The attractiveness of hydrangeas (Hydrangea) depends on the beauty of the flowers, as well as on the bright green of the leaves. A nitrogen deficiency can make them pale and painful. Recognizing the symptoms of problems, understanding their causes and quickly resolving them is important for every gardener. Learn more about why hydrangeas have pale leaves and how to feed or process them in this case.
Causes of Pale Leaves
Start your research with the varietal characteristics of your hydrangea. So, the variety Lemon Daddy (Lemon Daddy) has natural leaves of light yellow color. When such a leaf ages, it acquires a lighter shade. Of course, it should not whiten completely, but still - this is a variety with very light leaves.Ordinary green leaves may also turn yellow. There are a lot of reasons for them to turn pale, turn yellow or change their color somehow differently.
Among them:
- direct sunlight and resulting in burns of a leaf plate;
- lack of nutrients;
- excess or lack of moisture;
- illnesses;
- pests.
Important! If all the leaves change color at the same time, then this indicates a lack of nutrients. And if only the color of some changes, then we are talking about a disease or infection with pests.
Nutrient deficiency
If the plant lacks nutrients, then this affects its appearance. Lack of nitrogen makes the leaf pale yellow green. First, this condition occurs on older leaves. The leaf plate turns white, and after this the veins turn pale. With a lack of other substances, they will remain green. The shoots will then begin to slow down in growth.
The reasons for this are very simple. There is always not enough nitrogen in the soil, from the point of view of a flowering shrub, so hydrangea is necessarily fed with fertilizers. If this is not done, then this affects the state of hydrangea as a whole and leaves as well.
Did you know? In Victorian England, it was believed that hydrangeas symbolized boasting. They have too many bright and beautiful flowers, but very few seeds for propagation.
If the youngest leaves on the branches become almost white and the lower ones are yellowish, but the veins are still green - these are signs of chlorosis. Hydrangea is not enough iron. A pink hue may appear due to a simultaneous lack of iron and a high pH level. If there is a coniferous tree next to a flowering bush, then they are competitors in the struggle for nutrients and moisture, so if there was a lack of iron, then it will increase due to the coniferous tree .
High acidity
This shrub needs soil with neutral acidity - 7.0 pH. If it is higher or lower, then no matter how much nitrogen there is in the soil, it will be difficult to absorb its root system.
Wrong watering
Excess moisture also prevents the absorption of nutrients. In such a situation, the roots begin to rot, the leaves of the plant become pale, and then begin to fade and fall.
In case of lack of water, the bushes dry, the leaves become brittle, some will notice yellowing, and they will also begin to fall off. At the same time, the plant will seek to reduce flowering time, and its inflorescences will wilt faster.
Important! Never water plants on leaves on a bright sunny day. This causes burns, as a result of which they turn pale and die.
Diseases
The root cause of most diseases is that the bush suffers from excess moisture. They have a fungal nature. For example, with peronosporosis, the upper part of the leaf plate becomes pale yellow, and brown spots may appear on it.
The main diseases:
- Leaf spotting - appears as a result of the action of the fungus. The disease increases rapidly if it rains. The complete yellowing of the leaf plate means that the disease is too neglected and urgent measures need to be taken. To combat it, spray “Horus” (0.7 kg / ha before flowering and 0.4 kg / ha - after).
- Dry spotting (alternariosis) - accompanied by yellow spots, which increase in size, then darken and dry out. Treatment is carried out by spraying with "Ridomil", "Quadrice" or "Polyram".
Pests
Juice insects at the same time release toxic saliva. It discolors the surface at the point of contact. As a result, discolored areas appear on the sheet plates, then the spots become larger, the sheet fades and falls off.
Having found infection, the bush needs to be treated with insecticides. It can be a solution of insecticidal soap (10 g per 1 liter of water), a general fungicide or a drug that is designed for a specific type of pest.
The main pests:
- Thrips - very small insects. They suck juice, and in places of damage to plant tissues, fungi settle that aggravate hydrangea disease. For treatment, spray “Vertimecom” (2.5 mg per 10 liters of water) and treat the soil with “Actellik” (1 ampoule per 10 liters of water).
- Aphids - sucking insects that settle in colonies on leaf cuttings. As a result, they turn yellow at the aphid sites. You can fix the problem by treating the plant with a mixture of water and insecticidal soap.
Ways to solve problems
The first step in restoring shiny green foliage is to restore the right conditions for the development of the bush:
- watering normalization;
- restoration of neutral acidity of the soil;
- organization of high-quality drainage from the roots;
- the addition of nitrogen in the form of organic fertilizers (you need 10–20 kg of compost per 10 m² of soil).
Did you know? It is believed that the first hydrangeas were grown in ancient Japan. But archaeologists have discovered the ancient fossils of this plant in North America. Their age — 40–65 million years.
How to feed
To avoid nutrient deficiency, apply balanced fertilizer for flowering shrubs in spring. In it, the content of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium should be the same. See the application rate on the packaging for fertilizer, and then apply it monthly in spring and summer.
The simplest medicine in case of a lack of nitrogen is to add ammonium sulfate to the soil (150 g / 1 m²). It can also be scattered around hydrangeas or applied as an aqueous solution. There are many reasons why the hydrangea leaves turn yellow. But all of them are easily eliminated. And if you adhere to simple rules for caring for these flowers, then hydrangeas will always remain lush and blooming.
