I've got a similar looking issue with both figs and blueberry. Does anyone have any ideas what it might be? My thoughts are Magnesium or maybe Zinc.
It starts on the older leaves. New leaves look OK. These looked OK early in the yr. The zinc deficiencies I've seen are on the newest leaves.

Hi Steve,

I'm wondering if it is rust. I know both my blueberry and fig leaves get this around this time of year. With warm daytime temps and low nighttime temps, the dew point is usually at play. I notice that my potted figs are more susceptible to it than are the in ground ones. I also notice that the new leaves always look fine, but the older leaves always seem to be the victims. I don't know if this is ,in fact, what it is, but I am wondering if it is a possibility. The pattern of the affected area seems to pretty symmetrical on the fig leaves, which is a little strange. I wonder if Brent ( Hoosierbanana) might weigh in on it, though.

Steve, do you know what's your pH?

Navid.

Are you fertilizing and using any lime now. What about macro nutrients are they included in your regular fertilizer.

My pH for figs is about neutral. The blueberries about 4.5.

I don't think it's rust. That should affect the whole leaf. The pattern is very much a nutrient issue IMO.

The soil is high in calcium and potassium but I don't know about magnesium levels.

I haven't put much fertilizer on these figs which are planted in-ground in my greenhouse. My potted figs which get some Miracle grow complete don't have this look.

Thank you for the comments..!!

Hello Steve,

It is very likely magnesium deficiency. But manganese, boron and zing deficiencies can have some of the same symptoms. It might serve you well to send a photo of the leaves to your Master Gardeners, or your state university extension service for an educated opinion. Perhaps a few dollars spent on the analysis of a soil sample by your university soil lab would give you an action plan to prevent this problem in the future.

Here is a link to soil lab for Texas A&M  http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/files/soilwebform.pdf

Post whatever definitive answer you obtain that would be very educational.

Best of luck.

Well as you said it definitely presents with nutrient deficiency due to probable nutrient imbalance.  If it was crispier I would say nutrient burn, but that's not really what I'm seeing with my monitor.

I say magnesium deficiency (maybe due to high Ca,and/or K?, totally guessing here).

MgSO4, epsom salts would be easy way to correct, plus the added Sulfur would also likely be beneficial.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the link to A&M testing lab. I'll do that soon. It would be nice to know the Ca/Mg ratio before fertilizing. Epsom salts my very well be the way to go.

Thanks for your input.

It looks a lot like some of these pictures of Mn deficiency.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=manganese+deficiency+in+plants&fr=yhs-mozilla-002&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-002&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fhort.ufl.edu%2Fdatabase%2Fimages%2Fnutdef%2Fthy9556_M.jpg#id=66&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kali-gmbh.com%2Fen%2Fimg-news%2F2009%2Fnews_20090731_mangelerscheinungen_zuckerruebe_03.gif%3F__scale%3Dw%3A638%2Ch%3A418%2Ct%3A3%2Cc%3Aeaeaea%2Cq%3A90%26f%3D.jpg&action=close

Please let us know the lab results.

I got the Texas A&M soil test results. It appears to be a Manganese toxicity issue. Which is hard to believe given a soil pH of 7.9.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=pictures+of+manganese+toxicity+symptoms+in+plants&fr=yhs-mozilla-002&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-002&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fkeys.lucidcentral.org%2Fkeys%2Fsweetpotato%2Fkey%2FSweetpotato%2520Diagnotes%2FMedia%2FHtml%2FTheProblems%2FMineralToxicities%2FManganeseToxicity%2FMn%2520toxicity4.jpg#id=26&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fkeys.lucidcentral.org%2Fkeys%2Fsweetpotato%2Fkey%2FSweetpotato%2520Diagnotes%2FMedia%2FHtml%2FTheProblems%2FMineralToxicities%2FManganeseToxicity%2FMn%2520toxicity4.jpg&action=click

Steve,
Thanks for posting the lab result.

It is unusual to have manganese (Mn) toxicity in high pH soils. Was the pH tested by the Texas A&M lab as well? However, soils high in calcium can sometimes lead to manganese toxicity. The toxicity can be eliminated by treating with FeEDDHA-Fe chelates. Does your soil lab analysis shows low iron concentration? This was shown in a 1979 paper: Moraghan J.T., 1979: Manganese toxicity in flax linum usitatissimum growing on certain calcareous soils low in available iron. Soil Science Society of America Journal 43(6): 1177-1180. Similar issues have been noted in some soybean varieties grown in calcareous soils.

