Plants’ Essential Elements

Macro and Micronutrients

Nutrients

• MACRO-required in relatively large amounts

• MICRO-required in small amounts, minor or trace elements

Macro: non-mineral elements

• Carbon (C)• Hydrogen (H)• Oxygen (O)

Macro: primary nutrients

• Nitrogen (N)• Phosphorus (P)• Potassium (K)

Macro: secondary nutrients

• Calcium (Ca)• Magnesium (Mg)• Sulfur (S)

Micronutrients

• Iron (Fe)• Copper (Cu)• Zinc (Zn)• Boron (B)• Molybdenum (Mo)• Manganese (Mn)• Chlorine (Cl)

Nitrogen

• Promotes growth of leaves and stems

• Gives dark green color and improves quality of foliage

• Necessary to develop cell proteins and chlorophyll

Nitrogen

• Deficiency noted when leaves are a sick, yellow-green color

• Short stems, small leaves, pale colored leaves and flowers

• Slow and dwarfed plant growth

Phosphorus

• Stimulates early formation and growth of roots

• Provides fast and vigorous growth and speeds maturity

• Stimulates flowering and seed development

Phosphorus

• Symptoms of deficiency include slow maturity

• Older leaves are a purplish color

• Decrease in growth

Potassium

• Used to form carbohydrates and proteins

• Formation and transfer of starches, sugars, and oils

• Increases disease resistance, vigor, and hardiness

Potassium

• Deficiency symptoms include mottled, spotted, streaked or curled leaves

• Scorched, burned, dead leaf tips and margins

Calcium

• Improves plant vigor• Influences intake and

synthesis of other plant nutrients

• Important part of cell walls

Calcium

• Symptoms of deficiency include small developing leaves, wrinkled older leaves

• Dead stem tips

Magnesium

• Influences the intake of other essential nutrients

• Helps make fats• Assists in

translocation of phosphorus and fats

Magnesium

• Deficiency symptoms include interveinal chlorosis-yellowing of leaves between green veins

• Leaf tips curl or cup upward

• Slender, weak stems

Sulfur

• Promotes root growth and vigorous vegetative growth

• Essential to protein formation

Sulfur

• Deficiency symptoms include young leaves are light green with lighter colored veins

• Yellow leaves and stunted growth

Iron

• Essential for chlorophyll production

• Helps carry electrons to mix oxygen with other elements

Iron

• Deficiency symptoms include mottled and interveinal chlorosis in young leaves

• Stunted growth and slender, short stems

Copper

• Helps in the use of iron

• Helps respiration

Copper

• Deficiency symptoms include young leaves are small and permanently wilted

• Multiple bud at stem tips

Zinc

• Helps plant metabolism function

• Helps form growth hormones

• Aids in reproduction

Zinc

• Deficiency includes retarded growth between nodes (rosetted)

• New leaves are thick and small

• Spotted between veins, discolored veins

Boron

• Affects water absorption by roots

• Translocation of sugars

Boron

• Deficiency symptoms include short, thick stem tips

• Young leaves of terminal buds are light green at base

• Leaves become twisted and die

Manganese

• Aids in plant metabolism

• Helps in nitrogen transformation

Manganese

• Deficiency symptoms include interveinal chlorosis

• Young leaves die

Molybdenum

• Aids in plant development

• Reproduction

Molybdenum

• Deficiency symptoms include stunted growth

• Yellow leaves, upward curling leaves

• Leaf margin burn

Chlorine

• Essential to some plant processes

• Acts in enzyme systems

Chlorine

• Usually there are more problems with too much chlorine or toxicity than with deficiency

Macro and Micro Nutrients

• Remember:

• C Ca Fe HOPKiNS Managed By My Cuzin MoCo ClZn