Chlorisis in River Birch

[Gus]

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!

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

pH can be lowered using water degradeable elemental sulfur pellets. Another way is to establish a layer of decomposing organic matter, like you have on a forest floor, or both. The sulfur is temporary, and the mulch is a little more permenent, but the soil will always want to revert to the original pH.

The first thing I would do is to dig down a little next to the ball and see if the roots have grown out and are thriving. If not, you may find other problems in that root area, like too much or little water.
While your down there, look at the base, is there a root flair? If not you better find it.
Let us know.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Also, how much of the arera was amended. could you have endded up with a clay pot into which you are watering and it does not drain well? River birch can take some standing water, but deoes need drainage.

Could alos be that it was a poorly dug plant that lost too much root during harvest.