If you are growing your fig trees in pot, the solution is relatively easy, otherwise it is a major undertaking.

Hope that the solution is easy.

LaFigue:

Thank you for your input. The pH was from A&M. Mn was 15.5 ppm with a critical level of 1.0 ppm. Zn was also high at 3.8 ppm vs critical of 0.27 ppm. So both are in the range of 15 times critical.

Ca was 4560 vs 180 or 26x critical. Mg 360 vs 50 ppm. Our soils are naturally calcareous so I don't find those levels out of the ordinary.

Fe was 3.6 vs 4.25 so slightly below critical. But the lab rates Fe as moderate and don't seem concerned.

Everything else was in the moderate to high range including P and K.

These figs are planted in the ground in my greenhouse. I could replace part of the soil this winter. I'm going to run more tests including outside. I may have applied Zn and possibly other micronutrients in the past in the greenhouse. At one point I had Zn deficiency on stone fruit.

Steve,

was Mg (Magnesium) concentration reported by the lab?
Mg uptake can be beneficial in reducing the Mn intake by plants and so have a beneficial effect in reducing the potential for Mn toxicity. see:
The significance of the magnesium to manganese ratio in plant tissues for growth and alleviation of manganese toxicity in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) plants. Plant and Soil June 1990, Volume 124, Issue 2, pp 205–210

Effect of magnesium and manganese nutrition on muskmelon growth and managese toxicity  [1986] Elamin, O.M. Wilcox, G.E. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science Vol. 111, jul1986.

Cheers.

LaFigue, wow some excellent research there! LaFigue, yes Mg levels are high in the soil too! Right there in the report. OK, so the soil has nutrient overload, but such a high pH is going to stop uptake, so I think you have a deficiency due to high pH. One way to confirm is to analyze plant tissue. All the University papers on figs say the ideal pH is 6.5, except one which said 5.5. Try lowering the pH or send leaf samples in where they do such work. I would only lower it a little (maybe 7.0 - 7.4) else you may have toxicity issues! If a Mg or Mn deficiency the lower pH should help. I'm fairly confident this is your problem.
I read one study where they claimed the calcium/magnesium ratio was less important than the right pH. So much so the ratio didn't even matter. That was the conclusion of the study. I hope this is correct as one only needs to watch the pH!

This is an excellent thread as many think shoving ton's of nutrients at a plant will solve all ills. Here we have multiple times too much nutrient, yet the plant is deficient, pH is more important. Looking at your leaves, that is so a deficiency, absolutely positive on this.

Here are leaves experiencing a Mg toxicity, note pattern is just about opposite of yours.
Leaf a is first symptoms, B is as it progresses. Note veins are brown not green, you certainly do not have a toxicity issue with your plant, only your soil.

Thanks for the additional input. I've just sent in more soil samples. That may not tell me much but we'll see.

An analysis of leaf tissues might be the most help. But that would need to be done next yr I think.

Im betting bone meal worked into the top 4" of soil would cure your problem.
It always has worked for me.

Doug

Drew in zone 5b you would have a challenge just to eat a ripe fig.
I grow in ground, if a tree starts looking sickly I add bone meal.
Within a month you can see the difference.
If his soil is already too sweet then why have you not mentioned to acidify?
Too much messing with the soil adding this and that will only make it worse.
Using bone meal has never changed the ph of my soil, but it does add micro nutrients
that plants  love.

Doug

Just to be clear my present thinking is Mn toxicity.

Just saying if the new growth looks fine, maybe your problem is the ability of the
root system to be able to take in nutrients. Bone meal stimulates root growth.
I don't have your problem but if ph is even slightly acidic, figs do not care.
If ph is above 7 figs don't grow as well.
If new growth looks ok, I would ignore it.

Doug

Hi,
How is your soil in the greenhouse ?
Do you open the greenhouse in the summer to let the dirt air ... ?

It is (sort of) known that dirt enclosed in a greenhouse will sort of die. It has to do with the texture of the dirt. The dirt in the winter especially will get dry and dessicate. This will destroy the texture. Worms will disappear.
At that point you would just act with a potted tree and replace some of the dirt with new loam.
Keeping dirt healthy inside a greenhouse is not that easy. You need to water the dirt even in the winter of the dirt will dessicate ... and your cause is lost .

Doug:

Thanks for your input. I agree that too much messing with the soil can just make things worse. The plants look good early in the season so ignoring the issue is a viable option.

jds:

Thank you for your input.

Nutrient deficiencies or toxicity will only show on old leaves, new leaves should look fine.