How to know if plants are deficient in iodine

Earlier we told what fertilizers summer residents need to apply to the soil so that plants developed normally
and gave a good harvest. Due to the right fertilizers, the soil is saturated with nutrients, and the plants bear fruit well.

One of essential elements
necessary for normal plant growth is iodine. As a top dressing, it is more often used for vegetable crops, but fruit crops also need it.

And if observed iodine deficiency
, this directly affects the appearance of plants and their ability to bear fruit. How to determine that plants lack iodine, read our article.

Signs of iodine deficiency in plants

• Iodine deficiency is especially dangerous for certain types of soil
  – These are peaty and podzolic soils, light sandy loams and substrates with a low content of organic matter, as well as overly acidic soils. On them, plants are more susceptible to various diseases.
• With a lack of iodine, plants usually bloom late
  their fruits grow poorly and seeds develop poorly.
• Decreases resistance to many pests
  : nematodes, wireworms, as well as fungal diseases.
• At vegetables
  for example, tomatoes and peppers, with iodine deficiency, insufficiently large and pale fruits are tied.
• If there is not enough iodine in fruit crops
  for example, in grapes, then a bad ovary or its decay will testify to this.
• At berry plants
  there is a lack of starch in the fruits, they are distinguished by pale vegetation and stunted growth.

Prevention of iodine deficiency

It happens sometimes Difficult to identify iodine deficiency
, because outwardly it looks like signs of diseases, pest attacks or the effects of frost. But it is always good to carry out preventive feeding.

Iodine is good for plants / Photo: pixabay

Especially useful such fertilizer
will be for cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, strawberries and other crops.

For this make a solution
at the rate of 40 drops of ordinary pharmacy 5% alcohol iodine per 10 liters of water. Approximately half a liter of solution is applied under each vegetable crop after the first flowers appear. Top dressing with iodine is repeated no earlier than after 3-4 weeks. For foliar feeding of strawberries, the iodine solution is made less concentrated – 10 drops per 10 liters of water, and then sprayed three times per season, with an interval of 10 days.

Previously, we shared tips on how to save tomatoes from pests. They also told which cultivated plants are worse and more dangerous than weeds.