Plant Nutrition 101: All Plant Nutrients and Deficiencies Explained

Ready for a test?

With paper and pencil, make a list of ALL nutrients that plants need to grow properly.

We’ll wait…no cheating!

Here’s the list to check yourself against:

Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Potassium
Calcium
Magnesium
Sulfur
Chlorine
Copper
Magnesium
Iron
Boron
Molybdenum
Zinc
Carbon
Hydrogen
Oxygen

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[nicholaspanu]

I just started working at my local garden center and felt overwhelmed with the amount of information I needed to absorb. I stumbled across these videos after watching multiple Intro to Horticulture lectures. They help so much and it’s making me much better at my job so thank you for that

[clairwilliams]

Oh wow, what a great video. So many of these deficiencies might appear, at first glance, to be pest damage. For a newbie like me this is invaluable information, thank you!
I recently watched a YT video where the "experienced gardener" criticised new gardeners for worrying about every little hole in a leaf, or a leaf that doesn't look right. I love how you take all levels of experience into consideration and actually show that one leaf not looking well can be a big deal. Subscribed, liked and saved. And shared!

[chrispitts]

Superb. Dude you did an amazing job delivering this information.! By far the best video I've seen covering nutrient deficiencies in plants. You say you are not a botanist a few times, but my friend you ARE a botanist of high caliber! The video itself was extremely well done too! Thank you for your time!

[robparla]

Your 2/2 man! watched another video of yours and loved how informative it was. This video, I learned even more than the first. Can't say that about a lot of "how-to" or "101" videos people put up. Love the use of the computer and visuals as well. really gets the message across that you want people to understand what you're talking about instead of putting up a quick video to focus on the views/likes/subscribes.

[tjsquibbofficial]

My school gave us the link to this video to assist with schoolwork and homework.

[shrutigaggar]

This was so good! Thank you! I love how you say you're a simple gardener but you always back your suggestions up with science and evidence.

[frankwilson]

This is awesome. I have recently started keeping plants in containers and had no idea what was wrong with a few of them, now I have a good idea what the problems may be. Thanks for this concise but info packed video. I learned more here than I did in several months spent researching specific symptoms. I subscribed.

[musicalkid]

I'm a horticulture graduate student working on my masters and then PhD at Colorado State University. I'm taking a class called Horticulture and Human Health and Well-being. Fun fact, my professor uses this video in his lecture.

[wordswritteninred]

THANK YOU FOR SUCH A VALUABLE It has been twenty or more years since I have grown a garden. I have forgotten more than I remember. I was taught by my grandma. Now, she didn’t know what deficiency a symptom meant. She just knew what to do to correct it. She was so knowledgeable about gardens.

Anyway, I am starting a garden, from scratch. At a house, that had hay fields, cattle, chickens, and, somewhere, a garden. The house sat empty for several years before we bought it. So it is all overgrown. So I have no idea where the garden was located. It has some patches of good soil. But mostly, clay. I have a question, if you might happen to know. Can you get the right nitrates, for a garden, from pond water? I use to breed fish. I understand the cycle of tank water. Ponds are the same…basically. But I don’t know enough about chemistry, to know the answer to this. I keep hearing, to add organic material, and plant nitrogen fixing plants, to help begin to admin the soil. Wondering if pond water would be a help in this. Or would it be like putting fertilizer on the soil. And rain just leach it away?

I just now found your channel. This video here, is the best, most informative garden video I have seen. And believe me, I’ve watched plenty! Who knew plants needed chlorine!? Well, you did.lol but doubt many others know!

[falkharvard]

I used to be a bodybuilder and obsessed about nutrition and diet. I apply what I learned building my own body, to my garden. (We're more similar that you think in a certain way)
I would love a list of matter to add to a compost heap, for certain nutrition issues
I.e
Nitrogen - comfrey, nettle, lawn clippings..
Carbon - Branches and woody materials..
Calcium - Dandelion leaves..
Iron - Spinach and other dark leaves..
Etcetera...

I figure that just like taking a multivitamin and eating crap all day, the soil will not be treated by endless fertiliser.
Seems similar to fast food. Good in a crisis but not best practice.
You must make the garden "eat" well (compost and mulch)
I prefer a holistic approach and treat the soil with organic matter more often with fertiliser. Seems to be working well.
I know troubleshooting means using some fertiliser, as issues occur, but I prefer to treat the problem not the symptoms.

