Sorry I haven't been active here. Just spread too thin. I post mostly on a pitaya fruit group lately as that seems to have most of my attention these days.

I was going to hold off until I had some photos to share but thought I'd get it out now. My most dramatic results were with a jaboticaba so I posted first on a forum where I sometimes discuss these plants with other folks. I'll just post a link to there at cloudforest since there is already some discussion on it.

http://www.cloudforest.com/cafe/gardening/iron-supplement-photogreen-amazing-results-t1603.html

My first test was with a Gold Nugget which I thought was doing "okay" having increased from 3' tall to 5' tall and getting much wider/fuller in the past three years it's been in the ground. Within 3-4 weeks of applying PhotoGreen-S it put on additional growth of about 3' so it is now about 8' high.

Most of my established citrus seem to do pretty well, I think, but most young ones seen to grow slowly. I used PhotoGreen-S on two scraggly young trees on 9/4 and there are new shoots coming out along the branches and from the trunk. I took a photo on 9/4 and will wait another week or so when the new growth is more obvious.

It's hard for me to not make a "big deal" out of this because it's really impressed me more than any other agricultural product I've bought before. I guess it's about as exciting as when I was a teenager (in the 70s) and learned I could use Roundup to spray Johnson Grass in my dad's corn fields instead of dig up every plant by hand and haul them out to burn. To find something that killed Johnson Grass back then was also pretty exciting.

This sounds very interesting. Some of my plants could use some of this. I can't find PhotoGreen-S in the UK. Would iron sulphate powder have the same effect? I found it on ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-Kg-Sulphate-Iron-Fertilizer-Ferris-Sulphate-/380244942741?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Garden_Plants_Fertiliser_CV&hash=item58885d5f95

The next best thing would buying chelated iron, though it does get tired up as well, to some degree. I had tried that and had also tried iron sulfate on most of these same trees with no noticeable changes though maybe I just needed to try more.

Thanks very much for the advice. I will research this further and if I try out some form of iron supplement I will post the results here.

I look up PhotoGreen-S to see what chemicals it contained, see below:
Sulfur....................3%
Iron.......................5%
Manganese.............1%

There is nothing in the formula, as far as I can see, to cause an immediate citrus flush. I'm not saying it is a bad product. PhotoGreen is probably a very good product to use, if a tree has a deficiency of MN, FE or S.

However, I would like to point out that this is the time of year for a second flush on citrus trees. Many of my citrus varieties are presently flushing. The only thing I have added is my regular fertilizer program.

Harvey, to test the product apply another application of PhotoGreen on the trees that flushed, and see if PhotoGreen again produces another flush. My bet is that your citrus will not flush again until its next normal time in the Spring.
Millet (486-)

Bob, I am at least 90% certain that the Photogreen is responsible for the flush.

I applied the PhotoGreen to my Gold Nugget and the flush began within a week. Approximately one week after making that application, I applied it to a jaboticaba, lychee, and pitanga. The each had a significant flush within 7 days. As I pointed out in the cloudforest thread, my jaboticaba had put on very few new leaves in the three years it was in the ground but the leaves on the tree about doubled in 7 days after making the application. The pitanga, though it had grown pretty well, about tripling in size in three years, gave me one fruit in 2009 and no flowers in 2010 or 2011. Within 10 days of applying PhotoGreen it had about 50 flowers. About 10 days to two weeks after that application I applied PhotoGreen to two other citrus that were doing quite poor, a Tahoe Gold and some mandarin whose name escapes me now. That application was made 12 days ago and both of those trees have numerous new shoots of growth, more than ever before.

I have tried many different products over the years for various purposes and have never been as impressed with anything like this, except maybe Roundup in the 70s. My cousin who is one of my chemical salesman told me about it and told me that it had worked better than any other iron product he's ever recommended (he's been a PCA for about 35 years or so).

I don't believe that giving the analysis comes close to telling the story behind this products effectiveness. I had linked to the company's product information in the other forum, but here it is http://www.fbsciences.com/micronutrients/#product_line_category-16085 From the company's site:

Quote:

PhotoGreen-S is radically different from salt-form fertilizer products because it bypasses soil tie-ups and delivers easy-to-assimilate nutrients to the plant via the soil. Increasing photosynthesis by correcting chlorosis is one of the key processes for growing earlier crops with higher yields and quality.

If the flush growth I was seeing was due to the time of year, the citrus should have flushed at about the same time, not six weeks apart. The response has been quite rapid so it seems readily apparent that the PhotoGreen is responsible for the improved growth.

