13 Key Nutrients for Plants – #8 Iron
[tweetthis]13 Key Nutrients for Plants – #8 Iron[/tweetthis]
Soil testing is an important activity for a successful garden. Soil stewardship is an ongoing process, where you test and amend, grow some stuff, then test, amend and grow some stuff….and so on. Focus on building soil tilth so it can really hold and make available to the plants all the important nutrients. You do this in part by adding compost, manure, rock dust, bone meal, kelp & fish emulsions. Read this article series to learn more about each of the 13 key nutrients for your garden.
Iron is required for photosynthesis, but in minute quantities, and helps move energy within the plant through respiration and metabolism. It can be found within enzymes and proteins and is used for nitrogen fixation. It is especially important to celery, cabbage, beets, alfalfa, beans, asparagus, cauliflower, soy, barley, sorghum, spinach, tomatoes and strawberries, rye grass, oats and Brussels sprouts.
Iron deficiency will show up on the leaves, which will develop yellow-green colour between the veins, which later turn completely yellow. Growth is stunted then stops, and yellow leaves develop dead patches and fall off. Deficiency in the soil is often a result of not enough gases in the soil and too much water that sits around the roots, and/or high concentration of colloidal particles, or compacted soil. Iron deficiency can also be caused by too much manganese, as well as poor root growth. Phosphorous deficiency could cause the root growth problem, in turn causing the iron deficiency.
To correct a deficiency
- cultivating the soil to aerate it
- digging in organic matter like compost or renewable peat moss to provide soil structure to enhance air spaces, moisture absorption and retention capability
Note: to allay any oncerns around using peat moss, check out this link
Too much iron in the soil can cause manganese deficiency. Toxicity is often connected to low pH or a zinc deficiency or high levels of molybdenum.
To offset an excess of iron
- increasing potassium which will increase zinc content
- raise pH by applying dolomitic limestone, which will also add magnesium and calcium
Soil testing is an important activity for a successful garden. Soil stewardship is an ongoing process, where you test and amend, grow some stuff, then test, amend and grow some stuff….and so on. Focus on building soil tilth so it can really hold and make available to the plants all the important nutrients. You do this in part by adding compost, manure, rock dust, bone meal, kelp & fish emulsions. Read this article series to learn more about each of the 13 key nutrients for your garden.