Laura, if your azalea looks fine I'm not sure why you'd want to fertilize it. Hennings - "Miracid can be more of a problem than a solution. It is a 30-10-10 fertilizer. The 30 is nitrogen which promotes foliage growth and inhibits flower bud production."

As for your lithodora, we're naturally acidic here so I can't say what effect the PH of your soil might have...information in my perennial books shows they are often fine in neutral (7) soil. They do need very good drainage to thrive, and dying out in the center is not at all unusual for lithodora.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hennings - Fertilizing

Hey MorZ8 ,
Thanks for reply.

I didn't use the Miracid . Instead I went and got chelated Iron.
My azalea has a bit of chlorosis , I had mentioned it looked fine because when I first moved in this house it was very chlorotic. Very neglected ect ect .. This year it is doing so well compared to years before, but I am concerned by some of the leaves color and look , so I will post a picture and get some feedback .

I am new to all this , but I love to learn .

Regarding the lithodora , it had yellowed last year and a grower gave me some iron to give it and within 2 weeks it greened up to what it should be .

The ones in the garden seem to be coming back nicely and I have others that were in flats and I wintered them over under a huge pile of sticks and leaves .
The ones I planted last year are at the edge of my perennial bed. I mixed sand in when I planted them last year for good drainage,the newer growth's color is not right , it is that sickly yellow just as last year.

Some in the flats are yellowish as well , so I gave them some Iron .

About them getting sparse in the center , I heard that from 2 people where I worked being a drawback and also read it on another website Ed's Favorites http://www.humeseeds.com/eflith.htm
despite all this I still want to grow them because the flower is just stunning .. They literally pop out !!

It is so odd how different books say different things sometimes , because the books I have say acidic soil 4.5 to 6.0 and while my soil is 6.5 which should be sufficient, some of the litho's get yellow., but the grower said it was normal and give them a shot of iron.
I hope They survive.
Laura

All I use on my Azealas and Blueberries is cottonseed meal and garden sulfur. They look and do just fine.

MorZ8 , I got a better look at that article tonite and I have some things to look for on the azalea tomorrow .
I have some burnt edges on the newer leaves .
This might be one of the insects I am not familiar with like lace wing.
Also this azalea does compete for water with an enourmous cyress tree about 4 feet away .
Two springs ago I started to deep water this bush and as a result looked much better every year .

I have so much to learn . I eventually want to amend the soil to the status of not having to add any extras .
I have started this with some pine needles and I also have peatmoss which I will gently scratch into the soil around the base.
Here is a link to the post with the pictures of this bush .
By the way , the link to the article answered some of my questions that I posted Thanks .

I'd expect the burnt leaves to be due to all the salts you have been pouring on. Sample your soil and have its current condition determined by a soils lab before applying any other chemicals.

Laura, Ron is right, browned outer leaf edges is most likely salt injury (fertilizer burn), or insufficient water.

I'm not one to use much peat even with my clay based soil....although the PH if right, I hate the way it sheds water if it ever becomes too dry, don't under any circumstances apply it straight as a mulch.

Rhododendrons in their natural environment have a constant accumulation of dead organic material falling around them...leaves, twigs, needles (forest litter). The result is a loose largely organic soil and rhododendron and azalea roots respond to this in two ways...they are accustomed to and do best with lightweight, well-drained but moist rooting medium (evolution has made them very sensitive to dry conditions), and the roots are fine-textured and fiberous to the point they will have trouble in dense heavy soil.

Another feature of the accumulation of organic plant remains is an increase in soil acidity. Leaves and other plant remains release organic acids as they decompose, wherever accumulation is faster than decomposition, an acid condition follows.

I don't have to concern myself with PH here, but I have never fertilized my rhododendrons or azaleas. I mulch with compost and composted steer manure every year instead, reapplying as needed. The mulch appears to supply any nutrients they need, and keeps the soil cool, prevents moisture loss (our late summer to Fall, when flower buds are being set can be our driest time of year).
You don't have to work it in, it's better not to try to cultivate around those surface roots...just top dress with compost - available by the bag at garden centers, WalMart, Home Depot etc.

Ron , You mean to say that Chelated Iron one application caused salt build up on my azalea?
Where are these salts coming from ?
This bush has only received supplement deep watering ,some much needed weeding at the base ,some compost , pine needles and has yet to get peat amend ,that will be tomorrow.

I applied Chelated Iron at appropriate dosage once just yesterday . This bush to my knowledge in the last 8 years received no other chemical.
I know the subject title reads miracid 30 10 10 , but if you read my posts I was inquiring about the use of it on Azalea's regarding lowering PH .
I am learning so that is why I ask before I apply anything.
I know my Azalea suffers from alkaline soil, and has been improving over the years.
I am familiar chemical burn due to years of working with tropical plants , this does not seem to be the issue.
It is more likely frost , dehydration during winter months , lace wing bug , soil Ph being less than ideal or all these combined .

Ron , I am very curious as to how you deduced from the above posts that this bush was getting over medicated with chemicals ?

L.

