Manganese Deficiency in Lemon Tree.

[Richee]

I have a few Lemon trees that I have started from seeds awhile back. Some of them are about 4ft tall now, but some of them are smaller and appear to have a manganese deficiency.

I looked online and could find information about manganese deficiency, but nothing really explains a way to treat the plant to get rid of the deficiency.

Any ideas?

[PunkRotten]

Try some Azomite.

[applestar]

I believe kelpmeal and liquid kelp are also good sources.

Also greensand, which in Florida you should be able to source locally from Florida or from Texas I think.

[JONA878]

Magnesium Sulphate....Epsom Salts...is a simple way of spraying the leaves to get Magnesium into the plant.
It would need a 'wetter' like a soap mixture added as the leaves of lemon are so waxy and would repel plain water spray.
I would add that this deficiancy can be caused by poor root growth through compaction or poor soil structure. Also high potassium will induce the difficiancy.

[Richee]

Thanks guys.

I actually did add Epsom Salt to the plant today.

Will the current leaves eventually turn dark green when the deficiency is corrected, or will only the newer leaves from here on out be dark green?

[applestar]

But is it magnesium or manganese deficiency?

[PunkRotten]

Yep they are two different minerals.

[Richee]

It's manganese.. looks identical to the pictures online.

https://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/database/nutde ... Mn-D.shtml

[PunkRotten]

I hit my trees with Epsom salts and Azomite.

[Richee]

Ok, I'll try Azomite next. Thanks again!

[imafan26]

What is the pH of your soil? Citrus likes slightly acidic but not strongly acidic or alkaline soils. Manganese deficiency usuallly occurs in strongly alkaline soils with pH above 8.5. Other deficiencies at that pH can cause chlorosis as well.
If you have organic soils most micronutrients are probably present but not necessarily available if they are tied up.

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/h ... ation/soil

[Richee]

I don't know what the Ph of my soil is... but based on the pictures, I don't think they suffer from chlorosis. The leaves of the chlorosis affected plant in those pictures don't look healthy.

The ones on my plant look healthy, just aren't dark green, and have the same pattern as the ones on the site about manganese deficiency.

But I will test the soil just to be safe.

[imafan26]

Foliar feeding will fix the problem temporarily.

[imafan26]

Is it time to repot them yet? Sometimes salts build up in the pots over time. Re potting helps, just make sure you have the right media for the plant. Use a complete fertilizer. I like fish emulsion, but kelp works too. Make sure what you use has a little iron too.

[imafan26]

It is often hard to tell different kinds of micro nutrient deficiencies apart. They all cause some form or chlorosis to a varying degree and either on young or old leaves first.
Most of the problems can be relieved with a foliar fertilizer.
Usually pH should also be optimized. Extreme pH can make nutrients in the soil unavailable to plants.

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets ... encies.pdf
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/SS/SS42300.pdf
https://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/C107/m10 ... igdis.html