Ray, excellent article.
Quote:
Here’s a useful definition for chelation: chelation in soil increases nutrient availability to plants. Organic substances in the soil—either applied, or produced by plants or microorganisms—are natural chelating agents. The most important substances having this nature are hydroxamate siderophores, organic acids and amino acids. Hydroxamate siderophores are naturally produced by soil microorganisms and are essential in natural ecosystems to make nutrients soluble and transport them (especially iron and copper) to plant roots.
Although the beneficial bacteria that exist in the soil constitute another method of causing chelation and making plant nutrients more available, a little blanket of chelation placed around micronutrients—made from amino acids and other organic acids—is a very important added feature that most gardeners want to see in the nutrients they use.
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And this is one of the benefits of molasses in that it helps in the chelation process.
Like I said before we need to know the cause of the iron deficiency before we can apply corrective actions to fix the problem. If you have alkaline soil using sulfered molasses might be the better choice as it will help lower the Ph of the soil increasing the availability of iron to the plant.
There is a product out on the street that uses iron oxide and molasses for iron deficiency problems.
Quote:
Iron sucrate, a relatively new iron source, is manufactured from iron oxide and molasses to
form an iron-containing organic complex with limited water solubility. It has an advantage
that it is less prone to staining (due to its very low solubility).
Iron sucrate merits consideration in high pH soils, and additional scientific evaluation is
warranted for Colorado soils. It is marketed as Lilly Miller Iron Safe.
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