Pomegranate Leaf Yellowing Could Be Weed Killers

Q. I have one pomegranate tree in bad shape. The leaves are turning yellow and then brown, underneath the veins are pink. This is one tree out of my 50 that looks like this each other tree look great with a lot of new growth. Any ideas what could be happening with this one tree?

A. Yellowing of the leaves could be caused by several things including flooding the soil too often, poor drainage and planting too deeply. However, if these trees have been growing for several years, you have done nothing differently and suddenly the leaves turn yellow, it could be damage from weed killers used in the area.

            Remember, apply weed killers only when there is no wind and temperatures are cool. Best times are usually spring and fall. Some weed killers can vaporize into the air when sprayed during the heat. Slight wind movement causes these vapors to drift onto the leaves of valuable plants nearby and damage them.

            Never spray weed killers when the wind is strong enough to move plant leaves. Use leaf movement as an indicator whether to spray or not. Early morning hours are usually best.

            Some worst offenders in this category are the lawn dandelion and similar weed killers. These types of weed killers move easily with air movements and cause leaf distortion, leaf yellowing, leaf death and even plant death.

            If the plant is actively growing when weed killers accidentally drift onto the leaves, then wash the leaves with water as soon as possible. Diluting weed killers with water while the leaves are still wet helps prevent damage.

            All you can do at this point is wait and see what happens. Fertilize it normally and water it. But remove the grass at least 2 to 3 feet from the trees and fertilize it with nitrogen fertilizer.

Another possibility could be salinity...salts...but you should see some leaf tip browning.