beat down

[b54red]

I gave them a foliar feeding of iron and then yesterday gave them a good dose of Apples and Oranges with a little fish and kelp plus chelated iron. I'll either green them up or brown them up.

Some of them were really starting to show iron deficiency symptoms with the new growth being unusually pale. I have learned the hard way that if you don't correct that quickly the condition will only worsen and the plants will eventually get new growth that is almost white and then they will die. I have had this problem with seedlings before and it usually shows up during the time the plants are sitting out hardening off. I switched potting soils from Miracle Grow to Fafards and it has been much less of a problem. I think that in the windy weather this time of the year with the seedling cups constantly drying out and needing watering and the sometimes heavy rains that the nutrients just get too low or out of balance somehow. I'm trying to give them a bit more fertilizer and maybe that will lessen the problem. One thing I am wondering about these iron deficiency symptoms showing up is I almost never saw this until I started inoculating my potted up seedlings with mycorrhizae fungi. The past couple of years I have been using Myco Grow. About two to three weeks after applying it to the seedlings these symptoms will sometimes start showing up. I have been using the Urban Farms Apples and Oranges fertilizer this year and have seen far less of it than in the past few years so maybe the plants are able to take up the iron better from it than from Miracle Grow. Maybe it is something about our city water that is causing this iron deficiency to start. Possibly it is too alkaline and the frequent watering during the hardening off process lowers the ph in the pots to the point the plants can't take up the necessary iron. I really am at a loss as to why these symptoms sometimes appear; but I learned the hard way that if they are not treated quickly they will progress very fast. I think I may try adding a little vinegar to my watering can and giving it to some of the plants showing the first symptoms and see if that gets rid of it.

Bill