🔬 Nutrient Deficiencies & Diagnosis
Learning to read your plants' nutrient needs through visual symptoms is a crucial skill.
📊 Mobile vs. Immobile Nutrients
Understanding nutrient mobility helps diagnose deficiencies:
- Mobile: N, P, K, Mg - deficiencies show on older leaves first
- Immobile: Ca, S, Fe, B, Mn - deficiencies show on newer growth
🍃 Common Deficiency Symptoms
- Nitrogen (N): General yellowing of older leaves, stunted growth
- Phosphorus (P): Dark green/purple leaves, red stems, slow flowering
- Potassium (K): Yellow/brown leaf edges, weak stems
- Calcium (Ca): Brown spots, distorted new leaves (common in coco)
- Magnesium (Mg): Yellowing between veins on older leaves
- Iron (Fe): Yellow new growth with green veins
🔥 Nutrient Burn/Excess
- Symptoms: Dark green leaves, burnt leaf tips, clawing
- Causes: Too high nutrient concentration
- Treatment: Flush with pH-adjusted water, reduce nutrient strength
🎯 Diagnostic Steps
- Check pH first - Most nutrient issues stem from pH lockout
- Identify which leaves are affected (old vs. new growth)
- Look for specific patterns (interveinal, edges, spots)
- Consider recent changes in feeding or environment
- Adjust pH, then nutrients as needed
🔧 First Response: When you see nutrient problems, check and adjust pH first! Incorrect pH is the #1 cause of nutrient lockout, not actual deficiency.