Slight Yellow Tone on Rhododendron Leaves

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

I have been doing some soil experiments with container soils and rhododendrons. One of the test subjects has grown a really nice and dense canopy of leaves. But they have just the slightest hint of yellow in the leaf. Unfortunately the photo below makes the leaves look greener than I think they are. I do not understand if this is just an ordinary variation, or if this might indicate some nutrient deficiency. Since the new growth area of the branch is yellow, it might be that newer leaves also reflect this yellow tone and will fade yellow to green over time as the leaves age. The plant is a Seaview Sunset.

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Comments (3)

Cori Ann - H0uzz violated my privacy
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Hi Westes. I have never grown Seaview Sunset, so am of no help when it comes to knowing if that’s normal variation. I’m wondering though, where are the buds? Shouldn’t they be there this time of year? Did it not set any buds this year? That’s what would alert me to a deficiency.

One year my azaleas and rhodies hardly bloomed so I got a professional soil test. I wasn’t sure if it was soil, drought, sun/shade exposure or what caused them to just not bloom. They looked healthy, but no buds.

Unfortunately it’s really expensive in CA, while it’s free or inexpensive in other states. It was worth it though, because it cleared up exactly what my soil needed and didn’t need. After mulching for years, my soil was depleted of nitrogen since it was all tied up. The other nutrients were all excessively higher than necessary... and I didn’t ever fertilize so that was just natural rich clay soil & mulch nutrients. Now I replenish nitrogen every year before I add mulch.

No problems since!
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay thanked Cori Ann - H0uzz violated my privacy
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
Original Author
8 years ago
Bark ties up nitrogen, and all of my test soils have at least 50% bark content. So I think you are right I have a fertilizer problem. What is your fertilizer routine? Which products are you using and how often are you using them?
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Cori Ann - H0uzz violated my privacy
8 years ago
Well this is specifically based on my soil analysis recommendations, so I don’t know how it would work for anyone else. I highly recommend Perry Labs if can afford it. We have a large yard, a little under an acre, so it was well worth it. If I would have just fertilized willy nilly it would have been expensive for that large of a yard and it wouldn’t have been what I actually needed.

At the initial analysis, I was low in both nitrogen and phosphorus so it was recommended that I add 10 lbs of 16-20-0 fertilizer every 1000 sq ft. My pH was 5.5, acidic but a tad bit high for optimum azaleas so it was recommended that I add 5 lbs of 90% soil sulfur per 1000 sq ft. Organic recommendations of bone meal and blood meal were also provided, but those won’t work for me because my dogs would dig it up, causing extreme root damage.

I followed the recommendations immediately. But after that, I have added nitrogen 2 more times (after they bloomed in the spring and again in the fall/winter), but didn’t worry about the phosphorus and sulfur anymore. If they don’t bloom again I could add those back in.

Im going to add nitrogen again after they bloom this spring, right before I usually add a bit more mulch.