Just like in bodybuilding, where I started scrawny and finished at 105kg of muscle;
The plot on our rental property was a neglected hell of rubble, weeds and 3ft of sand.
Been applying permaculture methods to treat the soil up to 4ft deep in places.
Healthy soil - healthy food - healthy all linked.

Brilliant video. Very helpful
Now where did I put that molybdenum....

[jameswilmot]

Good to know. I had trouble growing my pepper plants last year as I used rotted wood in my soil. This caused a yellowing in my pepper plant leaves until I used liquid nettle and comfrey on them, that made them jump out the pots and green up nicely with fruits. These plants appears in my May 2021 update from 5m 40s, when I recorded this I hadn't quite worked it out, I thought it was well rotted fertile decent wood soil lol. I didn't understand my NPK so well not to mention all the other nutrients.

[brendonnel]

Bro I have started growing my own weed and I love it, I learn everything I need from you and you never even talk about weed, nuff said.

[Opal.Workshop]

Maybe do a video on pH and how it affects nutrient availability because this is the first thing you should be checking before making any amendments to your medium, it would help explain why certain elements become unavailable if not in their recommended range.

[heavymechanic]

Very few fertilizer products have BORON because it can be toxic if over used. In my experience, its essential for some vegetables such as beet root. A quick remedy is to add 2 tablespoons of Mule Team Borax to hot water to dissolve and add to a sprinkling can and lightly spread the water across 100 sq ft of garden to correct a minor deficiency.. I use a lot of fish/kelp to add micro-nutrients to the soil.

[josephdrach]

There are factors to consider when looking at exactly what you use to provide your soil with a full array of nutrients. One of them that was not mentioned was pH. An acid soil that you want to keep acid might get powdered sulfur, magnesium sulfate solution, and calcium sulfate. These things will either be neutral or acid in reaction to the soil and provide Calcium, Sulphur and Magnesium as well. In alkaline soil, they would tend to lower the pH. If you have soil that needs the pH raised a bit and needs Calcium, Magnesium, and sulfur, Dolomitic limestone has both magnesium and calcium in it and Calcium sulfate provides calcium and sulfur. The limestone also raises the pH. The interplay between pH and nutrient availability is something good to understand. This also helps you choose sources of nutrients that go with the pH you have and like or change the pH toward what you want. Calcium Sulphate is also good for loosening hard clay soil and helping repair salt damage. Various organic fertilizers can raise, lower or work well with your existing pH. It's good to learn about these things and the info is readily available. This was a good presentation. I liked the symptoms of deficiencies and how they were portrayed and described.

[peaceydanckwerts]

Useful video. As somebody already commented below, pH can have a significant impact on nutrient availability, but I want to add two other comments. One is the synergy between Calcium and Boron. Plants cannot really benefit from Calcium unless they have adequate Boron, and plants cannot really benefit from Boron, unless they have adequate Calcium. Second point is that Molybdenum is especially important for legumes (as it is part of the process by which the rhizobia can fix atmospheric Nitrogen to make it available to our gardening system), but these rhyzobia ALSO need Cobalt, generally not considered a plant essential nutrient. On my farm, Cobalt is not likely to be short (because I feed it in a supplement to my Livestock) but it might be something to consider if your legumes are not nodulating effectively

[plantsever]

Love the leaf pictures!! So helpful! Thanks mate👍

[sandrahaley]

Thank you so much for this video. I am a beginner Gardener with lots of enthusiasm. but as you can imagine, coming up against leaves changing colour. I will look out for more of your videos.

[GRasimos]

One thing to also consider, if the soil PH is too high or to low, the different minerals have issues depending on whether or not the PH is high or low. Most plants do well with a ph between 7 and 5.5. Outside of thy range, and issues arise. So the liberal might be there, but it is not accessible due to improper PH. And then we throw biology in the mix, which makes the nutrients available to plant like through what called nutrient cycling. Lost of info to be discussed here. But you do a great job at showing and explaining the different deficiencies through the photos chosen. I commend you. And I give thanks for the info.

[carmellayates]

Thank you Kevin, this was very informative . A big help for my plants is to not misdiagnose if I think there's a problem .