Chlorosis

Chlorosis is a common plant disease. In leaves affected by chlorosis, the order of chlorophyll production is disrupted, due to which the activity of their photosynthesis decreases.

Chlorosis can affect both home flowers and garden and ornamental plants. But not every gardener pays due and timely attention to this problem - the loss of decorative leaves often seems to be only a minor drawback that cannot greatly affect the state of plantings. Meanwhile, difficulties with the production of chlorophyll can affect not only the beauty of plants, but also their productivity, and sometimes can lead to the complete death of the bushes.

Signs of chlorosis also often indicate improper growing conditions, poor or inadequate soil condition on the site, as well as a lack or excess of certain substances in the soil. The sooner you can get rid of this disease by eliminating the causes of its occurrence, the more chances you have to regain beautiful flowers or maintain a full harvest.

Signs and causes of chlorosis

Among the main symptoms of chlorosis in plants:

• Premature yellowing of young leaves. At the same time, their veins retain their green color.
• Fresh leaves become smaller.
• The leaves begin to curl at the edges.
• Leaf blades and flowers fall off.
• Deformation of buds or flowers occurs.
• The upper parts of the stems dry out.
• The health of the root system deteriorates, in the worst case, the plant may even die.

The disease is divided into several types:

• Infectious chlorosis. Its cause lies in the effects of viruses, bacteria or fungi. As a rule, such a disease is carried by harmful insects. Harmful microorganisms can independently enter the tissues of weak plants. Usually, such chlorosis is considered incurable, it can only be prevented in a timely manner. The stronger the immunity of the plantings and their resistance to disease, the less chance they will suffer from such a disease.
• Non-infectious chlorosis. Such a disease is caused by non-compliance with the rules for growing plants. This chlorosis is also called functional or organic. One of the most common reasons for its development is considered to be an unfavorable climate or improperly selected soil, characterized by a lack of nutrients. If the substrate contains too little sulfur, nitrogen, magnesium, iron, zinc, lime or proteins necessary for the plant, or its acidity does not meet the requirements of the plant, the roots of the bush will not be able to assimilate nutrients from the ground. Insufficient drainage, as well as root trauma or frequent stagnation of moisture can be considered as other reasons for such chlorosis. Close planting or excess of sulfur dioxide can also aggravate the situation. Sometimes chlorosis appears due to non-observance of the correct crop rotation of plantings.The disease can develop especially rapidly on plant species that are not resistant to it. The organic type of chlorosis can be cured, but the sooner action is taken, the easier it will be to deal with it and pinpoint the cause of the lesion.
• Mutational. In this case, chlorosis is a gene mutation and can be inherited. Due to the fact that such changes affect the color of the foliage of plants, this feature is often used in breeding when breeding variegated varieties and forms.

Chlorosis treatment

The infectious type of chlorosis is considered incurable. To prevent bacteria from the affected bush from getting to neighboring plantings, diseased specimens should be immediately dug up and then destroyed.

You can get rid of organic chlorosis through appropriate treatments. Usually it appears due to the fact that plants begin to suffer from a deficiency of trace elements in limestone soil. The abundance of lime prevents the roots of the plant from absorbing iron from the soil, precipitating it. Iron is one of the most important elements for photosynthesis, therefore, most often bushes with chlorosis suffer from iron deficiency. But problems can arise from the lack of other lime-related substances involved in the process of chlorophyll production. As a rule, their lack has various visual manifestations. That is why the exact determination of the deficient element will help to cure the plants the fastest.

