Iron Chlorosis
Iron Chlorosis is a deficiency of iron in a tree. It can be caused by lack of iron in the soil but generally it is because the soil pH is too alkaline. The iron is tied up by high pH soils and lowering the soil pH will allow the iron to be released and then the tree roots can take up the iron.
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To the left you see a Pin oak with Iron Chlorosis.
It should have a green leaf color during the summer but as you see it is yellow.
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This is a typical example (picture taken in 1999) of Iron Chlorosis in a Pin Oak that has been suffering from it for
several years. The first years you notice that the leaves start turning yellow sooner than
normal in the fall. The following years they may never get green and you start seeing
dead branches in the tree. It will eventually die from Iron Chlorosis |
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This is the same Pin Oak taken in 2000. The owner is going to cut it down this fall.
As you can see the tree has less than 40% of the branches with leaves now. |
A temporary quick fix for iron chlorosis would be to buy iron tablets at a nursery and embed these tablets in the tree as per label instructions.
Long term you need to lower the soil pH and possibly add iron to the soil.
Here in our part of Iowa the soil is generally alkaline (6.5 -7.0).
When I plant an oak tree I add iron sulfate each year to slowly start amending the soil. Preventing the iron chlorosis problem during the early years of the
tree is better than trying to correct the problem when the tree is much larger or full grown.
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