I had a couple of plants, in containers and in ground
that were either sluggish putting on new growth
or, had yellowing leaves.
After giving them some iron and magnesium, worm castings and compost
and only marginal gains, i tried planting several nitrogen fixers near the roots.
My understanding is most N chemical fertilizers wash through the soil quickly.
With a N fixing plant, i think it acts more like a slow-release.
it also does not harm soil bacteria or fungi like chemicals.
ive seen a couple of very nice gains.
I dont like using chemical ferts. I use dry organic on rare occasions in small amounts
and use liquid fish, worm castings, or compost normally.
This seems to be a solution in certain applications for me.
I also think certain species fix N better than others
and some may be better for particular species
maybe bean is better with Plinia and Senna is better with Coffee ?
it would be nice to have a database showing which ones work better for what fruit trees...
Imbe
cant find a pic, but these leaves were very yellow.
Red Jabo... was chlorotic. Iron and Magnesium had not helped.
compost gave me only very minimal gains
i planted 3 bean seeds about 10 inches from the trunk
in 2 weeks the leaves greened up nicely
(day was overcast, so pic is yellowish) but leaves are much greener.
Grumichama hadnt pushed growth in several weeks.
4 bean seeds seemed to help.
the 1st pic is with my old camera
- july
Grumi new growth - today
Coffee - greening up leaves
Jabo - pic is from April - after freeze in Jan killed large branches.
was not putting out new growth at all.
Jabo - today - Nitrogen fixers... 4 beans (3 to 4 weeks)
leaf color slowly coming back , still spotty.
Jujube
had to move it from backyard to front.
transplant caused some shock and it wouldnt put out new growth
now its holding fruit and growing fine. leaf color is excellent.
