"Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish" wrote in message
...

I have quite a few proteas which are in poor shape. They are grown
from seed sourced locally (in the illawarra) from clay/loam soil and
sandstone soil. Not all plants are affected, but many are. The
symptoms are yellow and stunted growth. They are in a medium of
clay/loam soil mixed with 20% coir and 10% sand and perlite mix. A
picture is at:

http://www.speedlink.com.au/users/kd21/sick-plants.jpg

Any suggestions as to what's wrong, or remidies greatly appreciated.


In article , J & A Haig wrote:
Oh Holy One,

in the absence of any more enlightened reply, I've a few pointers. Btw, are
these "proteas" exotic, eg nursery trade "natives" from S. Africa, or real
native proteaceous plants, eg. Banksias, Hakeas, etc? The following tips
are general for proteaceous plants anyway:

These are real native proteas sourced from local seed.


1. Firstly, knock a few plants out and inspect the root ball. Is it
overcrowded or badly kinked or round and round the ball; the mix dried out
or full of ants or worms or curl grubs; can you see fine fanned whitish
structures on the roots (the proteoid roots from whence the family name
derives); is it just a big gluggy pasty lump? All of these point to a poor
potting mix or infrequent watering or poor potting practice. Suggest
removing any pests and repotting in a more open mix (cheap commercial
potting mix is fine - I usually use stuff that is about $2 for 25L). Most
proteaceous plants refer well drained soil, despite the fact yours appear to
be derived from a clayey area.

The Banksia integrifolia doesn't produce proteoid roots. I think I
see evidence of such in the grevillias. We prepare our potting mix
very carefully (we have 2 acres to plant on a small budget so we have
a lot of plants) with plenty of additives to open the structure out


2. Proteaceous plants commonly suffer iron deficiency chlorosis (lack of
green in the leaves). You can get iron chelate from any nursery/hardware and
apply according to directions. If the leaves green up in a week, that was
the problem.

I'll try this out. I don't understand quite why it doesn't affect all
individuals from a batch. Maybe it's genetics.

As mark Twain once said,"I'd love to tell you more, but I've already told
you more than I know."

Good luck, Jim

Cheers

Thanks for the help.

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