Nutrient Defeciencies - An Easy to Follow Guide

Hey guys Ive been reading this forum for like 3+ years now. I learned a ton! Wanted to say thanks to every one who has provided all the informative threads. I never posted before, but I figured I could start by giving back a little. I came across a pretty simple/straightforward Nutrient deficiency guide- its not that detailed, but i found it to be helpful so I thought Id share it with the rest of you. I found it on the learning center of an online hydro shop.

http://www.greenhorizonshydroponics.com/learning-center/

There are 13 different types of nutrients that a plant uses. They are found in the earth’s soil and dissolve in water and are then up-taken by the plants root system. Often time soil may be deficient in various nutrients and thus fertilizers must be used. In the case of hydroponics since no soil is used, the plant is growing in a nutrient free environment and thus liquid nutrients must be added to the water.

Nutrients can be broken down in to micro and macro categories.


Macronutrients are the nutrients that the plants use in large amounts and need the most. The three primary

Macronutrients are:

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

The secondary group of Macronutrients Include:

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

Micronutrients are the nutrients that plants only need in minor amounts. There are seven Micronutrients they include the following:

• Boron (B)
• Chloride (CI)
• Copper (Cu)
• Iron (Fe)
• Manganese (Mn)
• Molybdenum (Mo)
• Zinc (Zn)

The following is a breakdown of the thirteen macro and micro plan nutrients and their various functions:
Primary Macronutrients:

1. Nitrogen (N) – Nitrogen is an element that is used in the makeup of proteins and enzymes and is used in the energy transfer process, it is also an essential part of chlorophyll and is thus responsible for photosynthesis. Nitrogen helps with rapid plant growth, and is the most used in plant nutrients.
2. Phosphorus (P) – Phosphorus is used by the plant in the production of starches, oils and sugars. It is also an essential part of photosynthesis. Phosphorus boosts root growth and blooming cycles.
3. Potassium (K) – Potassium is used in large amounts by plants, it is an essential component in nutrient for helping fight off plant diseases and assists in the building of proteins and improves the quality of fruits.

Secondary Macronutrients:

1. Calcium (Ca) – Calcium is needed for cell wall structure. It helps strengthen the plant structure.
2. Sulfur (S) – Sulfur helps rapid plant growth, and also assists with root and seed production. Sulfur is also essential for the production of protein, helps in chlorophyll formation and makes plants more resilient to cold temperatures.
3. Magnesium (M) – Magnesium is a part of chlorophyll making it a necessity for photosynthesis to take place, and is also necessary for allowing healthy plant growth.

Micronutrients:

1. Boron (B)- Boron helps in the production of carbohydrates and sugar, helps regulate the use of nutrients within the plant and is essential for fruit development.
2. Chloride (Cl) – Chloride aids in plant metabolism
3. Copper (Cu) – Copper is needed for plant reproductive growth, aids in the use of proteins and root metabolism.
4. Iron (Fe) – Iron is needed for the production of chlorophyll.
5. Manganese (Mn) – Manganese is needed for nitrogen metabolism and carbohydrate breakdown.
6. Molybdenum (Mo) – Molybdenum assists in the use of Nitrogen.
7. Zinc (Zn) – Zinc is needed for the regulation of plant growth and the consumption of sugars, and the transformation of carbohydrates.

This article is to assist the gardener in keeping their plants healthy, and to be able to identify what issues their plants may be facing. Various plant symptoms are listed followed by what type of nutrient deficiency is causing the problem. In order to fix these issues the gardener would just need to give their plant a larger supply of the subsequent nutrient.


Plant deficiencies generally either affect older foliage (bottom leaves) of the plant, or they effect new growth (top of the plant). It is also possible to have more than one type of deficiency at the same time, to adjust for that one would just need to identify each deficiency and compensate accordingly. This document will break the listing of the plant deficiencies in to those two categories (older leaves and newer leaves).


Older/Bottom Foliage



1)Problem: Leaves (in their entirety) are becoming yellow or light green, and the rest of the plant is staying a light green. Solution: Plant needs more Nitrogen (N).


2)Problem: Leaves and branches are very dark green, and turning purple or red. Solution: Plant needs more Phosphorus (P).


3)Problem: Leaves have dead spots (death of plant tissue – turning a black or brownish color) – sometimes coupled with scorched leaf tips and also curling of leaf tips. Solution: Plant needs more Molybdenum (MO).


4)Problem: The edges/margins of the leaves turn yellow, leaving the center of the leaves green. Solution: Plant needs more Magnesium (Mg).


5)Problem: Leaves are wilting and/or look scorched. The spaces in between the leaf veins are scorched or turning yellow, but the veins remain green. Solution: Plant needs more Potassium (K).


