Key Features
- Light colored leaves
- Green leaf veins
- Brown spots in severe cases
Symptoms
Damage is commonly confused with iron deficiency, and also commonly occurs with iron deficiency. For hardwoods, new leaves emerge yellow (chlorotic), with wide green veins. The inter veinal region may become dead (necrotic) with increasing loss of manganese. In conifers, new growth is stunted and yellow, and browning of needles may occur in more severe cases.
Biology
Manganese deficiency occurs in soils that have a high soil pH, heavy clay, and often poor drainage. Magnesium is quite water-soluble and is prone to being leached out, particularly during heavy rains.
Management Recommendations
Maintaining well-drained soils aids in manganese uptake. Always check soil pH and submit a leaf sample for analysis. Avoid planting certain trees in higher pH soils with a history of manganese deficiency. These include most spruce,white pine and red maple. See the links section (the i in the upper left corner of the main page of this app) for a plant diagnostic lab in your state. You can purchase a soil test kit to help assist with proper diagnosis of nutritional deficiencies. Nutritional fertilizers are also available.
Effective Pesticides
Pesticides are neither available nor recommended for managing this condition.
Resources
- Not satisfied with ID? Contact the Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab
- Sign Up for the Purdue Landscape Report
