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  • Roses
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    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
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    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
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    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
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Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities 

Amanda's Garden Consulting Company
The striping on these corn leaves denote a deficiency in manganese due to drought. Photo Amanda Jarrett

​Deficiency and Toxicity Symptoms of Plant Nutrients

iron deficiency, rhododendron, nutrient deficiencies, fertilizers, fertilizing, interveinal chlorosisSymptoms of iron deficiency on a rhododendron are interveinal chlorosis.
There are many reasons why plants suffer from hunger, but basically it has to do with the type of soil, the condition of the soil, it's structure and what nutrients it holds. Nutrients are unavailable to plants because the soil pH is too high or too low. Sandy soils contain little nutrients and, they don't hold onto nutrients. Compacted soil deprive roots of water, air and nutrients. When roots cannot do their job properly due to incorrect soil conditions, it doesn’t take long for plants to show their displeasure. Plant hunger symptoms include yellow foliage, brown margins (leaf edges), purple tinted foliage and leaves with yellow between green veins. Plants also may bear distorted, twisted stunted leaves and stems and whole plants become tiny versions of themselves. Failure for plants to form fruits and if they do they are distorted, could be caused by nutrient deficiencies. Lack of flowering and too few foliage could also be due to lack of the appropriate nutrient.
​
Be careful when applying fertilizers, even organic ones. A sudden flood of nutrients plays havoc on the soil ecosystem, especially synthetic fertilizers. It's an easy way to harm all those beneficial soil micro-organisms and really screw up your soil. Plants suffer too with nutrient toxicities, it's a bit like plant overdosing. Follow manufacturer’s instructions with all plant foods, whether they are organic or not. Speaking of which, with the addition of compost added to soil on a yearly basis as well as a 3 inch layer of organic mulch, nutrient deficiencies and toxicities are not usually an issue.

Be Aware of Fresh Organics & Nitrogen Immobilization! 
​​Adding non-aged, fresh manure, green grass clippings and other still green and fresh organic material to garden beds create nitrogen deficiencies. This is referred to as nitrogen immobilization. The soils' microorganisms use nitrogen as they feed on the non-decomposed organic debris, depriving plants of nitrogen. When this happens, use a liquid fertilizer high in nitrogen (the first number), such as a fish fertilizer. It will work fast to remedy the nutrient deficiency. 


Nutrient Deficiencies & toxicities

Nitrogen Deficiency:
  • yellow or light green leaves
  • mature leaves a lighter green than new leaves
  • lower leaf tips turn brown  
  • slow plant growth
  • stunted plant growth
  • lack of vigour
  • increased occurrence of diseases and insects
Nitrogen Toxicity:
  • soft, succulent, new growth easily damaged by frost
  • lacks flowers and fruit
  • excessive foliage, plants larger than normal
  • diseases and insects increased
  • leaf margins brown and crispy
  • wilting and death
Magnesium Deficiency:
  • older leaves yellow
  • the leaves are yellow with green veins (interveinal chlorosis)
  • early leaf drop in autumn
  • green ‘V’ shape at base of leaves
  • blueberries and other acid loving plants are prone when grown on alkaline soils
​Manganese Deficiency:
  • leaves are yellow with green veins (interveinal chlorosis)
  • mottled foliage
  • yellowing leaves
  • on palms, new growth is frizzled and stunted (‘frizzletop’)
Zinc Deficiency:
  • small leaves, especially young ones
  • short internodes (leaves tightly spaced together)
Sulfur Deficiency:
  • plant is pale
  • veins slightly lighter than the leaf
Molybdenum Deficiency:
  • twisted, elongated leaves on broccoli and other brassicas
  • pale, stunted leaves
  • occurs when soil is too acidic
Copper Toxicity:
  • white between green veins on mature foliage
  • stunted growth
  • occurs when using sewage sludge fertilizer​
Phosphorus Deficiency:
  • stunted growth
  • weak roots
  • delayed maturity
  • few flowers, fruit and seeds
  • purple foliage that turns yellow with age
Potassium Deficiency:
  • outer edges or tips of lower leaves are scorched or burned
  • leaf edges brown
  • poor flowering and fruiting
  • increased incidence of disease
  • slow growth
  • fruit is shriveled
  • leaves tend to cup downwards
Calcium Deficiency:
  • plant tips die
  • brown leaf edges
  • rapid death
  • often a problem with container grown tomato plants 
​Iron Deficiency:
  • young leaves are yellow with green veins (interveinal chlorosis)
  • leaf tips and stem tips brown and die
  • lack of vigor and growth
  • blueberries and other acid loving plants are prone when grown on alkaline soils (and heavy doses of lime) 
Boron Deficiency:
  • growth is brittle
  • new growth is distorted, puckered
  • stems are rough, crack and/or split
  • stunted growth
  • tips and new growth dies on palms, lettuce
Boron Toxicity:
  • mature leaves have yellow spots that develop into dead (necrotic) patches
  • leaves cup downwards, yellow, then fall off
  • prominent in alkaline soils
Copper Deficiency:
  • leaves are yellow with green veins (interveinal chlorosis)
  • puckering on young leaves
  • irregular holes in young leaves
  • mature leaves may droop
This pot-bound basil plant is hungry for nitrogen.
Inwardly curved leaves are a sign of magnesium deficiency.
A nitrogen deficiency shows on older leaves first.
Severe nitrogen deficiency on a container grown tomato plant.
Purple tinted, distorted tomato leaves show a phosphorus deficiency.
Stunted plant and curled leaves are symptoms of too little magnesium due to low pH.
Check out:
Soil Building
​Composting
Fertilizing & Feeding Plants
Fertilizers & Ratios
Organic Plant Foods

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  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tour Blogs
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?