To remedy the situation, the bushes must be fed with compounds containing the missing element. Top dressing can be carried out both foliarly and in the usual way. The foliar method allows nutrients to be absorbed much faster, but is not suitable for all plants. Sometimes solutions are injected into branches or stems. To fill the lack of a certain element, you must use the appropriate drug:

• If there is a lack of iron, you can treat the bushes with Iron Chelate, Ferovite, Ferrylene or Micro-Fe.
• Dolomite flour, Mag-Bor preparation or magnesium sulfate can remove the lack of magnesium.
• With a lack of sulfur, Kalimagnesia, potassium sulfate, as well as Azofosk or Diammofosk, containing sulfur, will help. These products, in addition to sulfur itself, also contain other elements. Because of this, they should be selected based on the period of development of the bush - nitrogen supplements will not be needed for already flowering plants.
• Zinc deficiency is corrected with zinc oxide, zinc superphosphate or zinc sulfate.
• Calcium deficiency is usually observed in acidic soil. Wood ash, slaked lime or ordinary eggshells will help fix it. Nitrogen can also affect the absorption of calcium by a plant. Ammonia reduces the degree of its intake, and nitrate - increases.

Prevention

You can try to prevent non-infectious chlorosis in advance by regularly adding the necessary mineral or organic additives to the soil. If it is not possible to determine the missing element, the easiest way is to use complex formulations containing the entire list of substances necessary for the development of plants. They are presented in stores in a fairly wide range.

Plants that prefer slightly acidic soils can be periodically watered with water to which grains of citric acid have been added. Typically, such watering is carried out about once a week. This will protect the soil from excessive alkalization caused by using too hard water. In addition, you should not use heavy soils for planting, poorly permeable to air and water.

There are also a number of measures to prevent the occurrence of an infectious form of chlorosis. All gardening tools must be wiped with industrial alcohol or boiled before and after use. Before planting, the soil is treated with disinfectants. Seeds or tubers of plants are treated with a fungicide before planting. They try to destroy pests on plantings immediately after they appear.

Chlorosis of vegetable crops

Chlorosis of tomatoes

Organic chlorosis on tomatoes is evidenced by their slow growth, yellow or flying, as well as curling foliage. All these signs can indicate a strong underfilling, but if the reason is definitely not a lack of moisture, it is necessary to determine what substance the plantings lack. Each type of mineral deficiency has its own external signs:

• Due to a lack of nitrogen, tomatoes slow down development, their stems begin to grow lush quickly, and old foliage fades and turns yellow. The fruits ripen very quickly, but their size remains small.
• The lack of potassium manifests itself in the effect of a “burnt” border of old leaves. After that, they begin to turn yellow and fall off. In an advanced case, chlorosis spreads to younger leaves. The tomatoes themselves acquire dark stripes inside.
• Phosphorus deficiency causes a decrease in growth rates and a thinning of the main shoot. The leaves turn slightly purple, and their edges are curled. After that, the plates begin to dry and fall off.
• Lack of calcium leads to damage to the upper, younger leaves. They turn yellow and deformed. Necrotic areas appear on the surface of the plates, gradually covering the entire leaf as a whole. The fruits of such plants can be affected by apical rot.
• Copper deficiency is most often found in tomatoes growing in peat soil. Their old foliage brightens, and the young - shrinks. The stems lose their tone, and the buds fall off, not fully opening.
• Magnesium deficiency appears as yellow-green spots on old foliage. Gradually they become gray and then brown. Later, the foliage begins to dry and fall off, while the fruits continue to ripen quickly, but are small in size.
• Boron deficiency is the drying out of the top of the plant and the formation of an excessive number of side branches. Dry areas may appear on the tomatoes themselves.

The missing substances are introduced directly into the soil or sprayed with plant leaves. If there are signs of viral chlorosis, the affected bush should be immediately removed, and the place on which it grows should be disinfected by spilling with potassium permanganate or fungicide.

Chlorosis of cucumbers

Chlorosis on these vegetables begins with yellowing of the border and veins of the leaves. But these signs do not always indicate a deficiency of iron in the soil. In this case, only a specialist can usually figure out the exact cause of the problem. In order not to waste time looking for the source of the disease, it is easier to prevent its occurrence in advance. To do this, a couple of weeks before sowing or planting seedlings, humus is applied to the beds. This fertilizer is considered a universal prevention of cucumber chlorosis. It includes all the elements necessary for the plant, and in this form, cucumbers will certainly be able to assimilate them. The introduction of mineral compositions may not give the desired effect - they may contain substances that, on the contrary, will harm the development of the bushes.

