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[Cane Blossom]

so my largest, fastest growing mimosa seedling's leaf-set has been yellow-ish ( neon yellow/green color) since it developed (i assumed they would eventually, but they haven't and now the second set is growing and it looks like it will be yellow too).

my other seedlings are growing considerably slower, and are fairly runty in comparison, but all their leaves came in green and healthy looking.


is this something to be concerned about?

what (if anything) can i do to fix it?

[New Wisdom]

I'm not sure about the yellow part. May be a lack in iron or something.  I do know that my seedling stalled considerably at that stage and the growth really slowed down for a couple weeks. Now it's growing at a nice pace again.

[Cane Blossom]

well it is growing very fast.....

[New Wisdom]

Weird!  I just started a couple more hostilis seeds.

[Mandrake]

Are all your seedlings growing in the same patch of soil, or in pots in the same environment?

There are several reasons why a seedling would grow pale, for instance:

1 - Overwatering. Excess water may be damping them off, or flushing nutrients away.
2 - Too cold temperature for this early stage of growth.
3 - Lack of nitrogen or some other nutrient issue, although this is unlikely in such a young plant growing in organic mix - but see 1.
4 - Not enough light.
5 - Soil too packed/not draining well.
6 - Some parasites, like nematodes.

Your best call is to see what's different between this seedling and the others, and guess/try with that in mind.

Good luck,

Mandrake

[Cane Blossom]

the soil is pretty packed, and i am overwatering.

but the same could be said for the other seedlings.

i will ease off on the water, and see if it turns around.

if not i will transplant into decent soil (i just dug up dirt from the yard, same spot for all pots - identical conditions for all seedlings)

[Caium]

Remember to simulate the natural conditions, it´s always sure success.
In this case, more light, less water.

[Cane Blossom]

i doubt lack of light is a problem, almost all plants in this area require shade-cloth.

i have gotten some decent soil, and have decreased water.

they should be in optimum conditions now.

[Saros]

I'm afraid I don't have much advice to offer on this as I have the same (or a similar problem) with one of my trees and so far haven't figured out why it's unhappy.

In total I have 5 mimosa trees between 5' and 8' tall. All of them are pretty much in identical living conditions. Same soil, same location, sun, watering schedule, etc.  This one is the only one with these symptoms. I first suspected that I was over-watering so I reduced watering it about 3 weeks ago and drilled some extra holes in the pot (bucket) that it's growing in to improve drainage. It's still growing but even the new growth is pale. Since it hasn't improved any, I don't think it was a water issue after all. I'm thinking it must be some sort of nutrient deficiency now.. I will test the soil tonight.. maybe that'll give me a clue.

I found mealybugs on my largest tree yesterday but so far that appears to be isolated to just that tree. No sign of them on the pale tree. So I don't think there's any correlation.

[Saros]

Here's a picture of the one that's yellowing. Toward the bottom of the picture you can see that some of the leaves have dropped off as well

[Cane Blossom]

bizarre how it only seems to affect one plant, out of many under identical conditions...

i switched the soil to a higher quality, and reduced the watering, and there is no change....  (it has been a while since fixing those two suspected problems)

i guess i will be a while yet before we solve "the mystery of the yellow(ish) mimosa"

[Mandrake]

In total I have 5 mimosa trees between 5' and 8' tall. All of them are pretty much in identical living conditions. Same soil, same location, sun, watering schedule, etc.  This one is the only one with these symptoms. I first suspected that I was over-watering so I reduced watering it about 3 weeks ago and drilled some extra holes in the pot (bucket) that it's growing in to improve drainage. It's still growing but even the new growth is pale. Since it hasn't improved any, I don't think it was a water issue after all. I'm thinking it must be some sort of nutrient deficiency now.. I will test the soil tonight.. maybe that'll give me a clue.

I found mealybugs on my largest tree yesterday but so far that appears to be isolated to just that tree. No sign of them on the pale tree. So I don't think there's any correlation.

If your mimosas are in identical environment, i.e. they are in the same temperature (cold weather can make that happen in the case of mimosas), they grow in the same type of soil (with enough drainage, not too alkaline) and they receive the same amount of light and water, and only this one looks like this, I'd say you are left with two options: a nutrient problem, or a pest problem.

The pest is unlikely because it usually leaves other visible symptoms, and nematodes will hardly do that to an adult plant... So I'd try with nutrients. If you can measure the EC to be accurate with the concentration you give them, awesome. If not, feed her a conservative amount of good NPK fertilizer with a high N ratio (say 4:1:1 and above). You can try to apply it misting the leaves as well if you have foliar fertilizer. And for micro-nutrients, iron and (secondarily) molybdenum.

You can try that and check the new growth in two or three days. If that does not work, I'd re-pot it. And if that did not work either, as Cane said, we can open the official Mimosa Mystery thread.

Good luck,

Mandrake

[nobody]

It could also be nutrient lock out due to calcium deficiency. A easy symptom to look for is twisted stunted new growth.

[Saros]

Hmm maybe.. the new growth on the one in my picture does seem a bit more twisted and weak than the new growth on my others.. What's a good way to add calcium? Pulverized eggshell or oyster shells? I have a flock of chickens so I have a bunch of that on hand already.

[Saros]

I think I just answered my own question after checking out 2centprofit's organic gardening link:
http://gilcarandang.com/recipes/calphos/