Any tips on treating manganese and boron deficiencies in soil?
Mark Furtak SoCal Sunset 10/USDA 8b
last year
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Deficiency? Growing organic with deficiencies...
Comments (3)You might need magnesium. The synthetic fertilizers tend to add a higher concentration of a variety of elemental micronutrients such as magnesium, calcium, manganese, boron, etc. To supplement the fish fertilizer, you might consider trying some Epsom salts, usually at a rate of about 1 tbsp per gallon maybe once a month. Also, I am trying Espoma's "Plant-Tone" (5-3-3) this year for the first time for the heck of it to see how that does with my 'maters (it can be used for veggies) and the company still makes "Tomato-Tone" (4-7-10). All of their products have been "natural" and "organic" for over 50 years (have been a Hollytone user for ages). Their formulation also gets the important micronutrients in there for slow release to plants. Last year I tried Neptune's Harvest Fish Fertilizer (2-4-1) . Looking at the ingredients, I noticed that at least with Neptune's Harvest, it has a much lower amount of Magnesium than the Plant-Tone product. For now, with my tomatoes, having been taken from their somewhat nutrient-poor seed starting mix with pale green going-on-yellowish leaves to their Plant-Toned final home with needed sun, the new growth has been coming in richly dark green and flower buds are starting up on all of them. They were planted on 5/20 and the temperatures have been good. The Tomato-Tone formulation would normally be what would be recommended but I'll see how this goes for the season. Last year, my 'mater plants and crop were okay (and I did give them Epson salts through the growing season) but I am seeing a marked difference in foliage color right now without any addition of Epson salts - just Plant-Tone per the directions, and I am curious if this will be sustained. If so, I'll definitely be sold on Epsoma's products for my veggies (I use Hollytone on my blueberries in any event)....See Moreboron toxicity and leaching
Comments (7)Re-consider the over watering thing and/or get a second opinion. I find that when someone 's biggest problem is over or under watering and you tell them, they have a hard time believing it at first. Anyway, let's talk about boron just in case. Early Boron toxicity on citrus ususally looks like this: It starts on older leaves. Then you can get some gumming on the undersides of leaves and, if it's really high, dieback. But, as stated above, that could also look a lot like other deficiencies. Is this a new problem? If the tree has struggled in that spot all along then it could be boron. If the tree has been in for a few years and this just started showing up, it is highly unlikely to be a boron toxicity issue unless boron was recently added. You should have either a leaf or soil analysis run. The soil would be the cheapest way to go. Citrus can tolerate about 0.80 parts per million boron or less. Over 1 ppm in the soil and they get real unhappy. Make sure your sample is a composite of multiple sub samples collected from throughout the drip line of your tree. The sulfur is to decrease the pH of the soil and make the boron more soluble so it leaches out more readily. But at the same time, making boron more soluble makes it more available to the plant and increases boron toxicity problems until it is leached out. Whether your want that to happen or not depends on what the pH of your soil already is, the level of boron, the lime content and how likely it is you can actually get water to move through the soil profile. That being said, as bpgreen stated, adding sulfur won't do much unless it's incorporated, which would tear up the roots of an existing tree. The rule of thumb on boron leaching is that it takes about 3 times as much water to decrease boron as it does salts. The rule of thumb with salts in a clay soil is that you have to apply about 3 inches of water to cut salts in half, so to cut your boron in half, you need to apply 9 inches of water. Your boron level will give you an estimate of how much leaching to do (if any), but only an estimate. Keep in mind that proper leaching is awfully tough in a clay soil. But, if you get your soil tested and know exactly what's going on and it turns out that you do need to leach, you will have to allow the soil to dry slightly throught the root zone (not just the top few inches) between irrigations to avoid creating anaerobic soil conditions and/or an environment that favors root diseases. Leaching, especially in heavy soils, is a long slow process....See MoreMagnesium deficiency & foliar Epsom Salt
Comments (6)That's interesting -- about the boron. Which fertilizers have that in them, and how does one find out if it's in a particular fertilizer? The fertilizers I use have a "guaranteed analysis" for the usual ingredients, but that that doesn't mean they don't also contain other stuff. My usual fertilizer is Biosol, label linked below, and the other one I commonly use is Magnum Rose Food, a water soluble, by Grow More. But sometimes I also use a micronutrient powder and now that I look, on its label I see it says it contains "10 ppm Boron", which raises the question, how much is too much -- Is that even a noticeable amount? Thanks Kathy Here is a link that might be useful: Biosol label...See MoreMineral / nutrient deficiency & secret to health & antifungal trace e
Comments (50)Moved info. from another thread as to pH preference of different roses: Take YOUNG own-roots in a nursery setting, watered with alkaline tap water (pH over 7.5). Young own-roots are wimpy, haven't secret acid yet, thus need an acidic medium like pine fines (pH 4) or peat (pH 4) & perlite to make minerals soluble in water to feed their tiny roots. Folks who grow roses in cold zone get tons of acidic rain plus snow, and need to lime roses per many inches of rain, if that rose is grafted on aggressive root-stock that secret acid. Dr. Huey-rootstock can go through rock-hard clay better than my shovel through its ability to secret acid. The pH requirement of roses change .. when they are young own-roots are like alfalfa sprouts, they can't secret acid, thus need an acidic medium. But as they get older and roots become more solid and woody, such as 3rd year on, that solid wood secrets plenty of acid. I bought an organic, very acidic SOLUBLE fertilizer, got some on my skin and it burned. I used the dose as recommended, it has acidic soy bean, kelp, and sulfate of potash .. my galllon-size own root roses love it !! Leaves became dark-green, but that acidic solution fried the leaves of 4th-year own-root Sweet Promise (with shiny & glossy and dark-green foliage). Roses grafted on multiflora rootstock, or have multiflora parentage dislike alkaline soil (become pale), thus these roses need an acidic soil to have darker leaves. In contrast, roses grafted on Dr. Huey, or have French Meilland or China parentage are healthier with higher pH. Old Garden roses were bred in the Old days, without high-pH tap water & only acidic rain at pH 5.6, thus prefer acidic soil. Modern roses are bred with alkaline-tap-water, and the most vigorous and dark-green tend to prefer such medium that they were bred, with pH over 7.5 like alkaline tap water. Intrigue hybrid tea is an example, 100% healthy in a pot, grafted on Dr. Huey, tons of buds, with alkaline tap-water pH near 9 (baking soda pH is 8.3). That was for $5 at Walmart. I didn't buy it, since I already saw Intrigue in spring time at the rose park with tons of acidic rain: it was a blackspot fest, and stingy too. But in hot & dry summer, Intrigue bloomed great with alkaline tap water at the rose park. Intrigue has dark-green leaves. Same with Perfume Delight, BS-fest with acidic rain, also dark-green leaves. To have dark-green leaves, roots must secret enough acid to get iron and manganese for dark-color .. such dark-green leaves roses secret more acid to utilize the minerals to make their leaves deep green. As the pH drops, less calcium and potassium are available, thus leaves are more susceptible to fungal diseases unless alkaline minerals is given....See MoreMark Furtak SoCal Sunset 10/USDA 8b
last yearlast modified: last yearMark Furtak SoCal Sunset 10/USDA 8b
last yearlast modified: last yearMark Furtak SoCal Sunset 10/USDA 8b
last yearMark Furtak SoCal Sunset 10/USDA 8b
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