Morz, It can't be fertilizer burn , I never gave any to it. I just started to compost last fall and have top dressed this bush this year .
From what I am learning about azaleas , who ever planted this bush placed it in a less than ideal location. It gets early morning sun and then later midday afternoon sun. It is exposed with little protection.
About 4 feet slight downgrade grows a 70 foot cypress tree , and 8 feet later is a 75 foot spruce.
It seems These pine trees suck up all available water .
As of two seasons ago , I started to slow drip deep water the bush and it improved.
My soil is quite good but due to sun exposure , the large trees , and my lack of knowledge for 6 of the 8 years to water the poor guy caused stress.
I dislike using chemicals and and working on my compost pile ect..
IT is just this year , this bush seem to come a long way and leafed out quite a bit , it is discouraging to see the slight yellow patch .

Do you think I hurt it with the one application of Iron Chelate ?

L.

Laura, no. I don't think you could have burned your plant with one application of chelated iron unless giving it a foliar spray mixed much too strong.

Skipping back and forth between posts to the one you supplied us with two pictures....I'm sorry, I can't tell from your photos any more clearly what your plant's problem might be than my earlier guesses. It does appear more olive than bright dark green, but with different monitors I don't know how accurately I'm seeing it.

But, 'outer leaf margin browning' is normally diagnosed as salt injury, or lack of sufficient water at times other than winter. Wind and sun burn during winter will usually appear as brown to even gray areas down leaf mid rib, due to the tendency for the leave to curl slightly under when weather is quite cold...the surface with the greatest exposure under cold condtions is the leaf center, not edges. Chlorosis will show you the outline of the leaf ribs in green, with the rest of the leaf turning yellow.

I've looked through insect symptoms to see if there is any help to you there, nematodes may cause yellowed or weak plants...I'm not familiar with them, do you know if they are prevalent in your area? Weevils can cause enough root damage to result in chlorosis, but you would see distinct notches in the leaf edges where the adults were feeding, can't miss them. White fly I think you would see, little clouds of light colored flies when brushing against the branches. Lace bug and thrips will both leave varnish like dark spots on the leaf undersides as evidence.

Are we getting any closer to helping you, or are you just feeling like you are having a crash course in the species all at once :) And again, if you don't have enough of your own compost, it's available by the truck load or bag. Home Depot is a regular Spring stop for me, I have too many plants to try to allow enough room for a large compost operation.....

Hey MorZ,
I think it is a combo of things with this azalea. I got smartassy with Ron and am now writing a post to appologize and to explain what I inherited with this property.
I noticed Trees was one of his interest and have questions about a green ash that is out front.
I was hasty in taking my pictures of the azalea. If I take my time I can turn out a much better picture.
I know this azalea dried considerably many times and if it wasn't for the fair amount of rainfall we get it would have died.
Again I am fortunate , excluding last summer , the previous summers we had drought conditions and these are the years I got a clue and deep watered.
As I said earlier the azalea responded favorably, each year looking more like the healthy range.
When it was at it's poorest health and in flower, some of the flowers were very washed out looking.
Last years flower output was very good. The color is an odd one though.
It is not quite orange (deep bright orange) very nice! like my neighbors, but it is not quite salmon pink either. It seems to be a mix between these two.
I don't know if this is true to form for this azalea , or the underlying issues are creating a funky color .
So many ???
I did test the soil , I used home kits though. I did a lot of reading on soil , composition, structure , clay ,silt sandy, loam . I even did the water jar test . It turns out my soil is pretty decent in structure.
I read from several web sites due to interest and curiousity . Soil test's varied greatly with labs , home tests , ect.. What I seem to understand is , Nitrogen is hard to test for due to it coming in many forms and it changing so rapidly.
That flat out testing for nitrogen is rarely done and they conclude from other findings in the soil the nitrogen content, or something to this effect.
The most interesting information for me was the websites that explained the types of weeds present as indicators to soil fertility or lack thereof.
What is really neat and true to mother nature is that the very weed that grows supplies the soil with what is lacking . Green manure.

Hey I am grateful that you and others are trying to help and I really appreciate it . This bush is doing very well considering what it looked like a few years ago.
With collective effort I am confident it will stabilize .
My post to Ron has some particulars of mistakes that were here when I moved in and some I created myself due to ignorance , lack of time, and no funds.
If I get better pics I will post them tomorrow.
As you can tell I love this bush. It was the only one that survived out of 3 very small (1 foot ) bushes.
Thanks,
Laura

Ok here are much better pics of the problem spots on this azalea, I checked for insects saw none, but are thrips hard to see?
As far as nematodes I don't think there is any , aren't they clear very small worm like ? I saw one once if that is what it looks like but not in this area of the yard.
No whitefly , But I might be missing something .
The links below are pictures of the sick part of the bush , and also dotted amoung what appears to be healthy foliage is a few leaves that have that brown tipping.
In the second photo if you look below the yellow foliage the growth towards the ground looks great. Most of the plant appears to be fine, but starting about mid front of bush there is a clump of what you see there below.

I was wrong to think it is an iron issue .

Let me know if these are better pics.

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Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:387630}}