Skip to main content

Treating Plant Mineral Nutrient Deficiencies With Soil Secrets Products At Trees That Please Nursery!

Our vegetable starter plants are ready for planting now and are growing rapidly. They only have a small plug of soil from which to extract most of the required nutrients for growth. When that plug of soil becomes depleted of a required nutrient the plant displays symptoms that are caused by one or more deficient nutrients.

Plant Essential Mineral Nutrients are those required by the plant for normal growth and development. We can diagnose some of these nutrient deficiencies by looking closely
at overall plant condition, especially the leaves.

Simply put:  the plant can tell us when it is lacking a certain required nutrient.


Here are two examples to illustrate:

Iron Deficiency Stress: 

When a plant is deficient in iron they often display the symptom of interveinal chlorosis.
Interveinal chlorosis is a general yellowing of leaves where the veins remaining green as seen in the photo below of Bell Pepper Plants.


The other clue that points to Iron Deficiency is that the symptoms appear and are more striking first in the young leaves (top of the plant) and 
not in the older portion (bottom of the plant).


This occurs because iron is immobile once used structurally within the plant. In other words, the plant cannot re-mobilize iron to another site for growth. So actively growing regions (plant top) show the symptoms we recognize as interveinal chlorosis.

At Trees That Please Nursery we recognize this nutrient need and will feed the affected plants with the Soil Secrets Product TTP Supreme Compost.

TTP Supreme Compost contains many of the plant nutrients essential for growth. An analysis of TTP Supreme Compost can be viewed on the
 Soil Secrets website via the following link:

http://soilsecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/TTP-Supreme-Compost-analysis.pdf


Nitrogen Deficiency Stress:

When a plant is deficient in nitrogen they often display the symptom of leaf and stem chlorosis. Clorosis means greenish yellow or yellow.
This general yellowing or Chorosis affects older leaves first
as in the tomato plants photo below.


 This occurs because nitrogen is mobile once used structurally within the plant. In other words, the plant can re-mobilize (re-use) nitrogen at another site for growth. So, actively growing regions (plant top) will initially be green while older plant parts are chlorotic.
  


At Trees That Please Nursery we recognize nitrogen deficiency and will feed the affected plants with the Soil Secrets Product Protein Crumblies.


More information about Protein Crumblies can be viewed on the Soil Secrets website via the following link:

http://soilsecrets.com/products-view/protein-crumblies/


Diagnosing plant nutrient deficiencies is not always straight forward as symptoms may be caused by several deficient nutrients occurring simultaneously. Sometimes a plant may be discolored for other reasons. An over-watered plant sitting in a wet clay soil may have yellow leaves similar to those seen in nitrogen deficiency.  It is important to look at all the facts….

Photos and Narrative By:
Stephen Sain
Staff Plant Physiologist

Trees That Please Nursery
A Retail and Wholesale Nursery
Serving Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Lunas, and Belen
Shade Trees, Fruit Trees, Shrubs, Cacti, Perennials, Gardening Advice


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Weed Identification: Goatheads or Stickers

Goatheads ( Tribulus terrestris ) are native to Southern Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Goatheads are also called stickers, sticker weed, bullhead, devil’s weed, and puncturevine. Goatheads are easily recognized by their prostrate growth form, leaves with leaflets, yellow flowers, and stickers (Goatheads). If you miss’em visually then they will stab you painfully in the fingers as you work your garden, or stick to your clothing and shoes. Goatheads are the primary reason local bicyclists must get “thorn proof” tires for riding on area trails and streets. Goatheads have prostrate stems that radiate outward from one central point. Leaves are compound with smaller leaflets. Lemon yellow flowers form along the stems and fertilized flowers form fruits.   Fruits consist of several attached structures called nutlets (Goatheads). Each nutlet is a single seed that becomes hard or woody when mature. Each seed has two sharp spines that easily penetrat
1 comment
Read more

Weed Identification: Sand Bur

Sand Bur ( Cenchrus longispinus ) is native to North America. It has other names like sand spur, long-spined sand bur, hedgehog grass, and bur grass . Sand Bur is an annual grass usually growing with a prostrate growth form. It is similar in appearance to other grasses prior to seed formation. Individual plants may be 3’ in diameter, sometimes larger. Sand Bur is a common weed of sandy soils but also grows well elsewhere. Sand Bur will often root at stem nodes that are touching the ground. The root system of Sand Bur is shallow and fibrous making them easily pulled (when immature). Sand Bur produces a flowering spike. As seeds begin to form Sand Bur is easily recognized by its numerous sharp or burred seeds or long spines. As the burred seeds mature they are easily separated from the mother plant and their sharp spines stick to virtually anything. Sand Bur can disseminate its seeds long distances because its sharp spines will hitch a ride on skin, animal hides,
5 comments
Read more

Western Soapberry Tree

The Western Soapberry tree ( Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii ) is native to New Mexico. It grows wild from Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana westward through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, and Mexico. The fruit of the Western Soapberry tree is a drupe. Mature fruits are translucent, amber colored, and contain a black seed. The mature fruit without the seed will produce a good lather with water and has been used as a soap substitute. Fruits persist on the trees through winter. T he Western Soapberry tree can grow 1′-2′ annually reaching 25′-30′ tall and wide making it a good sized shade tree. Fall leaf color is an attractive golden yellow. Currently, there are no improved varieties of the Western Soapberry Tree. It grows well on the alkaline soils of New Mexico and is very tolerant of heat and drought once established. This tree is rarely affected by disease or insect pests making it an ideal specimen tree for your yard or landscape. S
1 comment
Read more