Yellowing leaves
I mixed some Epsom salts in water and used it on mine .. this helped my plants. but your plant looks very healthy ..are the yellow leaves falling off.:seedling: :sun_with_face:
No they're not falling off and I've consider going to some Epsom salt myself ... little magnesium boost
@roadkill it helped mine also coffee grounds can help
Mine started to yellow as it grew in the hot sun. I gave it half a tsp of mag sulfate/Epsom salt in 1pint or quart for watering. I also sprinkled a little bit of dehydrated epsom chunks on the soil surface, so it would dissolve on the next watering. Watering pH has been adjusted to 5.5-6.5 with 3-5 drops vinegar per pint/quart. No scientific measurements yet. The tapwater here is slightly above 7. Yellowing improved within days, but my foolishness with neem led to some black/red spot burns where it pooled. Looking great and healthy otherwise! Have not yet fertilized. Planning on it soon with the fan favorite, Alaskan Fish fert.
last edited by SubstanceTheSqid
Alaskin fish fert is what we use on the nursery as well as the Ruth Stout method. I'd highly recommend looking into it.
Found a short guide about nutrient deficiency (from AZ edu.): extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1106.pdf
@SubstanceTheSqid my Kratom trees hate hate hate our Tap water. as soon as I started watering with water from fish pond I saw improvements .. I feed every 2 to 3 weeks with fish guts...and if I notice yellowing or an overabundance of it say 5 leaves or more I will give Epsom salts ..I added coffee grounds to the potting mix for my smaller trees .. so far so good. I have noticed especially for young cloned plants they do not like change very much. my thought is when u get new plants ..do ur best to copy the environment where they came from and make changes slowly ..I started with 12 trees last year and I lost 6 of them. I am still learning. oh and my big tree gets 15 gallons of water ever 2 days ..they love the water!
last edited by Erin Arthur
@Erin-Arthur the water from the fish pond makes alot of sense. Its almost like having fish emulsion. It's loaded with nutirents.
I saw a video on youtube where a guy had like a 55-gallon drum with goldfish and pumps that circulated the water to his plants and back to the drum again. I want to rig something like this up..his was a hydroponic setup. I would just like to have a drum with a pump to water my trees every couple of days
last edited by Erin Arthur
@will was talking to me a while ago about doing a drip system for our nursery. Just need to get the time to do it. We have all the materials.
Great advice everyone thank you. The fish pond water sounds fantastic. My fresh growth coming out looks great except for the damn aphids I've been battling them lately. I use a solution of dish soap and water in a spray bottle to combat a little buggers. It is so cool to finally have a group of people to talk to about this.
Best treatment for aphids is IPM: Ladybugs with a job! Neem is good but very potent and can burn plants, dilute carefully. People say use dish soap excipient but i think i will experiment with soy lecithin as an emulsifier, i assume it would be nicer to the plants. Maybe it will cause mold? TBD! Neem oil has a chemical call azachathrin or something ridiculous like that but is used on a variety of consumer crops. It breaks down within 2-4 weeks under sun or UV, and also breaks down and washes away with water. Spinosad is a large molecule produced by certain fungal/bacterial species and has potent anthelmintic/pesticide/miticide effects. It is also prescribed internally in humans and in veterinary care for dogs, so its generally well tolerated. A few companies sell premade sprays. Not sure if you could buy a pure extract of spinosad yet. I have not tried it. I have heard emulsions of Mentha species (peppermint/spearmint/etc) and also Nepeta (catnip/catnint) are somewhat effective repellents. If you want to go old school, you can try concentrated water extractions of tobacco as a spray, nicotine is a traditional insecticide/miticide. Most use smoking tobacco Nicotiana tabacum but species high in anabasine/nornicotine/more toxic nicotinoids like Nicotiana glauca, wild tree tobacco are better. Im growing a floral variety whose foliage will some day be used for the purpose... beware consuming foliage. Not sure of breakdown characteristics of nicotine, but it would be useful and well tolerated for growing plants in early stages, not for immediate consumption. Diatomaceous earth is also useful. I suggest getting a little tray of paper and a long straw and blow-dusting it on the leaves and soil surface. Reapply after watering period dries. I remembered the one i forgot: chrysanthemum. Another longer term investment, chrysanthemum flowers produce a group of compounds called pyrethrins. These are related to the common chemical permethrin, and all are highly effective pesticides and repellents. Generally the flowers are dried and powdered for use. These compounds also break down over time in light/UV and water.
last edited by SubstanceTheSqid
@SubstanceTheSqid killing it again with these long explinations great job!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh_8nhEr3jo
No .. I was interested in the fertilizer and he talks about molasses.
![6 24 2019 tree.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/nzOALSt.jpg) this is mine.its much bigger now
Wow your little guy looks fantastic! How old is it?
![IMG_20190717_100753.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/6NU1ZwP.jpg) I attempted to grab some shots this am but only one of them saved. This tree has been showing lack of vigor for a long while now. I've started to feed it fish emulsion and it seems to already be having an effect on new growth.