Harvey, if you like the product, and belive that it is responsible for the result that your trees produced, then that is all that matters. . -Millet (886-)

Harvey, you know how bad my little mandarins have been looking for more than the past year. They are now looking really healthy and strong, and are flushing and growing like crazy. No more yellowing of the leaves at all. The only thing I have done differently this summer is throw a small handful of a sulfur product around each tree. I don't measure, I just stand about 8 feet away and throw a small handful at each tree. My soil and water PH are pretty high, and I am thinking this product is lowering the soil PH and allowing the plants to access nutrients better. The label says the product is: 20% soluble potash, 10% magnesium, and 22% sulfur. I did this on about the middle of June and the middle of August. At the same time I threw a small handful of 16-16-16 at each tree. I know this is not very scientific, but so far the trees look happy.
Kern

Millet, what matters is what is actually taking place, whether it's what I believe is happening or not. I know lots of things believe to be true which I don't believe is justified. I'm quite analytical in things to the point of being obsessive. Based on the timing of my multiple applications and subsequent plant performance, I'm pretty sure I know what's going on but not "certain."

Kern, I've seen your citrus and how they've improved. Your pH is worse than mine. I've tried other sulfur and iron products without success so was very pleased to see how my plants are doing now.

I think the most telling response came from my jaboticaba and pitanga. I thought my $125 jaboticaba tree was going to eventually die since it probably had lost 50% of its leaves in the past three years and only replaced a fraction of them but now it has twice as many leaves as a few weeks ago. I had applied iron sulfate last year and chelated iron with sulfur back in June with no detectable change but I saw a tremendous within 7 days of applying PhotoGreen-S.

Not as significant, probably, but my two Xie Shan grafts had been growing okay for a month and then the shoots died back and I figured they were dead. I applied PhotoGreen-S to both of them about two weeks ago and each of them has sent out new shoots and are growing well. That was a very pleasant surprise but I realize it might have been due to something else such as heat waves, watering, etc.

I realize I'm not getting much "traction" with this thread, but I continue to be impressed by various changes in plant growth after treatment and do believe that PhotoGreen-S appears responsible since the changes have taken place over different periods of time after various plants have been treated from late July to early September.

Two weeks ago I treated two in-ground citrus planted this spring which had not been putting on much new growth. I gave each of them about 2 ounces of PhotoGreen-S on 9/5 and took an updated photo late this afternoon. While the Tahoe Gold had shown one new growth shoot it now has dozens of shoots along the trunk and branches. The Miyagawa wasn't looking as bad to begin with but also has quite a bit of new growth. Since the files are somewhat large (about 1MB each), I'll post links instead of someone unknowingly coming to this thread and complaining about a graphic intensive page. The dates of shots are part of the file names in case that isn't apparent.

http://www.chestnuts.us/TahoeGold20110905.jpg
http://www.chestnuts.us/TahoeGold20110919.jpg

http://www.chestnuts.us/Miyagawa20110905.jpg
http://www.chestnuts.us/Miyagawa20110919.jpg

FYI - the white film on the leaves is PureShade, a calcium product that helps reduce solar stress. Although citrus like lots of sun, I was concerned about these trees being under stress due the limited foliage.

The difference is striking! I'm growing various citrus seedlings in a compost/sand mixture. The seedlings have stopped growing despite being fertilized. New leaf growth is either small and deformed or shrivels up and falls off. I don't think I'm over watering. I'm wondering if the growing medium ph is too high, which is why this thread has interested me so much.

My soil pH is in the low 7s (7.1 to 7.4 from various spots in my nearby chestnut orchard). As you can see from this chart: http://www.avocadosource.com/tools/FertCalc_files/pH.htm iron becomes increasingly more available below 7 so lowering your pH should help as long as you have sufficient iron in your soil to begin with.

Although I don't have a "before" comparison of my jaboticaba, I decided to upload this photo from 9/3, two weeks after treatment. Lighting isn't very good but I think it's pretty obvious in looking at the lower part of this tree which leaves are new and which are old. I would estimate that this tree put on 5-10 times more leaves in the two weeks after treatment than in the prior three years. http://www.chestnuts.us/Jaboticaba20110903.jpg

Thank you for posting these results. I love hearing about new products from people who try them for themselves & not from the marketing blurbs sent out by the manufacturer.

I will have to look into this product for myself.

Anthony