6)Problem: Black/Brownish spots on the leaves with large gaps in between spots. Solution: Plant needs more Chloride (Cl).


Newer/Top Foliage

1)Problem: The terminal bud (a terminal bud is a new off shoot/new growth coming from the stem) dies. Solution: Plant needs more Boron (B)


2)Problem: The new/young leaves are light green. Solution: Plant needs more Sulfur (S)


3)Problem: The new/young leaves are yellowing and are withering. Solution: Plant needs more Copper (Cu).


4)Problem: The new /young leaves have yellowing in between the leaf veins, the veins remain green. There is a sharp contrast between the yellowing areas and the veins. Solution: Plant needs more Iron (Fe).


5)Problem: The new/young leaves have yellowing in between the leaf veins and the veins remain green, but there is NO sharp contrast between the yellowing areas and the veins, the yellowing areas have a spotty appearance. Solution: Plant needs more Manganese (Mn).


6)Problem: This problem starts with the middle growth, they have yellowing of the areas in-between the plant veins, and the plants overall growth has become stunted. Solution: Plant needs more Zinc (Zn)

So - no one aside from me found this beneficial?

Great Thread.

Where the hell do you get Molybdenum (Mo)??? I just checked all of my nutes, and only one had it, at a dilution of .0008%. In other words, none.

Sounds like that might be what's wrong with my cindy.

Molybdenum deficiencies are not that common - but still common enough i suppose. Allot of times it has to do with old soil that has a low ph level, very acidic environments can hurt Mo uptake - take a look at this:

"The content of molybdenum in most agricultural soils is usually between 0.6 and 3.5 ppm with an average molybdenum content of 2.0 ppm and an average available molybdenum content of 0.2 ppm.

Molybdenum largely occurs in the soil as an oxycomplex (MoO[SUB]4[/SUB][SUP]2-[/SUP]). Because of this, molybdenum more resembles phosphate or sulfate in its behavior in the soil. In a similar way to these two anions, molybdate is adsorbed by soil minerals and colloids.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This adsorption is closely dependent on soil pH. At neutrality it is very low but increases as the pH falls. Molybdenum availability to plants is thus poorest on acid soils and is improved by liming, provided the soil is not inherently deficient in molybdenum."[/FONT]

So one thing you may want to try before adding Mo to your plants is to try to raise the PH level of your medium (hydro or soil). The reason I say that is because Mo is found naturally in very small parts per million - so it would probably be easy to give your plants much more than they need.

If raising the PH level doesn't fix the problem, then you can try using - sodium molybdate dihydrate - its sold any where they sell chemical supplies - its commonly used in fertilizers and in chemical labs. But you want to be careful when giving it to your plants - use it sparingly because its 39% Mo , so you don't have to use allot. Its not that expensive you can get about 8 oz for like 12 dollars if you shop online, and 8 ounces is plenty.

Hope that helps

What a great post.

I screwed this plant early on. I had been correcting the ph, then adding nutes, then fertilizing. Someone had correctly pointed out that I was doing it wrong. It's been a couple weeks, and each time I water, the runoff was right about 6 but Im still having the issue. I gave it a light flush, (7 gal pot), and once the soil dried again, I had tested the soil with about 1/4 cup to 5 parts water and those little pills. I thought it was K, but the K was the first to show up. It needed N and P, so I added some nutes, gave it 1/4t of superthrive, a little epsom salts, molasses, some calmag, set the ph to 5.50 and fed it. That was a week ago, and although a little better, there's still a significant problem here. Trouble is, shes flowering.

Oh, the soil wasn't old. First use store bought.

^what are the exact symptoms that you are seeing with your plant?

Sodium Molybdate.

Truth is that if you didn't feed your plants Mo, you probably wouldn't notice any symptoms. I always question where some of the micro nutrient deficiency pictures really came from, like copper deficiency. Who the hell has actually fixed a problem by adding copper? Who has actually said "oh, that looks like Mo deficiency!", added only sodium molybdate, and then the problem went away just doing that?

greengrower12 said:

^what are the exact symptoms that you are seeing with your plant?

Click to expand...

It's not really growing anymore. The mother is. Pale leaves with quickly spreading necrotic spots. Pale overall appearance, reddish stems. Symptoms start at bottom and moves up quickly.xd

How big is the plant? and about how big is the pot?

Did it start to flower earlier than you expected? If so - these sound like symptoms of root congestion. It generally causes stunted growth and various forms of nutrient deficiency.

I'll look when I switch on the lights this evening. On @ 9:30pm, off at 9:30am. Makes temperature control much easier. Being able to use the washer and dryer during the day is nice too.

Pot is 7 gal. The plant isnt that thick. A couple months old from clone of unknown age.