Soil Nutrients and Fertilizers

1. Soil Nutrients and Fertilizers 24.00: Explain the role of nutrients in quality plant growth

2. Macro vs Micro Nutrients • Macro nutrients are required by the plant in relatively large amounts • Micro nutrients are required only in small amounts • minor or trace elements

3. Non-mineral elements carbon (C) hydrogen (H) oxygen (O) Primary Nutrients Nitrogen (N) Phosphorus (P) Potassium (K) Secondary Nutrients calcium (Ca) magnesium (Mg) sulfur (S) Macro nutrients

4. Micro nutrients • Iron (Fe) • Copper (Cu) • Zinc (Zn) • Boron (B) • Molybdenum (Mo) • Manganese (Mn) • Chlorine (Cl)

5. Functions of Nitrogen • Promotes growth of leaves and stems • Gives dark green color and improves quality of foliage • Necessary to develop cell proteins and chlorophyll N

6. Nitrogen • Deficiency symptoms • sick, yellow-green color • short stems, small leaves, pale colored leaves and flowers • slow and dwarfed plant growth

7. Nitrogen deficiency

8. Functions of Phosphorus • Stimulates early formation and growth of roots • Provides for fast and vigorous growth and speeds maturity • Stimulates flowering and seed development • Necessary for the enzyme action of many plant processes

9. Phosphorus • Deficiency symptoms • decrease in growth • slow maturity • older leaves are purplish color P

10. Phosphorus Deficiency

11. Functions of Potassium • Used to form carbohydrates and proteins • Formation and transfer of starches, sugars and oils • Increases disease resistance, vigor and hardiness K

12. Potassium • Deficiency symptoms • mottled, spotted, streaked or curled leaves • scorched, burned, dead leaf tips and margins

13. Potassium Deficiency

14. Functions of Calcium • Improves plant vigor • Influences intake and synthesis of other plant nutrients • Important part of cell walls Ca

15. Calcium • Deficiency symptoms • small developing leaves • wrinkled older leaves • dead stem tips

16. Calcium Deficiency

17. Functions of Magnesium • Influences the intake of other essential nutrients • Helps make fats • Assists in translocation of phosphorus and fats Mg

18. Magnesium • Deficiency symptoms • Interveinal chlorosis-yellowing of leaves between green veins • leaf tips curl or cup upward • slender, weak stalks

19. Magnesium Deficiency

20. Functions of Sulfur • Promotes root growth and vigorous vegetative growth • Essential to protein formation S

21. Sulfur • Deficiency symptoms • young leaves are light green with lighter color veins • yellow leaves and stunted growth

22. Sulfur Deficiency

23. Iron • Functions of Iron • Essential for chlorophyll production • Helps carry electrons to mix oxygen with other elements • Deficiency symptoms • mottled and interveinal chlorosis in young leaves • stunted growth and slender, short stems

24. Iron Deficiency Fe

25. Copper • Functions • Helps in the use of Iron • Helps respiration • Deficiency symptoms • young leaves are small and permanently wilt • multiple buds at stem tip

26. Copper Deficiency Cu

27. Zinc • Functions • plant metabolism • helps form growth hormones • reproduction • Deficiency symptoms • retarded growth between nodes (rosetted) • new leaves are thick and small • spotted between veins, discolored veins

28. Zinc Deficiency Zn

29. Boron • Functions • affects water absorption by roots • translocation of sugars • Deficiency Symptoms • short, thick stem tips • young leaves of terminal buds are light green at base • leaves become twisted and die

30. Boron Deficiency B

31. Manganese • Functions • plant metabolism • nitrogen transformation • Deficiency symptoms • interveinal chlorosis • young leaves die

32. Manganese Deficiency Mn

33. Molybdenum • Functions • plant development • reproduction • Deficiency symptoms • stunted growth • yellow leaves, upward curling leaves, leaf margins burn

34. Molybdenum Deficiency Mo

35. Chlorine • Functions • essential to some plant processes • acts in enzyme systems • Deficiency symptoms • usually more problems with too much chlorine or toxicity than with deficiency

36. Chlorine Deficiency Cl

37. Fertilizers

38. Types of Fertilizers • Complete • Incomplete • Organic • Inorganic • Soluble • Insoluble

39. Complete vs. Incomplete • Complete has all three primary nutrients-nitrogen phosphorous & potassium • Examples: 10-10-10, 15-30-15, 20-5-20 • Incomplete DOES NOT have all three primary nutrients • Examples: 20-0-0, 0-20-0, 12-0-44

40. Organic Fertilizers • Comes from plant or animal matter and contains carbon compounds • Examples: urea, sludge and animal tankage

41. Advantages of Organic • Slow release of nutrients • Not easily leached from the soil • Add organic components to growing media

42. Disadvantages of Organic • Hard to get • Not sterile • Low nutrient content • Expensive

43. Inorganic Fertilizers • Comes from sources other than animals or plants • Chemical products

44. Advantages of Inorganic • Can make the desired ratio of nutrients • easy to get • lower cost

45. Disadvantages of Inorganic • No organic material • possible chemical building up in growing media

46. Soluble Fertilizer • Dissolve in water and are applied as a liquid solution • Fertigation • fertilizing through irrigation water • big advantage

47. Insoluble Fertilizer • Includes granular and slow release applied to the growing media

48. Granular vs. Slow Release • Granular • relatively inexpensive • easy to find • Slow Release • more expensive because it is coated • more uniform release of nutrients over time period

49. Fertilizer Analysis • Fertilizer analysis expresses weight as a percent of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium 20-10-20 N P K

50. Fertilizer Analysis • For Example • A 100 pound bag of fertilizer has an analysis of 15-5-15. How many pounds of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are in the bag? • Nitrogen: 100lbs X 15%=15lbs • Phosphorus: 100lbs X 5%=5lbs • Potassium: 100lbs X 15%=15lbs