Do your plants look a little droopy? Too yellow, faded or easily disturbed? As a novice gardener, your biggest challenge in developing a healthy plant family is learning to identify plant nutritional deficiencies. Even seasoned gardeners still have trouble figuring out what’s wrong with their plants. Learning to identify plant nutrient deficiencies is an important step in anticipating any problems your plants may have and thus helping protect your plant investments. Here are some tips to learn how to identify plant nutritional deficiencies so your garden can thrive.

What could be wrong with your plant?

Let’s say you notice that one of your favorite plants is looking down a bit. You have been fertilizing and watering regularly. What could be wrong? There are many things you have to learn to look for in order to solve plant problems. In many cases, your plant may be suffering from a combination of things. First things first: learn how to identify some common problems. These include insects, diseases, poorly drained soil, or poor overall soil composition. In most cases, it will be easy to see if your plant is suffering from an infestation. Most pests or insects leave telltale signs. Slugs leave slime trails and various insects leave chewing marks and mottled debris marks. As for poor soil, you can often check if a plant is being overwatered by seeing if the soil appears too wet. Many soils that are poorly drained can experience poor root growth, root rot, and overall poor health.

Other Causes of Plant Disease

Before diagnosing your plant with nutritional deficiencies, there are a few possibilities to eliminate after an insect, poor water drainage, and over or under watering. Check the temperature. If your plant is next to a heating or cooling vent, this could be a problem. Extreme heat or cold will undoubtedly retard plant growth or affect the health of your plant. Is your plant getting too much sun, too little? Another possibility to check is how much fertilizer the plant is receiving. Many gardeners today tend to over-fertilize in hopes of an impressive and robust garden. However, adding too much fertilizer to your plants can lead to salt damage. A plant that has received too much fertilizer can look wilted and burned, even when the soil is moist.

Counteract nutritional deficiencies of plants

Just like us, plants need certain nutrients to stay healthy. Most plants require macronutrients (nutrients found in relatively large doses) and micronutrients (small doses of essential nutrients). Examples of plant macronutrients include potassium, calcium, nitrogen, phosphorous, magnesium, and sulfur. Micronutrients can include iron, boron, manganese, zinc, copper, and molybdenum. A plant takes all its nutrients through the root. Water plays an important role in transferring these nutrients to the roots of the plant. In order for nutrients to reach your plant, make sure they receive adequate water.

Symptoms of Plant Nutritional Deficiencies

If a plant’s leaves appear distorted or the tips appear dead, this could be a sign of calcium deficiency. Old and dead leaves, on the lower part of the plant, as well as yellowed and spindly leaves characterize a nitrogen deficiency. Slow growth and pale yellow leaves, particularly on the outer leaves, may indicate a magnesium deficiency. Small leaves with a reddish or purple tinge may indicate a phosphorous deficiency. Older leaves that appear burned around the edges may indicate a potassium deficiency. If the new growth turns yellow while the old one remains green, this may be a sign of sulfur deficiency. Sulfur deficiencies are more common in dry climates and can cause stunted growth.