WALKING THE ROWS

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More Nutritional Problems
Nitrogen

The symptoms of plants with a nitrogen deficiency are slow, stunted growth, reduced size, and the leaves becoming pale green and then yellow, especially the lower portions.

While visiting the garden we become more familiar with our plants. If we know what the corn looks like in a good year, we are more likely to recognize a problem soon enough to do something about it. If I noticed that my corn looked anemic, pale yellowgreen instead of the bright vibrant dark green I am used to seeing, I would side dress it with manure or seaweed. I will be surprised if that ever happens to me since I recognize corn to be a heavy feeder and I always make sure it has a special dose of manure or seaweed in the soil before I plant.

Phosphorus

Phosphorus deficiency causes leaves to turn reddish purple on blades, veins, and stems, especially on the underside. When soil tests show that my garden is deficient in phosphate I like to spread rock phosphate to correct the problem. This is a ground rock that is not water soluble so it would not be good in an emergency. It is great for the long haul, providing phosphate for several years. If I needed a quick fix, I would probably use bone meal which is about 21 percent phosphorus.

Potassium

The edges of leaves of plants with a potassium deficiency may curl or even turn bronze and dry out and they may get brown spots. This is most noticeable on the lower parts of plants. Since I burn several cords of wood every winter I always have wood ashes around which are approximately seven percent soluble potassium. You might wonder why I don't just spread the ashes on the garden when I clean out the stoves. First, soil tests indicate that my garden doesn't need any more potassium. Too much of a nutrient can be as problematic as too little. An overabundance may cause other nutrients to be bound up so the plants can't use them, for example. The other reason I don't dump the ashes in the winter is the solubility of the nutrient. If the plants need it, I don't want it leaching out of the soil. For those who don't have wood ashes, greensand is a commercially available natural product that provides about five percent potassium.

Those are just the three major nutrients. There are seventeen nutrients altogether that plants need. An expert can identify many deficiencies just by looking at the plants. I'm too lazy to try to figure that out. Besides, what would I do? I'd just kick myself for being too stingy with the manure or compost or cover crop rotation. I might try a rescue operation by side dressing compost or watering with a manure tea or foliar feeding by spraying seaweed extract. But I don't need to know which nutrient or secondary or trace nutrient is missing or in low supply. My approach is usually going to be some complex organic material to feed the soil and let the microorganisms sort out who needs what.

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