What should I give to my Butias?

[Nakheel1412]

Hi,

All of my three Butias have opened yellowish new fronds (versus the usual darker green), and I'm pretty sure there's some mineral deficiency going on ;
Our soil is podzolic (poor++), sandy, and clearly lacks potassium (got the classic symptoms of K deficiency on my largest W. robusta) ;

My largest butia has been showing these signs even though I'm feeding it (sheep manure), which makes me think it is craving for potassium since its growth didn't slow down ;
One additionnal detail : our soil is supposed to be rich in iron (reddish podzolic soil), but I can't quite tell if that's true or not ;

What do you guys think?
- Should I give it potassium (sulfate) ? Should I add magnesium? Does it also need iron?
- Any indications on the rhythm of administrations to follow and the amounts to give ?
(I have bought liquid potassium fertilizer (K₂SO₄) + solid heptahydrate magnesium sulfate (MgSO₄·7H₂O) )

Btw, any advice is welcome !

Here's some pics :


New frond :


A closer look :

Thanks in advance !

Edited September 30, 2018 by Nakheel1412

[Phoenikakias]

What is the ph of native soil? Oh wait, let me guess;  alkaline maybe? Not sure where I had heard it, but sheep manure ultimately creates an alkaline enviroment. Now imagine that this information is true, and you provide to your already alkaline soil more alkalinity... Butia is a genus that generally does not tolerate well alkaline soil. Alkaline soil binds iron and potassium and manganese. I had great difficulty to help a B odorata adapt to my alkaline soil. I did it finally only with the use of a special organic fertlizer, rich in potassium and magnesium. Even the expensive osmocote could not offer a significant help. 

[Phoenikakias]

Certainly the application of water dilluted potassium sulphate once has proved very detrimental to my poor Butia. It probably affected ph rapidly and put the plant in to a shock situation.

[Nakheel1412]

Hi @Phoenikakias !
Thanks a lot for your help !

Actually, from what I read, podzol is super acidic ;
In addition to that, queen palms thrive here when generously fed with manure, which makes me think the problem is that my soil is by nature very poor and very washed out from the minerals ;
Or could it be that it is too acidic ?

[Cikas]

I have the same problem with some of my butias. 

[sergiskan]

To me, in my alkaline soil, the best way is apply complex fertilizers, NPK plus chelates micronutrients. Usually mix Fertilizer with rain water, if I don’t have rain water I use sulfuric acid to increase acidity of the water.

Also an overwatering in my clay soil can yellowing the plant.

twice a year apply iron sulfates to correct in long time soil pH.

Edited October 1, 2018 by sergiskan

[Nakheel1412]

5 hours ago, Cikas said:

I have the same problem with some of my butias. 

Hi @Cikas !
Do you have an acidic soil like mine ?
 

4 hours ago, sergiskan said:

To me, in my alkaline soil, the best way is apply complex fertilizers, NPK plus chelates micronutrients. Usually mix Fertilizer with rain water, if I don’t have rain water I use sulfuric acid to increase acidity of the water.

Also an overwatering in my clay soil can yellowing the plant.

twice a year apply iron sulfates to correct in long time soil pH.

Thanks for the info @sergiskan !
With further research, I found that it could be caused by a micronutrient deficiency (iron and/or manganese), I'll try giving some of both to my palms and see what it does

[Cikas]

1 hour ago, Nakheel1412 said:

Hi @Cikas !
Do you have an acidic soil like mine ?
 

Thanks for the info @sergiskan !
With further research, I found that it could be caused by a micronutrient deficiency (iron and/or manganese), I'll try giving some of both to my palms and see what it does

Soil here is alkaline. But I use pine straw mulch in my garden. I do not know how much affects its PH.

Edited October 1, 2018 by Cikas

[Nakheel1412]

11 hours ago, Cikas said:

Soil here is alkaline. But I use pine straw mulch in my garden. I do not know how much affects its PH.

Pine staw mulch is known to lower the pH, pretty good choice imo
Another solution is to bury dead plant material : instead of being decomposed via aerobic metabolism, it will go through fermentation and produce acids ;