Compost is applied to the beds in a large volume, deepening it by about 5-7 cm. The prepared soil is watered abundantly. A few days after such procedures, you can safely plant cucumbers on the garden bed.

Chlorosis of fruit and berry crops

Chlorosis of grapes

Grapes are among the crops most susceptible to the development of chlorosis. A grape bush affected by it slows down the rate of its development and begins to bear much less fruit. The development of an organic type of disease is often associated with too alkaline soil on which the grapes grow. In this case, its roots cannot receive enough iron. Along with carbonate, grapes can also develop types of chlorosis associated with a lack of magnesium, manganese, copper, sulfur or zinc. Another cause of the disease can be an excess of hydrogen sulfide in the soil - this usually happens with heavy, poorly drained soils in cold and too rainy weather.

An infectious type of disease on grapes is usually carried by a nematode.This disease is often called yellow mosaic, but it appears quite rarely.

Chlorosis on grape foliage can be detected by the following signs:

• Light yellow specks of different shades appear between the veins of the leaves.
• Older foliage turns pale, while young foliage slows down and takes on a bright lemon hue. Over time, the leaves begin to fall off.
• Internodes on fresh shoots are shortened.
• The grapes in the bunches become smaller.

Most often, signs of chlorosis on plantings appear already in the spring or at the very end of summer. You can determine the type of disease using a simple test. On a light sheet that has lost its usual color, an iron chelate solution is applied in the form of a strip or pattern. After a day, the treated part of the leaf should acquire a deep green color. This will demonstrate that chlorosis is non-infectious. The treatment of such a disease requires a number of procedures.

The plantings are fed with iron vitriol, and its foliage is fed with iron salts. Such actions will help bring the process of photosynthesis back to normal, although they are not considered a full-fledged treatment. Spraying the bushes is repeated weekly. At the same time, the soil between the rows is necessarily dug up and mulched. This will help improve soil ventilation. Iron vitriol and potassium sulfate will help to get rid of excess alkali in it. As part of the fight against calcareous chlorosis, iron chelates will help. The leaves must be sprayed with a solution of sulfuric acid, and ammonium sulfate must be added to the soil. At the same time, the treatments are recommended to be carried out using water heated in the sun - this will protect the grape bushes from additional stress due to cold watering.

To prevent the appearance of organic chlorosis, it is necessary to initially give preference to the varieties most resistant to its occurrence. As a rule, they belong to the number of European ones (Aligote, Cabernet, Muscat, Riesling, etc.) The abundantly fruiting red-fruited varieties are most susceptible to the development of chlorosis - they consume the greatest amount of iron. Varieties of American selection are also considered weak: their immunity is aimed at protecting against other diseases, and an excess of calcium in the soil can become destructive for them.

Even having chosen a suitable variety, plants should be placed near its bushes that improve the composition of the soil. For this, any type of green manure is suitable. Planting clover, lupine, alfalfa, or sweet clover will help reduce the calcium content of the soil.

To prevent the disease in the spring, about 0.5 kg of ferrous sulfate is introduced under each grape bush in the spring. In addition, the plants must be systematically fertilized with a complex solution of useful elements (manganese, zinc, etc.), using it as foliar dressing.

If the plants have already suffered chlorosis last year, a number of strengthening measures should also be taken from the spring of the new season. Before awakening the buds, grape plantings are sprayed with a Bordeaux mixture or a solution of copper sulfate. During the period of foliage blooming, the bushes are fed with nitrogen. The growing shoots are treated with a solution of lime sulfur and Bordeaux mixture in a low concentration. When the ovary begins to form, you can treat the bushes with a solution of copper sulfate and a solution of colloidal sulfur. Thereafter, treatments are temporarily stopped until harvesting.

If the grapes are sick with yellow mosaic, the bush will have to be removed and burned. Such a plant will hardly bear fruit, but it will be able to infect the rest of the bushes. To prevent the occurrence of such a disease, flowering plants and the adjacent soil are treated with a solution of ferrous sulfate.

