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Treating chlorosis in Holly
Jimmy Crawford
Posts: 468
So have bought some Iron Sulphate to replace nutrients that seem to have been leached out over the winter. Problem I am having is that no two people can agree on dosage rates or even wether to use as a foliar spray or dig into the soil.
Any suggestions?
0
Posts
Hi Jimmy. Lack of iron in the soil which can cause yellow holly leaves is quite rare. It is more likely to be overwatering/waterlogged soil/poor drainage or the soil being too alkaline.
It's not waterlogging, we dug a good hole and checked how quick it drained before planting and there's plenty of grit and compost in the holes. It has been a ridiculously wet winter, so was thinking it had maybe leached the available iron out? Digging the iron sulphate in should help raise the pH though a bit though, yes?
You need to lower the pH - make the soil more acidic which it what hollies like and you can get fertilisers with iron in them which will also help. You need a pH less than 7. Before adding iron sulphate test your soils pH as if the soil is already acid adding iron sulphate will lower the pH even further and this can cause damage to the plants.
It can also be caused by magnesium deficiency. To fix that, give a foliar feed of 15ml of Epsom salts in 5 litres of water.