I have a river birch that was planted about 2 years ago. It is now about 15 feet tall. Last year a lot of its leaves turned yellow and dropped off. We have a lot of clay in the subsoil around here, but the area around the tree was amended with good topsoil and compost prior to planting it. We did have a drought last summer, but I made an extra effort to ensure that it got adequate water since it was a recent planting.
This year, the tree was a little slow to leaf out, and there were some dead branches that I pruned off, but once it got going, it leafed out fairly well. Over the last week or so, I have noticed a few leaves starting to yellow again. I ran a search on the web and found some articles about chlorosis relating to river birch. The pictures in the articles matched exactly the symptoms this tree is exhibiting: leaves turning yellow, but still exhibiting green veins within the leaf, & leaf drop. I think there is also an insect (Birch leaf miner?) that can cause the leaves to yellow, but I doubt that this is the problem.
I have not yet had the soil tested, but most of the articles say that soil PH is the most likely cause of the chlorosis. My question: What can I do to decrease my soil PH (make it more acidic)? One article mentions spraying the foilage with chelated-iron or manganese to keep the leaves from yellowing, at least temporarily. Would this also be a good course of action to follow?
Any advice is appreciated!
This year, the tree was a little slow to leaf out, and there were some dead branches that I pruned off, but once it got going, it leafed out fairly well. Over the last week or so, I have noticed a few leaves starting to yellow again. I ran a search on the web and found some articles about chlorosis relating to river birch. The pictures in the articles matched exactly the symptoms this tree is exhibiting: leaves turning yellow, but still exhibiting green veins within the leaf, & leaf drop. I think there is also an insect (Birch leaf miner?) that can cause the leaves to yellow, but I doubt that this is the problem.
I have not yet had the soil tested, but most of the articles say that soil PH is the most likely cause of the chlorosis. My question: What can I do to decrease my soil PH (make it more acidic)? One article mentions spraying the foilage with chelated-iron or manganese to keep the leaves from yellowing, at least temporarily. Would this also be a good course of action to follow?
Any advice is appreciated!