Q. We have a crape myrtle tree in our southwest back
yard. It gets plenty of water and I fertilized it last month with some Miracle
Grow flowering fertilizer. At the time there were some burned edges on some of
the leaves and some yellowing. Now it is really burned on the edges of all of
the leaves with yellowing. HELP!
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| Crape myrtle growing at Center for Urban Horticulture for 20 Years on Formula Mentioned Here |
A. A couple of things on your crape myrtle. I have kept
crape myrtle growing in raw desert soil in good shape for 20 years at the
Center for Urban Horticulture and Water Conservation in North Las Vegas. I used
a combination of a general purpose tree and shrub fertilizer (16-16-16) plus an
iron application combined with foliar sprays of Miracle Gro.
I don’t really
endorse products but Miracle Gro is the one I used and have found to work just
fine. You could just as easily use a different good quality foliar fertilizer
for flowering woody plants. I apply the granular 16-16-16 in late January or
early February using about 2 lbs. of fertilizer applied to the surface of the
soil and watered into the roots without it washing against the trunk.
You can
make some shallow holes in multiple places under the canopy and water it in
thoroughly. At the same time, I also apply an iron chelate, iron EDDHA at the
rate of a tablespoon or two scattered in the same holes and watered in so that
none of it remains on the soil surface. It is light sensitive.
After
about one month of new growth I then foliar fertilize the tree with a Miracle
Gro spray or comparable product. I do both of these annually. You can do the
same thing (except for the iron) by using a fairly large quantity of good
quality compost annually. My guess is you either are missing the iron
application, watering too often or not watering deeply when you do water.
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