Saturday, March 25, 2006

 

2006 Tree Chlorosis



Chlorosis (the lack of iron or manganese) in trees such as River Birch, Sweetgum, Maple (especially red and silver) and Pin Oak trees were reported throughout Illinois in 2005. The symptoms of chlorosis are yellow leaves with the veins of the leaves remaining green. Much of the chlorosis problem was not related to iron deficiencies but to manganese deficiencies within the tree.

The Uniiversity of Illinois Extension Service in 2005, warned tree owners that have chlorosis prone trees that there is trouble ahead with these trees. Normal micronutrient deficiencies in these trees is the lack of iron but in a drought year, manganese deficiencies come into play and it's a whole new ball game.

When there are severe drought conditions as we had during the whole year of 2005, manganese and iron are not uptaken into the tree because of the lack of water in the soil. Soils with high clay levels and poor drainage such as there is in the western suburbs of Chicago also aggravates the manganese and iron problems even more. The high Ph level of Lake Michigan water also blocks absorbtion of manganese and iron thus adding to the chlorosis problem.

It is highly suggested that if you had a yellowing tree last year or even if it did not look too bad, the early spring of 2006 is the time to get an iron and manganese injection into it. The year of 2006 will be a tough time for these above listed species of trees. Managanese is very difficult to get into trees but I have developed an easy way to accomplish this during my 19 years of saving trees in the western suburbs of Chicago.

Checkout my website at www.treeiron.com' for more information.

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