Spotted a weird wilt pattern at a local nursery last weekend

I was at Bloomfield Greenhouses in Ohio checking out their stock and noticed a bunch of eucalyptus had this pale yellow stripe down the middle of the leaves. Turns out it was a nutrient lock from too much boron in their water, something about the local well. Has anyone else seen this kind of discoloration on their plants and figured out a fast fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_christopher28d agoMost Upvoted

I had the same thing happen with my Japanese maples last summer. The tips turned a weird pale yellow and the leaves got all crinkly. My soil test showed boron was through the roof too from a bad batch of compost I mixed in. Flushed the pots with distilled water for three straight weeks and that finally sorted it out. Dropped maybe 20 bucks on test strips and water from the grocery store but it stopped the damage fast. The new growth came in normal green after that.

the_christopher28d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, you flushed Japanese maples with distilled water for three straight weeks? That had to be a pain in the neck hauling all those gallon jugs home from the store. I've got six maples in pots and I can't imagine keeping up with that routine. Did you actually see the water running clear by the end, or was it still kind of brownish? I've heard distilled water can actually pull more nutrients out if you overdo it, but it sounds like it worked for you somehow.

ellis.susan28d ago

I tried the distilled water flush too when my maples got sick and it cleared up the new growth within two weeks.