Overcoming Iron Chlorosis in Blueberries
Iron is an essential nutrient when it comes to premium blueberry production. All plants need iron to produce chlorophyll, which gives the plant its healthy green leaves, and iron is key when it comes to increasing photosynthesis. It also serves as an activator for biochemical processes, such as respiration and nitrite reductase which requires iron for the plant to utilize nitrogen more fully, building both amino acids and proteins. Iron also facilitates enzymes needed to produce polyphenols, antioxidant compounds with several health benefits that have earned blueberries their ”superfood” status.
Chlorosis in blueberries typically occurs when there is a lack of iron in the plant. This disrupts the production of chlorophyll in the leaves, and cause yellow or discolored leaves, stunted growth, reduction in yield, and in extreme cases, eventual death of the plant. However, lack of iron in the soil is not always the cause of chlorosis in blueberries.
Several other factors can contribute, such as:
- Excessively High Soil pH: Most blueberry varieties thrive in an acidic soil pH ranging from 4.8 to 5.2.
- High Bicarbonate Concentration in the Irrigation Water: Blueberries are quite sensitive to the toxic effects of excess bicarbonates in the water source.
- Adverse Soil Physical Properties: Soil texture is an important feature of planting site evaluation. Blueberries should not be planted on soils where the silt + clay ratio exceeds 40 percent.
- Chloride: Blueberries are intolerant to chloride ions and can restrict growth if levels are too high.
- High Sodium Levels in the Soil: Blueberries can accumulate ample concentrations of sodium where irrigation water sodium concentration is high.
All these conditions can cause visual symptoms of yellowing that mimic iron chlorosis in blueberry plants. Visual chlorosis symptoms should be looked at as a stress indicator for the plant, over a diagnosis of a specific nutritional deficiency like iron detected in soil testing. The first step to improving chlorosis is to identify the specific cause or multiple causes of the stress.
In cases where you have a true iron deficiency due to lack of iron in the soil, or are experiencing iron-induced chlorosis in the leaves, FBSciences’ iron soil and foliar applied products offer a great addition to your blueberry program. PhotoGreen® Soil is our premium, soil-applied 5% iron product that is chelated and complexed in ways that keep it free from soil tie-ups. It is soluble and readily available for root uptake, and formulated with FBS Transit® technology, our proprietary biostimulants technology that works inside the plant to mobilize these compounds in the soil and support chlorophyll formation and photosynthesis for long-lasting green-up. PhotoGreen Soil by-passes soil tie-ups by promoting the rapid uptake, absorption, and translocation of nutrients within the plant.
PhotoGreen Soil is also enhanced with root exudates to assure the plant can get full use of the applied iron, along with other nutrients in the soil such as zinc, calcium, and potassium. Root exudates are naturally produced by the plant to readily absorb soil minerals. Plants may have difficulties producing them under adverse conditions, like the ones discussed above, so adding them to PhotoGreen Soil increases the efficacy of nutrient uptake through the root zone.
PhotoGreen® Foliar gives the grower the option to apply iron at different times of the year and may be applied in fungicide or pesticide spray applications. PhotoGreen Foliar is not formulated with root exudates but has higher levels of sugars and contains FBS Transit technology that promotes nutrient movement to the plant’s growing points.
Consider bypassing soil tie-ups and assuring rapid absorption and translocation of iron for the health of your blueberries with either PhotoGreen Soil or PhotoGreen Foliar, used alone or in combination throughout the year.
Visit FBSciences.com or contact your FBSciences rep for more information.
