Question

Pale   Hi Melissa,

The attached pic is from my garden. The right side of the plant in the pic started turning pale a few months ago. It used to be the same color you see in the left part of the pic. What might be causing this? What's the remedy? Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Rick

Answer
Dear Rick, There are a few things that could be wrong with this plant, but I think the easiest problem may what is wrong with it.  When I just now enlarged the picture, after looking at the blooms and realizing you are in Florida, I realized that this is an ixora, one of my absolute favorite plants, but it is too tropical for northeast Texas.  It appears that the pale leaves are green in the center veins but whiter in the margins of the leaves.  If this is the case then your ixora, a very acid loving plant, is suffering from chlorosis, a common iron deficiency.  In that case you need to get Ironite, and apply to the entire plant to replace the iron lost.  Be sure to read the entire label before applying.  This will absolutely fix your ixora and congratulations on having such a fine specimen.  Now if you examine your plant and see any insect activity on the whiter regions, (they sometimes infest yellow or sickly looking plants) you should spray with Spinosad, an organic compound that will kill any insects feeding on your plants, but be sure to spray on a cloudy day, or at dusk when the bees are not active.  Let me know if you have trouble finding Ironite (you shouldn't).  Good luck, Melissa