My favorite product for iron deficient soil, which I can have because of my soil's alkalinity, is Hi-Yield's soil acidifier with iron, sulfur, nitrogen, and other stuff. I think it works pretty fast. I also use granular fertilizer made for acid loving plants (any old brand will do) once in the early spring to help those roses on multiflora rootstock. It must help because I don't have any problems with these roses. Diane

You can use blood meal, it will just take a bit longer to have the desired effects. Organic fertilizers are good, they simply need to be "digested", broken down into the salt forms of the nutrients so the plants can absorb them. That is going to require the appropriate temperature range, appropriate moisture range, oxygen and available nitrogen to feed the bacteria which digest the organics. This can possibly rob more nitrogen from the plants until the bacteria generate more nitrogen from their digestion than they require. The "extra" is released for the plants' use. In the short term, that can worsen the nitrogen deficiency of the plants until the bacteria get "cooking".

High nitrogen inorganic fertilizers (and soil "acidifiers") provide the required nutrients in the form closest to that able to absorb into the plants without having to be "digested", changed to the right form. So, yes, blood meal, any other organic sources of nitrogen, "acid food" or soil "acidifiers" which acidify by applying higher nitrogen, can be used. Organic types will simply take a little while longer. How long depends upon the conditions where you are, when you apply them. Kim

Kim,

It appears that both Miracid and Hi-Yield soil acidifier with iron, sulfur, nitrogen are both non-organic and will therefore work faster than organic tertilizers or blood meal. Am I reading this correctly?

I know I can find Miracid in a retail store nearby, but the Hi-Yield I can only find online. But if either will work, I can get the Miracid tomorrow.

And yes, I am impatient!! Have been told that for about a million years.....Only a slight hyperbole.

Thank you Michael, Diane, and Kim. Have a lovely Sunday afternoon.

andrea

Yes ma'am, the Hi-Yield should do the trick as well as the Miracid. They may well be pretty similar products. I frequently compare the ingredient labels on fertilizers and other garden chemicals to determine if there honestly is any real difference for the price. Many times there is NOT.

A lot of years ago, Ortho had Home Defense insecticide and Flea B Gone, both in one gallon, ready to use packaging. The Fea B Gone was $2 more expensive then the Home Defense. The ingredient labels were IDENTICAL. Same ingredients, same concentrations, same recommended application frequencies. Why? Ridding your home of fleas is WORTH $2 more than ants or other bugs, so they could easily tack on that extra "profit".

There frequently isn't a lot of difference between a "30-10-10" orchid food, acid loving plant food, soil acidifier or citrus type food. There might be differences in the sources and types of nitrogen used depending upon sensitivities of certain plants to the various forms of nitrogen such as with blueberries and Phalaenopsis orchids, but if you aren't growing plants with these types of sensitivities, you don't need "special" formulated with them in mind.

I went through a friend's fertilizer supply in her garage. There were so many types "specially formulated" for so many different plants. In her case, eleven different products could be reduced to two, a "tomato type" for her roses and most other plants and a "citrus type", higher in nitrogen than the tomato type. She doesn't grow anything with special requirements for nitrogen sources, so I suggested she use what she has not to waste money already spent, then decide which one of each type made the best sense for ease and cost.

If you're concerned about salt levels in your soil, you can always mix the water soluble types and spray them on the foliage with either a pump sprayer or clean spray bottle. It works, using far less product with far less salt added to the soil. If you're concerned about the nutrient levels being too high for the heat and sun levels, reduce the concentration. A 10-10-10 concentration at one tablespoon per gallon of water, becomes about a 5-5-5 mixed at half strength. There is also no need to buy another type of lower strength if desired. Just use less of what you already have. Using weaker concentrations of fertilizers won't "hurt" anything because you can always use more later, or another weak feeding sooner than you could a stronger one. It isn't like using too dilute or weak strength fungicides, insecticides or human antibiotics. There is nothing to build "resistance" to as there is nothing being "killed". Plants, like us, respond well to smaller meals "eaten" at greater frequencies. They may not "green up" as quickly as desired, but they also are less likely to be burned by too high salt concentrations with lower, weaker feedings. If you have the time available to provide more frequent feedings and don't mind doing it, that can reduce the salt build up and amount of product (cost) used, too. I could have used a one pound package of water soluble food feeding my seedlings and propagated plants the other day. Instead, I used two tablespoons of it to foliar feed them using a clean pump sprayer. It took a few minutes more time, but it used much less product, resulting in a great deal less salt added to the soil with significantly reduced potential for nutrient run off, if and when it rains.

There honestly aren't that many "active ingredients" for us to use in our homes and gardens. VERY often, the price difference is due to name and advertising. Spend a bit of time in the chemical and fertilizer aisles reading the labels. It can surprise you and save you more than a few dollars at the check out counters. Kim

Kim,

Thanks for the help and info.

I have noticed that some of the time, products don't have a clear and concise label. They just use the most 'fuzzy' terms. So sometimes you have to go online to request specific ingredients.

Thanks again all,

andrea
P.S. My newer English roses are doing exceedingly well. I think Carding Mill is going to take over the planet... Tomorrow I plant my new Wm. Shakespeare....Whoopeee.

Most normal soils contain plenty of iron, but most of it is not in available form, depending on soil pH and organic content. Blood meal does not contain available iron; in fact no organic fertilizer does, as far as I know. However,humus in the soil does help to keep iron in available form.

There are various products that supply available iron. The reason I suggested Miracid is that it is also a suitable rose fertilizer. If you don't want to use a manufactured fertilizer. you can lower the pH with a little sulfur, or apply ferrous iron (greenstone) mixed with compost.

But, again, the deficiency is liable to disappear eventually owing to repotting. The only harm it does is to reduce photosynthesis.

Michael,

It wasn't a bed rose, it is a plant that is still in the nursery container. I believe that you said the leaves would get darker after I had it in a large pot with good potting soil. I just wanted to give it a little head start.

I will use the Miracid as a foliar spray on it tonight. The new pot will be delivered this week and then I will replant it. I think that WS just sat in the nursery pot for much too long.

Thanks again,

andrea

Hi-Yield soil acidifier is available from reputable nurseries in this area. It doesn't seem to show up in big box stores much. Diane