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

[ScottinAtlanta]

Bill, what do you use for iron foliar spray? The good news is that I lost only 4 out of 100 to the rains, but the others look tattered, and a few have whitish leaves. So I need to get some spray on them.

[b54red]

Scott I bought some chelated iron powder from Hydro Gardens years ago and it only takes a very tiny amount added to water. Most liquid iron supplements have very small amounts of iron so I mix mine very dilute for fear of using too much iron. It usually works quite well and I may try it a bit stronger on some and see what happens. I have some of my seedlings that are not grafts that look fairly yellow so they would be the ones to experiment on since I will either give them away or toss them in the compost.

The iron supplement has had a beneficial effect on most of the plants and I'm hoping the fertilizer boost will help some more. I'll be checking on them later and see how they are doing. I have lost a few to the wind snapping them off but luckily the last couple of days none of them broke at the graft but either well above it or below it so I guess the grafts are now pretty strong.

Bill

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by 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

If water or soil is alkaline you will see iron deficiency,too. I also see it in my peppers and hibiscus during the winter so cool weather plays a part. Sometimes the heat of summer causes it,too. Citrus trees are very prone to it so I give my trees iron a couple of times a year.

[ScottinAtlanta]

Thanks. My surviving plants look like they are putting out copious amounts of dark green leaves at top, so I think I will just spray with a little fish fertilizer at this point. Everything looks good here in Atlanta at this point.

I have to say, out of 50 varieties, the most vigorous plant in the garden after two weeks is Malakhitovaya Shkatulka. Wow - exploding with growth, and already 24 inches high.

PS: Just found the neighbor's prize chicken merrily scratching its way through my tomatoes. Snapped off a Goose Creek. If it isn't one thing, it's another.

[Vespertino]

I'm very happy to hear that your babies are bouncing back. I just looked up the "Malakhitovaya Shkatulka" since I haven't heard of it before. It looks like a beautiful green tomato, since it's roaring with new leaves maybe it will be the first to flower and give you your first tomato!

[b54red]

Scott yours sound like they are in better shape than mine. Very few dark green leaves here on my seedlings hardening off but the ones already transplanted are looking good even though still a bit beat up and needing more leaves. I lost two more of my grafted plants to the wind this morning but neither one broke at the graft so I guess that is a plus.

Bill

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

If water or soil is alkaline you will see iron deficiency,too. I also see it in my peppers and hibiscus during the winter so cool weather plays a part. Sometimes the heat of summer causes it,too. Citrus trees are very prone to it so I give my trees iron a couple of times a year.

I have one of my citrus looking like it may be getting a bit yellow so I gave them an iron supplement yesterday. Thanks Tracy, I'm very inexperienced with citrus but had really good luck with the Apples and Oranges fertilizer last year on them. I haven't given them enough this year because of the heavy rains keeping the containers fairly wet. I've always heard that it is bad to let the roots of citrus stay too wet for too long but I can't control the rain. That rain that tore up my tomatoes and cucumbers so bad did a number on the blooms on my citrus also. It looked like it had snowed beneath them afterwards with only a few blooms remaining. I'm hoping I enough of them had already set before they got knocked off. Looks like another heavy rain is coming in again tonight or this afternoon. I think I will take my hardening tomato seedlings inside the porch or greenhouse til it passes. I don't think they can handle another beating like they got last week with so few leaves remaining.

Bill

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by ScottinAtlanta

Thanks. My surviving plants look like they are putting out copious amounts of dark green leaves at top, so I think I will just spray with a little fish fertilizer at this point. Everything looks good here in Atlanta at this point.

I have to say, out of 50 varieties, the most vigorous plant in the garden after two weeks is Malakhitovaya Shkatulka. Wow - exploding with growth, and already 24 inches high.

PS: Just found the neighbor's prize chicken merrily scratching its way through my tomatoes. Snapped off a Goose Creek. If it isn't one thing, it's another.

You might consider adding kelp to that spray. Seems to work well on stressed plants.
My chickens have gotten out more than once and eaten my garden down to the ground!

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by b54red

I have one of my citrus looking like it may be getting a bit yellow so I gave them an iron supplement yesterday. Thanks Tracy, I'm very inexperienced with citrus but had really good luck with the Apples and Oranges fertilizer last year on them. I haven't given them enough this year because of the heavy rains keeping the containers fairly wet. I've always heard that it is bad to let the roots of citrus stay too wet for too long but I can't control the rain. That rain that tore up my tomatoes and cucumbers so bad did a number on the blooms on my citrus also. It looked like it had snowed beneath them afterwards with only a few blooms remaining. I'm hoping I enough of them had already set before they got knocked off. Looks like another heavy rain is coming in again tonight or this afternoon. I think I will take my hardening tomato seedlings inside the porch or greenhouse til it passes. I don't think they can handle another beating like they got last week with so few leaves remaining.

Bill

The few times that we've had heavy rains here in AZ my citrus almost always turn pale. An iron supplant always seems to green them back up.
Severe heat, severe cold, too much water are the things that cause iron deficiency in my citrus, peppers and hibiscus. I've also seen it in my Armenian cucumbers when stressed by 115 degree heat.

[ScottinAtlanta]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

You might consider adding kelp to that spray. Seems to work well on stressed plants.
My chickens have gotten out more than once and eaten my garden down to the ground!

thanks for the kelp idea. I didn't know it came in liquid form.

[b54red]

I brought all my seedlings that are out hardening off into the greenhouse last night because they were just beginning recover from the last beat down. It rained fairly hard last night and it is supposed to continue through the morning and I thought they deserved a break.

Bill

[creister]

Just looked at the temp and it is currently 29 outside. I hope the in ground plants that I double wrapped survived. Luckily, I have several backups. Are u all expecting a freeze in Alabama?

[ScottinAtlanta]

Low of 35 here in Atlanta tonight. Shouldn't hurt us much.

[b54red]

It is 40 degrees right now and the forecasts for early morning are all over the place from 34 to 38. I fear for my beans but the tomatoes should be okay if the wind doesn't break too many of them. I am having much heavier loses to wind this year than I can remember ever having on small plants.

Bill