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Show If You Want Dark Green Leaves... Now Is The Time To Act By Kevin Heaton Utah State University Extension Most trees should have dark green leaves. However, many trees in our area tend to have light (yellow) green leaves with dark green veins. These symptoms symp-toms describe a common ailment ail-ment called Iron Chlorosis or iron deficiency. Iron deficiency (ID) is usually not deadly, yet it causes significant stress to the tree. Trees stressed with ID are very susceptible other common diseases, insects and pests which can be terminal. Native Utah soils typically have high alkalinity which prevent the absorption of the soils naturally high concentrations of iron. Iron chlorosis is aggravated by cool soil temperatures, and conditions con-ditions that restrict air movement move-ment into the soil, i.e. water-saturated soils, plastic sheet mulching, and compaction. Management of tree plays a major role in development of ID. Prevention of ID is most commonly thought of as planting plant-ing resistant varieties. Most flowers and vegetables are moderately mod-erately tolerant of ID. Grapes and Berries are highly susceptible. suscepti-ble. Varieties of trees which are highly susceptible include Silver Maple, Amur Maple, Rhododendron, and Pin Oak. When selecting landscape species, the following trees are moderately tolerant of ID and would be best adapted to our area: Ash, Boxelder, Catalpa, Kentucky Coffeetree, CottonwoodsPoplars, Honeylocust and Elms. Other trees that are moderately susceptible sus-ceptible to ID include: Aspen, Beech, Birch, Cherry, Peach, and most conifers. These trees should be selected with care and managed properly to prevent deficiencies and future diseases. Methods of treatment of ID can be expensive, but are usually usual-ly effective. Adding iron in a chelated form to the soil, application appli-cation to the foliage or trunk will yield similar effective results. Trade names of com-, mon chelates are Sequestrene 330 and Millers Ferriplus. They can be purchased at most home garden centers. The price can be very high, "but application rates are usually low so the treatment costs are relatively inexpensive. Treatments should be done early in the spring and depending upon the treatment will last throughout the growing season. If you have further questions about Iron Chlorosis other tree diseases, please contact the Utah .State University Extension Office located at the Garfield County Court House, 435-676-1113. |