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dracena lucky bamboo not lucky at all
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Posted by martina7 Vienna Austria (My Page) on Sun, Jul 18, 04 at 10:33
i got this lucky bamboo several years ago. i decided the little dish was far to tiny so i got an ordinary hydroponic pot and planted it there. it was doing fine until this year. i was planning on making cuttings once it got to tall. now it is doing really bad. all the newer leaves are really pale, almost white and tend to dry.
the only thing i really changed was i water with rain water now as i don't like the traces of lime with my hydroponic plants. all the others are doping fine.
tanks for all advice, my dracena is really unhappy!!
martina |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: dracena lucky bamboo not lucky at all
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I am not familiar with the the plant, but pale or white new growth on most plants indicates a severe iron shortage.
The iron shortage can be caused by the PH being too high
(usually above 7.0) or a shortage of iron in the nutrients. |
RE: dracena lucky bamboo not lucky at all
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| i'm feeding all my plants the same and they are all doing fine except this one. and it started getting really pale this year, after i started using rain water. so i am positive the ph is far less than 7. do you think it's crazy trying a little little bit of iron fertilizer i got for my lawn? or add some lemon juice to get the water really sour? thanks for your help - martina |
RE: dracena lucky bamboo not lucky at all
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If you try adding iron, the new growth will come in green if an iron shortage is the problem. Unless your variety of plant has some special PH reqiurements, a PH below 7 should not create an iron shortage. Further lowering the PH will probably not do any thing to solve the problem.
The only thing I could advise is to add some iron and wait until the new growth comes out. I do not know if it is available where you are, but I would recommend chleated iron. Chleated iron will be picked up by the plant even if the PH is too high for normal iron. Often times bottles of minor elements will have chleated iron in them. |
RE: dracena lucky bamboo not lucky at all
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| cannot find chleated in my dictionary or elsewhere? thanks m |
RE: dracena lucky bamboo not lucky at all
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Martina, Sorry, I transposed two of the leters. It should be chelated. It is a chemical process where iron and a non-metalic atom are attached together. The end result is an iron molecule that can be picked up by a plant when the PH is too high for regular iron to be picked up.
A large portion of the minor elements sold on the U.S. market are chelated. |
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