Raspberry chlorosis

Raspberries can also be affected by both major types of chlorosis. Organic develops from a lack of certain microelements or from improperly selected soil, in which the roots of the bushes cannot assimilate the substances they need.

Due to the lack of nitrogen, the foliage turns pale and yellow, and dries up at the edges.The lack of iron manifests itself in the yellowing of young foliage, while the edge of the plates turns brown. Boron chlorosis first affects old leaves, starting from the petiole. Magnesium starvation manifests itself in yellow spots on the leaves and slower growth of fresh branches. If raspberries are deficient in manganese, old foliage begins to turn yellow between the veins. Watering with too cold water can also serve as the beginning of the development of chlorosis.

Mosaicity caused by viruses is considered incurable. Such bushes will have to be destroyed. To avoid its development, the following preventive measures must be observed:

• For planting, choose raspberry varieties that are more resistant to chlorosis. The quality of the planting material must also be monitored.
• Weeds near the bushes are regularly removed and the soil is loosened.
• The bushes are systematically fed.
• The soil should have a good drainage layer, damp areas should be drained.
• Sucking insects become the main carriers of viral diseases, they should be destroyed at the first signs of appearance. You can also perform preventive treatment. So bushes are sprayed from aphids in spring, before the buds open. For this, a 3% solution of Nitrafen is used. Before flowering, you can use a solution of Methylmercaptophos at the recommended dosage. The treatment with this agent is repeated once more, but this is done no later than 45 days before picking the berries.

Treatment of organic chlorosis begins with identifying the cause of its occurrence. Gypsum is added to too alkaline soil (about 110 g per 1 sq. M). For watering the bushes, only water heated in the sun and well-settled water is used. If the soil is waterlogged, watering should be reduced.

Foliar dressing with appropriate fertilizers will help against nitrogen chlorosis, but they should be carried out at least 3 weeks before picking berries. Fertilizers, including boron, can be applied about 3 times per season, this will not only cure its shortage, but also improve the taste and speed of ripening of berries. The lack of iron or manganese will be corrected by their chelates; treatments can be carried out several times.

Chlorosis of strawberries

The causes of damage to strawberry bushes are usually the same as those of raspberries. The symptoms of diseases in these crops are also not different.

If functional chlorosis on strawberries has developed due to iron deficiency, it should be replenished at the first signs of the disease. For example, you should use a solution of Ferovit or Helatin (about 12 mg per 10 liters of water). The composition is poured directly under the bushes. Strawberry leaves can be treated with a solution of ferrous sulfate.

A common cause of the development of the disease is liming of the soil, as well as an excess of copper. This element interferes with the absorption of iron. You can check plantings for iron deficiency in the same way as grape bushes. On a yellow sheet of iron chelate something is written or drawn, if the strawberry really lacks this element, in a day the area covered with chelate will turn bright green.

The infectious type of the disease cannot be treated, attempts to get rid of it can only take additional time, during which the disease can spread to other bushes. In the case of an infectious lesion in strawberries, the stems and leaves begin to turn yellow, and the new internodes acquire a short size. At the same time, fresh leaves of a diseased plant can grow green, but such a manifestation, unfortunately, cannot indicate an improvement in the condition of the bush.

Apple chlorosis

The disease manifests itself in the formation of yellowish spots on the leaf blades of apple trees. Leaf veins retain their green color. Sometimes the tops of the leaves can die off. As with other plants, the organic type of disease in apple trees is usually caused by a lack of iron in the soil or inappropriate soil quality that prevents the tree from drawing the necessary nutrition.

It is quite simple to make sure that chlorosis began to develop precisely because of a lack of iron.It should be assessed exactly where the foliage began to turn yellow - this process begins from the tops of the branches. A tree with such symptoms must be sprayed with iron chelate or agents containing this element (Agrecol, Brexil, etc.). Treatments are carried out 2-3 times with a break of about 10-12 days. To improve the condition of the soil, the soil at the trunk should be shed with a solution of ferrous sulfate (100 g is required for 10 liters of water). Injections can urgently help a plant lacking this element. The medicinal composition of iron sulfate is poured into a pre-drilled medium-sized hole in the barrel, and then it is closed with cement.

