Vent: Took me 4 hours to diagnose a maple that just needed a soil pH test

Chased a crown dieback for three seasons, swapped soil, checked roots, even sent tissue samples to the lab. Turns out a $15 pH meter from the hardware store would have told me the soil was way too alkaline the whole time. How long have you spent on a simple fix you overlooked?

2 comments

2 Comments

ivanb4112d agoTop Commenter

You ever had one of those lightbulb moments where you feel like both a genius and a total knucklehead at the same time? lol I had a similar thing with a row of rhododendrons that just kept getting yellow leaves no matter what I did. Watered them right, mulched them, even gave them some iron supplement. After a whole season of fussing, a buddy mentioned pH and I grabbed a test kit. Soil was way too acidic for them, a little lime fixed it in a month. Now I test pH on everything before I start panicking.

lunawilson12d ago

Wait was the yellowing like an even all-over chlorosis or more patchy? I'm still figuring out if I can tell the difference between pH issues and actual nutrient deficiencies by just looking at the leaves lol