Great idea Muddy! Borox is 11% boron so I would imagine a little goes a very long ways.
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Fig grower,
I may need to top work hosui since I have a several in the ground.
Steve,
It does sound like I may need a very large box in that case, I have 600 pear trees. Thank you!
clark, with 600 trees might be worth getting a soil test for boron. Then you’d know how much of a deficiency you’re dealing with, if any…
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At what dosage?
I agree, get the soil test. I do wonder if boron just being present means its readily available for plant uptake.
At any rate, you won’t need that big of a box. The professional pumpkin growers advise 4.4 0zs. per thousand square feet of the 20 Mule Team (11-11.3%) stuff. I’d guess the amount for fruit trees may be a bit higher, having larger root zones, but that could actually work the other way I guess.
I’m sure there are recommendations out there.
If I remember correctly, I found one when I used it on my trees. I did use the 20 Mule Team borax.
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Richard,
I’m making an assumption that 29 parts per million means a ratio not a dosage. Literally 13 parts per million parts. NPK is easier because it says 13-13-13 as an example but like you I’m always thinking so what’s the rest of the mix? A lot there not being said about lots of things.
Any suggestions on a good soil test lab? The experts have told everyone around me that farms our ground is very low in magnesium. Then the other things they say are generic and in terms of NPK because soybeans, wheat, corn, sorghum are the main crops here. I bring this up because soil tests were done here before but the focus is on grains. Is Logan Labs as good as anyone http://loganlabs.com/get-started.html ? What type of test would be best? I’m thinking the Complete package is the way to go. Thanks
Why not run with the lab recommended by your extension or ag university? Presumably they’e be most familiar with your soil and not some company that is actually trying to sell bogus fertilizer, as I’ve seen in the past.
I’d want to use a lab used by commercial growers because they are likely to be legit.
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Great advice Alan but the tests don’t have boron on their list. Nothing is fruit specific here http://www.agronomy.k-state.edu/services/soiltesting/farmer-samples/soil-analysis.html and http://www.agronomy.k-state.edu/services/soiltesting/farmer-samples/soil-analysis/tests-available.html. These are the plants they focus on in Kansas http://www.agronomy.k-state.edu/services/soiltesting/farmer-samples/plant-forage-and-grain/sample-collection.html
** update I found a form here for fruit with some additional digging http://www.agronomy.k-state.edu/services/soiltesting/documents/soil-testing-lab/vegetables-fruits-and-nuts-6-16-08.pdf **
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And what does you extension agent suggest about the boron issue? I notice that it isn’t addressed in my soil tests either but Cornell covers the issue about desired levels in their commercial fruit growing guidelines so they must recommend a lab to do the tests.
Personally, I simply add a light dose in my custom made fertilizer mixes from CPS, not enough to cause damage but enough to likely eliminate any possible deficiency by replacing what the trees remove, but I can understand the desire for more accuracy if you suspect a deficiency.
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Hey Clark, you know I was thinking, if you were to the point of actually considering removing the tree, why not experiment a little. I know you’d like to have a better read on things, but what really would be the harm? If you suspect a boron deficiency and agricultural people around your place are aware of boron / magnesium deficiencies, why not apply a little and see what happens?
Borax is so highly water soluble, you should be able to have it in the root zone immediately I would think. If it doesn’t pan out, use it for your laundry, my wife does. Seems to me it’s very cheap too.
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Thanks Jeff that’s a great idea. Our local extension office does not know much about fruit trees beyond what’s taught typically. The local grain crops, noxious weeds, herbicides etc they know a great deal about. It would be like me asking for lasagna at a Mexican resteraunt. I will call them like Alan said and see if they will have suggestions because technically speaking soil science is soil science. It’s unlikely they know as much about pears as we do and that’s not meant badly. I will give them a chance to help and then use the boron if they can offer no helpful suggestions. Sometimes rather than people saying they don’t know they give the standard check online, read this book, here are pamphlets etc. .I just say here are the 5 things I know of if it’s not these 5 I don’t know please keep looking for your answer but I don’t have it. I will call them but still put the boron on this one tree that gives them 35 acres more to figure out what’s wrong with the soil.
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Clark, all you need to know if the recommended percentage of boron in the soil for apples which they should have easy access to- it is determined partially by soil texture. Cornell has those specifics and they can find them there.
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Alan,
Just checked with him and he was very helpful. He said there is no boron deficiency commonly reported in my area. They were willing to send in the sample I give them of the disease and soil and ensure it is blossom blast and what my soil is lacking. I will just cut off some buds and leaves to make sure what I’m up against. Then I will spray the tree down with 50/50 vinegar and water. I realize it’s basically a herbicide I’m spraying the tree with but vinegar is highly effective against bacteria and I’ve used it before with fireblight. I’ve tried antibiotics post bloom and copper pre bloom already.
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In my state, a leaf test in August is normally done on fruit trees (especially apples) to detect low boron levels (other levels like N or Ca also). A boron spray is normally recommended along with calcium. I have been told that even if the proper level of boron is present in the soil it may not get to the plant.
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Soil tests can get in to philosophical bents of people, so there is that aspect to consider as well… That said, I generally do not go to the state/county ag extension labs when looking for trace mineral testing (or any other). My local extension office can order the tests, but they are quite pricey for anything beyond basic NPK and pH.
Rather I have found that labs whose philosophy/program includes trace minerals tend to include them in the base testing package, usually at a much better price than the extension office. They also have more experience (I would assume) in their recommendations for same.
One lab I have used in the past and liked is Kinsey Ag (kinseyag.com). They follow the Albrecht methodolgy, so they will try to balance nutrients according to those rules using CEC numbers. They also include 4 trace elements in their basic test (B, Fe, Mn, & Cu I think). And they do quite a bit of real commercial/farm business. Their new website is hard to navigate, but call them up they give you a lot of test data and recommendations for a pretty good price. There are probably other labs out there as well.
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So I took samples to send in to make sure the diagnosis of blossom blast is correct. Here are more pictures of what I’m sending in for analysis.I apologize the pictures are blurry.
Sorry, can’t see the images very clearly.
Thank you Steve that’s very good information. Alan is right in my opinion that the local office is a great place to start and I have started with them and will likely get the more extensive tests you suggested later. I think Olpea mentioned the combined knowledge of this sight is very powerful and I agree with that because it’s hard to beat the excellent information everyone of you has given. I learned something from every person that replied to this thread so I’m very glad you did. It’s nice to see everyone who has commented took a little time out of the day to help me out with this. A disease like this is devastating in an orchard like mine.