If the foliage on the branches turns yellow not from above, but from below, the development of chlorosis is caused by a lack of nitrogen. Organic preparations are best suited for treating such an apple tree. For example, 5 kg of rotted cow dung is added to the soil in the area of ​​the trunk circle.

The yellowing of the foliage in the middle of the branches of young trees indicates a lack of potassium. To correct the situation, potassium sulfate (25 g per 1 sq. M) is added to the soil around the apple tree.

If the leaf has acquired a bright yellow color, but its veins remain green, dark dots appear on the surface of the plate, and the edge has dried out - the apple tree lacks manganese and magnesium. You can fertilize such an apple tree with wood ash or dolomite flour. For the leaves, a solution of magnesium sulfate or magnesium sulfate and manganese sulfate is used.

If all the leaves on the apple tree turn yellow, it means that its roots lack oxygen and sulfur. It is necessary to add potassium sulfate, magnesium sulfate or ammonium sulfate to the soil, as well as humus, manure, gypsum or Ammofosku. To improve the flow of air to the roots, you should regularly loosen the soil near the trees and mulch it with organic matter.

As a rule, the most obvious causes of the disease become only in the early stages of plant damage, when only part of its foliage has turned yellow. When the whole tree turns yellow, it will be much more difficult to identify the missing element.

On apple trees, the viral type of the disease can manifest itself in two forms. Each of them is caused by different pathogens.

1. Chlorotic ring spot. Yellow dots appear on the leaves, folding into a ring-shaped pattern. Manifestations are also noticeable on the fruits of the affected apple trees. The leaf blades begin to deform, and the tree itself slows down growth - its branches are shortened, and the thickness of the trunk does not increase. The affected apple tree loses its frost resistance.
2. Mosaic. Its signs affect foliage, shoots and fruits. The pattern appears in the form of clear stripes or spots. The yield from such an apple tree is significantly reduced, and the fruits ripen with a delay.

At the same time, the types of viral diseases, from which cherries and raspberries, as well as plums, can suffer, appear quite rarely on apple trees.

Peach

Peach trees are especially sensitive to iron deficiency, so they suffer from chlorosis relatively often. Peach foliage at the initial stage of the lesion becomes yellow-green, while the veins turn yellow simultaneously with the leaf itself. When the disease spreads to the entire crown, it begins to fly around, and the tops of the branches dry out.

Ailing trees significantly lose their frost resistance, the next year their bark begins to crack, and the shoots develop more slowly. Old twigs dry without forming a fresh growth. When cracks occur, glue begins to stand out from them. Its frozen capsules should be carefully removed from the barrel with a sharp sterile instrument. After this, the lesions on the bark are cleaned and treated with a light solution of potassium permanganate. Further processing of this section of the trunk will consist in rubbing with sorrel leaves (any food or horse will do), and then the wound is closed with clean clay or a mixture of it with a fresh mullein.

As methods of treating functional chlorosis for peach, you can use the same remedies as for treating apple trees.

Chlorosis of flowers

Hydrangea chlorosis

Hydrangeas are also among the garden plants that are prone to developing the disease. Usually garden flower species suffer from chlorosis caused by a lack of iron in the soil. Lack of appropriate treatment will lead to metabolic disorders of the bushes, due to which the planting will be significantly weakened. Foliage with such a disease acquires a pale yellow color, although its veins remain green.

The easiest way is to prevent the development of such chlorosis or try to cure it in the early stages of the disease. After the onset of symptoms, hydrangea leaves should be sprayed with iron chelate or any preparation containing this substance.

In case of significant lesions, it is necessary to introduce iron-containing compounds under the roots of the plantings. For example, you can spill soil a couple of times next to the plantings with a solution of ferrous sulfate or potassium nitrate. For 1 liter of water, 40 g of any of the products will be required.

Chlorosis of petunia

Chlorosis on petunia manifests itself as follows: the surface of the leaf begins to turn yellow with green veins, the edges of the foliage curl, and then the leaves fly around. Young leaves develop too small, while flowers are deformed. The tops of the shoots may begin to dry out. In this case, the roots of the bushes also suffer.

