Why is my tree yellow?
The question of the summer is: why are my trees turning yellow?!
Well, there are a couple reasons!
🥵 It has been super hot with little rain a.k.a. we've been in a drought recently. When trees are water stressed they will begin to shut down processes to conserve energy. This means that older, less efficient leaves will start to break down, sending nutrients to the roots and turning yellow, just like we see in the fall. This results in a consistent yellow across the entire leaf and a patchy distribution in the canopy as the older leaves are shed and the young leaves stay green.
🌿Iron chlorosis is also a common issue affecting trees across Ohio. Rather than consistent yellowing, you see yellowing in between dark green leaf veins. Contrary to drought, younger leaves are affected first but you'll likely see symptoms throughout the canopy.
(Top) Iron chlorosis is evident by the yellowing of leaves between veins that remain dark green.
(Bottom) Drought or water stress shows itself by yellowing and/or browning of the entire leaf.
💦During periods of drought, irregular deep watering is the most beneficial for your trees. This mimics natural rain events and also maintains a moderate amount of stress which promotes deep root growth and overall resilience to later drought events (yes, moderate stress is good!)
🍃While you can inject iron supplements directly into the tree and see immediate results, this is a short-term solution. The most likely causal agent is a high soil pH which immobilizes iron in the soil, meaning trees cannot take it up no matter how much there is. This also means next year, you will have the same issues. The best (only) way to make iron consistently available to trees is to lower your soil's pH which can be done a few different ways depending on the severity. To do this, you need to first know your soil's pH which can be done through a simple soil test.
Contact ecoLogic to schedule a soil test, get recommendations for soil and tree health, and even schedule soil amendments and monitoring.