Needles and Leaves

 Yellow Leaves or Needles?  Poor Tree!
Iron Chlorosis

 

By:  Jennifer Huefner at Bear Lake Landscape 

 

The Bear Lake Valley, and much of the Western United States, has soil with high pH.  As a result, many of the ornamental plants we want in our yard have a continual problem with iron chlorosis.  Some plants tolerate our alkali soils quite well like the 'Emerald Queen' Norway maple or the Scotch pine.  Other trees like the 'Silver' maple and quaking aspen are not tolerant of our alkali soils.  Although Quaking Aspen is native to our area, it only grows naturally in the higher elevations where the soils are more acidic.  Some of you own cabins in the higher elevations where aspen will do well.  Others of you own cabins lower where the soil will present a pH problem for your aspen.  You can still have these trees in the alkali soils, but will need to treat those trees for optimal health.

We have found that a combination of several products is the best way to treat plants with iron chlorosis.  If you have trees, shrubs, or flowers that have yellowing leaves, try the following to green them up.  Top dress the root zone with Copperas and Fertile Earth Humate Soil Conditioner.  It's best to put these products in the hole when planting a tree, but they can be applied to the top and watered in if you've already planted.  Next, use chelated iron as a soil treatment around the root zone, and as a foliar spray.  Another good foliar spray is Ferriplus.  We carry all these items in the Garden Center so come on in if your plants are suffering from iron chlorosis.

If you treat for iron chlorosis and find your leaves are still yellow, your soil may have a manganese shortage, or pests can also cause yellowing of plant leaves.  The best thing to do is treat for iron problems since that is the most likely culprit and will rule out iron chlorosis if the treatment doesn't work.