5 August 2024
Last weekend I noticed something I hadn’t seen for a while. Among a sea of green leaves a single plant had turned white. One was at the Herrs Island back channel, the other at Duck Hollow.
My two specimens are not the same species and they haven’t turned white in the same way. The plant above seems to have whitened from its tips inward. The plant below is turning white from the stem outward.
The difference in their response may indicate different reasons why they are experiencing chlorosis, or it might be specific to species.
Seven years ago I ran into a similar puzzle and described possible causes in this vintage article.
Have you seen the same thing? Do you know why these leaves turned white? I still don’t know.
when the leaves turn white from the base to the tip, it usually means a mineral deficiency. Nitrogen and magnesium can leach away into ground water. When these are in short supply, the plant moves nitrogen out of the older leaves at the base of branches and relocates it to the younger leases at the tips of the branches.
or the PH could have changed. PH greater than 7.5 makes iron and mangnanese unavailable to the plant.
Thank you, Dianne. These conditions must be possible in micro habitats since other plants are not affected.