Just received soil test and found my three (3) columnar apple trees to be at a level of .01 of Boron. I would like to add Borax to raise the levels. Since i only have three trees and not a whole orchard, i would like to treat each tree separately.
I would think it would be best to dissolve in water and apply. How much Borax should i apply per tree, a teaspoon?
The trees are probably about 5 years old but were transplanted two years ago from pots into the ground.
Lastly i live in Portland, OR. It’s raining, a lot. I dont want the borax to wash away or get watered down or is that not a concern.
One more question, how soon does it work? Does it take several seasons or should it start doing it’s magic this season?
Here is a screen shot of my soil test. Ignore the target area, that is set for Vegetable Garden by the testing company as well as the optimal range ppm’s
Hi Carmela,
Welcome to the site,
I usually apply a foliar spray several times once the trees leaf out using 2 TBS of 20 muleteam borax per gallon of water. Best done on a sunny day when rain is not in forecast for several days. I also add it as a surfactant once the fruit is about the size of a quarter when I begin applying Surround to the fruit. I have not had concerns about overdosing as my trees continue to do well. I do not know the answer to your last question as to time to be effective,my guess is that within several days the foliage will absorb it.
Dennis
Kent, wa
Hello Zoshia/Carmela,
As you can tell from my name, I am also in Portland. As are many of our gardening compatriots here, I also was very low in Boron. I added Borax. When I did, there were trees that bloomed for the first time the next year.
There is a calculation that you can make. It’s not difficult math, it’s just a lot of steps. I added it to my entire yard, but you don’t have to. It was in Steve Solomon’s book, The Intelligent Gardener. You calculate how low you are in boron, how much boron is in the borax, how much land you are dropping it on, and how densely. You probably want to use a calculator, but you don’t have to. I don’t think I did. I think it’s a good thing to do, particularly in our soils.
