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Entry Date
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Location
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Sunday, April 30, 2023
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Matt D.
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Connecticut
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Entry 14 of 100 |
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Correcting Anemia with Chemistry
While many of the typical early plant anemia causes were corrected (methods provided two posts earlier) the advanced and distinctive bright yellow strongly suggests iron deficiency. Since this was not a problem in the past some iron fertilizer had to be ordered. For a variety of reasons, the shipment was delayed, so chemistry skills were put to use.
Fertilizers typically offer a balanced pH for plants or even better yet, have a chelated forms for easy plant absorption this was not an option.
However, iron is iron right? Yes… but also no;-) This is where chemistry meets biology or a little biochemistry needs to be taken into consideration.
Using a ferrous sulfate solution as pictured is the same ingredient that is in most iron fertilizers so in this way it is the same. However, read closely and you will see that it has been acidified with sulfuric acid. Upon testing it has a pH around 2.0 which is not very plant friendly, not to mention the 0.02 Molar concentration.
So, with some careful dilution and pH adjustment the plants received a ferrous sulfate solution as a drench at 700ppm (1.0 EC) with a pH of 6.4. This was applied on 4/27, 4/30, 5/2, 5/4. Next image posted will show the plant on May 7th.
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