a sample. I will be out of the country and so samples will probably not reach me.             Nine times out of 10 a yellowing leaf with green veins, particularly if it is the newer growth at the ends of the branches, is iron chlorosis and not typically manganese or zinc. The manganese sulfate would be used for a manganese deficiency or you could use a manganese chelate.             You can sometimes take an iron solution with a few drops of Ivory liquid detergent and, making sure the iron solution is slightly acidic with a little bit of vinegar, dip the leaves in the solution for a few minutes. You should see a color change in the leaves in about 24 hours or less.             Otherwise you can take some liquid iron chelate with a little bit of detergent like Ivory liquid and spray the leaves three or four times over a period of a couple of days. This will also turn them a darker green if it is iron.             If it is something other than iron, it won’t do anything. Then go ahead and try your manganese application.             If this color change occurred during the winter it is possible it could be cold damage. This appears more like a bronzing of the leaves rather than yellowing. I hope this helps.

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