Noticing such manifestations, when watering, add a pinch of citric acid to the water (0.5 tsp per liter of water). If the method does not bring visible improvements, in addition to this, the same amount of ferrous sulfate is added to the water, thereby obtaining a homemade iron chelate solution. This treatment continues until normal leaves begin to appear on the bushes. To improve the process, you can cut off the unopened buds of the petunia. This will help the plant to channel all its energy into the recovery process. Instead of ferrous sulfate, other iron-containing compounds are sometimes used.

Foliar feeding of petunias is not considered effective: the pubescent leaves of the plant, not to mention its flowers, do not always tolerate even rain well.

Bushes affected by the viral type of the disease will have to be destroyed.

Roses

In rose bushes with chlorosis, the leaves begin to turn yellow evenly while maintaining the green veins. The most common cause of problems is iron deficiency. Often, signs of the disease can appear on only one plant of the roses growing nearby, and not all. In addition, chlorosis can also cause an overabundance of chemical. fertilizer applied in the previous year.

Treatment should be started at the very beginning of spring, before the growing season. Mullein or humus and a preparation or composition containing the missing substances are introduced into the soil. Diseased roses cannot be fertilized with nitrogen, but they should be watered little by little. Until the bushes are fully restored, foliar fertilizing with complex compositions can be carried out, choosing cloudy days for this. Such procedures are carried out until the plantings are completely recovered. It is not recommended to carry out deep anti-aging pruning during this period - it will only further weaken the plants.

Chlorosis drugs

To eliminate the causes of organic chlorosis, the following remedies are used, among others. They should be used according to the instructions.

• Agrecol - is a concentrate of mineral substances. It can be used for iron deficiency in home, balcony or garden plants.
• Brexil - a drug created for the treatment of chlorosis and the prevention of their development. Contains micro- and meso-elements in a chelated form, easily assimilated by plants. A whole series of products are produced under this brand, each of which is designed to eliminate the deficiency of a certain element. All these funds are used in a foliar way.
• inkstone - it is used as a contact fungicidal agent, capable of providing a disinfecting effect and serving as a microfertilizer.The drug is iron-II sulfate containing this substance in the form of a chelate.
• Orton Micro-Fe - used for foliar dressing. The composition contains trace elements suitable for both garden and garden species. Among other substances, it includes iron chelate, therefore it can be used in the fight against chlorosis and serve to improve plant immunity.
• Ferylene (Ferillen) - a universal chelating agent suitable for foliar application of ornamental, floral, fruit, berry or vegetable plants. It has a positive effect on the chlorophyll production process.
• Ferovit - helps to improve photosynthesis and air flow into plant tissues. It can be used as a medicinal or protective agent for literally any crop, including vegetable, ornamental, domestic or fruit crops. Contains iron chelate concentrate.
• Iron chelate - a composition that is directly a chelated form of iron, which allows plants to assimilate it fully and most easily.
• Helatin - another remedy based on chelated iron. It is used both for root feeding and for spraying the leaves of plants affected by chlorosis.

Traditional methods of treatment

There are not so many popular ways to defeat chlorosis - mainly organic additives or specialized preparations with trace elements necessary for the plant are used to prevent and eliminate this disease.

Iron chelate, considered one of the best means of combating the deficiency of this element, can be prepared on the basis of ferrous sulfate on your own. It must be mixed with citric or ascorbic acid. In the first case, 0.5 teaspoons of acid and a third of a teaspoon of vitriol are added to 1 liter of cold boiled water. In the second, 10 g of vitriol is diluted in 1 liter of water and 20 g of ascorbic acid is added there. Homemade solutions can be watered or sprayed on plantings, but they should be stored in a cool place for no more than two weeks.

At the same time, a number of gardeners confirm the effectiveness of more unusual means of combating the disease. So to eliminate the iron deficiency under diseased bushes or in a pot with a diseased flower, they sometimes bury old rusty nails, other rusty objects, or simply cleaned off rust.