I have several places in my garden where the maples (and also cornus) tend to be a bit chlorotic. So I intend to try some epsom salt and see if it helps. (Epsom salt not being available in France, I have obtained the equivalent from the pharmacy: chlorure de magnesium.) I have no idea of the "strength" of the magnesium salts, I assume it is pure as the packets have no other ingredients listed. The question is, how much do I sprinkle around on the soil? Does it need to be dug in (awkward around existing plants) or will the water bring it down. The big one: can I cause any harm with an overdose? Is there a prefered time for the treatment (i.e. is it persistant in the soil) or can I just do it now in winter? Thanks. -E
hi Emery i use Sequestrene ,easy available ,in wholesale for garden... chloritic with this element is under control ... the dose is write on pack... i use Sequestrene in February.. ok your question is about epsom salts,but i not use this sorryyy.... ciao
Hi Emery, I use epsom salts at 25g/mtr 2 scattered around the trees, you can work it in the top soil, but the weather usually takes it down into the soil, I do this in late fall or early winter, Ashizuru
Thanks Ashizuru, I'll use your formula. Meanwhile I hope you are not too affected by the cold. I see the forecast is calling for a very deep drop the night of Tuesday/Wednesday, with -4/-5 even around you. I fear that here in the forest we will see -14C, which is rather a stress for some of my maples. (We already had -9 a few nights ago, and probably colder last night, but I haven't checked to see what the minimum was with my neighbor who measures such things). -E
Hi emery, We are experiencing snow showers here at present, with a bitter n/e wind, I've been checking my pots with young acres in, 08 seedlings, they were all frozen solid, I have moved them into the glasshouse for a bit of protection,along with my bonsai trees, so hope there will be no permanent damage. The rest of the trees seem to be coping ok, the coldest we've had it so far is -5c, we get some protecting influence from the Wash, as we are only a few miles or so from the sea. All the best for 09, Ashizuru....
For inground Maples a lot depends on the age of the tree, soil type, soil pH and for a leaf chlorosis, how extensive is the condition? Epsom salts can be ground applied to help for an Iron or more likely in Maples a Manganese deficiency. The problem is that some Maples, once they are showing severe chlorosis symptoms of Manganese deficiency, do not readily or cannot recover from it. A case in point is some of the Shirsawanums in that once we see the chlorosis in the late Spring to Summer leaves we have a hard time ever correcting the condition for container grown plants. Can be futile to treat for some of the inground Shirasawanums as well, even in saline soils that have some bound salts but not as prevalent a salt buildup as an alkaline soil has. Even soils that are too acidic can be tough to treat for Manganese and Iron caused chlorosis. Seldom does Magnesium cause a leaf chlorosis on Maples, so in effect we use Magnesium sulfate to cause a substitution reaction in our soil to help the plant assimilate Iron and Manganese to help lesson the chlorotic symptoms. We can also use Calcium to do the same thing but Calcium in acid soils may not help solve a chlorosis but may in fact make the condition worse in some areas. Precisely why a soil test is advised prior to usage of applied Calcium and Magnesium for acid soils. We generally are advised to treat for a potential or suspected later occurring nutrient imbalance in Maples prior to planting, rather than trying to correct a chlorosis after the fact, when we see the severity of the condition year after year with a noticeable loss of vigor seen in the tree. For my 15 gallon container Maples I use one ounce of Epsom salts per three gallons of water. For container Citrus the standard rate is one tablespoon per gallon of lukewarm to warm water. For large sized inground Maples I have applied as much as a two pounds per tree when needed in the early Spring and let natural rainfall work in, dissolve, the crystals for me. In areas that do get ample Winter rainfall a late Fall, early Winter, application of Epsom salts seems to work okay. For me here, sprinkling the crystals around the tree about two feet away from the trunk will just set on the ground until we get a series of rains to work the dissolute down into the ground for me. For our large inground Silver Maple I have used 2 pounds of Epsom salts hand mixed in with 5 pounds of Ammonium sulfate as a standard application for my tree in alternate fertilizing years. Ammonium sulfate as a standalone in the other yearly Spring applications. Jim
