Plant Nutrition 101: All Plant Nutrients and Deficiencies Explained 

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

Awesome video man I love it when people share real knowledge! It is definitely a lot to ingest but well worth the time to learn how to keep your garden fine-tuned. I've always been a fan of Harley Smith and he's with the NPK University. Just a treasure Trove of knowledge!

I've seen all of these at one time or another, never knew they were experiencing deficiencies. This put so many puzzle pieces together for me, thank you 👍

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.

Wow this is great! So complete and so well stated and the emphasis on the most important and most likely telltales in the garden and their causes. Really excellent, thank you so much!

THANK YOU FOR SUCH A VALUABLE VIDEO!!!!! 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!

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.

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.

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

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

This is so fascinating! I had no idea about all of this intricate nutrients. VERY helpful with the pictures showing the deficiencies. Thanks

Thanks for the simple explanation with pictures to clearly see symptoms. Much appreciated!

I took a picture of each one and am putting into a collage for easy identification! Thank you I really think this will help me to care for my garden more efficiently!

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.

Great video!! I'm taking a test on this tomorrow and this was a quick and helpful video to break it down! Awesome!! Thanks!

The video covers almost everything, with my arguments cheers.

Very nicely explained...you explained the small nuances that help identify some of the lesser known deficiencies from the big three which often look similar. Thank you so much!

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.

I loved this video. I often am confused about what is wrong with my garden. I get tiny dark spots in my fruit tree leaves and was told by a local nursery it was iron deficiency but that appears incorrect based on the information here...!!?? Also the Word Molybdenum... I was taught to use the following trick to remember how it is pronounced “My Lips are numb” ..... (moe lib de numb). Thank you for this video

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.

So great! Thank you for your hard work putting all these videos together. I have been subscribed for a few months and you’ve helped me save a lot of plants! Cheers!

Thank you! I’m just beginning and learning the needs of the plants is kind of important.

This is so true, and different plants need different amounts of each. My tomatoes need calcium whereas my lavender does not need as much if any. I'm so glad someone broke this down and explained it.

Nutrient deficiencies are fascinating, the way they all work together. Wanting to understand more opened up a new and endless world of soil science to explore 🙏

Very nicely explained starting from basics. Next question is how to (detailed step by step procedure) add each of fertilizers and micro nutrients to the soil or water (hydroponics) ? Which all are the good testing instruments available in market place to test presence (means absence) of each one of it.

Great video man,, awesome content and you’ve explained things in really simple yet accurate terms.. thank you!

watching this, i'm realizing what was going on with some of my plants last year! putting a lot more work into my soil this time around.

I learned more from you in this video than all of the book I read on gardening.

I didn’t realize til this vid the relationship of Mg to Phosphorus, but that makes total sense in what I see at my hydroponic tomato farm. Yellowing first, then the red shortly after. Thank you!

Great job!! Thanks for sharing. I just got started on hydroponic lettuces and I noticed their leafs got some little brown dots, what could be happening? Is everything ok? Should I worry?

This was Amazing and SUPER informative! Wow! I feel like a botanist now😂. Thanks for taking your time to break this down.

Hi, There 's sooooo much to learn from you! Please keep it coming. By the way, you shocked me when you indicated that you 're not a formal plant scientist.🤔

Very comprehensive and well structured. I will be checking out the site for sure!

This was awesome! Very timely for me as I’ve just done my first soil test and things are waaay out of whack!. Thanks!

Thank you for this video! Because of this I feel confident that I have a nitrogen deficiency in my raised beds and a phosphorus deficiency in my in ground garden where I have my beets and onions. Now I just have to add the proper amendments to the soil and we should be good to go

Beautiful video, informative and answered lot of my gardening queries.

I'm new to gardening really and learning so much still. Love your videos.

This is just what I was looking for, thank you very much for sharing valuable knowledge

Excellent lecture. Thanks for sharing your knowledge free online. I really like your deliberation on the subject matter.

This was a great education! Much appreciated. Is there a community or forum that helps people figure out which deficiencies their plant is experiencing from pictures?

Thank you for the detail. I am a beginner gardener the video is very direct and informative. Much needed. 👍🏽

This is a darn good video. Micro-nutrient deficiencies are interesting in that certain ones are more apt to occur in certain plants and in certain soil conditions and localities. Here in Southern California for instance avocados are prone to zinc deficiency which shows up as rounded as opposed to pointed leaves. On my trees I broadcast Zinc Sulfate at about 1 lb per inch of tree diameter every 4-5 years. I'm really interested in cheating agents like EDTA which should allow plants to take up micronutrients easier. I've used a synthetic called Grow-More in 20-20-20 which is a water soluble product that contains micronutrients as well. It's also available in several different N-P-K ratios depending on the plant need. That product along with elimination of high amounts of interference elements like Chlorine seem to supply a pretty good balance of micronutrients as well as understanding the local water and soil and which Moros are apt to be deficient.

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.

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 ecosystem.....its all linked. Brilliant video. Very helpful Now where did I put that molybdenum....

Thank you! Awesome nutrient video! Love that you go beyond NPK

Thank you for keeping us knowledgeable about this!

I love how educational you are and you have a good pedagogy! Teaching seems to be a calling to u

Magic with pics..helps a lot. But what are the remedies? What to use and mix to overcome the problems?

Avery helpful video helps me in completing my project.

Thanks fo the helpful info. I cannot find any info on when specific nutes are needed or when we should focus on what nute. When to begin calmag? When to begin feeding? etc.?

Awesome video. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for the info. I would have liked to have learned how you fertile them to ensure they are getting the macro and micro nutrients. I have tried cal-mag and use as foliar spray, and my Epsom salt just arrived. I'll be giving all trees and shrubs a tablespoon per gallon roughly. thx!

Thanks for taking the time to do this video lots of good info.

From South Africa. Thank you for a most informative video. I liked that there were plenty of photos to show the results of a deficiency. I am a newby at hydroponics and would really like to see videos about this. I especially want to grow strawberries. What temperature should the water be? It gets pretty hot where I live. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Thank you EG, this is a really good video. Shows you exactly what to look for in terms of nutrient deficiencies but also the importance of trace elements. This cannot be emphasised enough. Having been in the Diamond Exploration business for over 45 years, over that time I learned that ANY volcanic rock extrusions but in particular Kimberlites (in which diamonds occur), if crushed sufficiently fine enough (say around 0.1mm or less) are sooooooo beneficial to plants when applied as a supplement. It's like enabling vegetative growth on steroids. Well done mate. Brilliant.

Great presentation ,learned a lot thanx man

very interesting. and WOW ! So much to understand. I'm always checking my plants leaves. But I know to paid attention to its young new ones. so important, Thanks

Great video is very useful. Now that I know what my plants are deficient in. How do I fix each problem? Which brands do you recommend for nitrogen, magnesium, and potassium? Its all different plants.

Thank you...this helped!

Very good, informative video. I felt like I was in a college class. Love it. Keep up the good work.

Definitely the most helpful video I've seen in regards to nutrients. Saving this one for reference! So here's a return favor since you questioned the pronunciation of molybdenum. (you mostly had it right. lol) mol•YB•de•NUM - you enunciate on the second and fourth syllables. Sounds like mo-LIB-den-UM.

Nice information sir,my Artabotrys hexapetalus plant leaves are black spot,which micro nutrient is lack pl.state me.

I found that synthetic nutrients may not always mean chemically made. it could mean the organic mater has been broken down in the way the plant can up take.

Just Loved this video!! Thank you!!

It’s a really easy build with scrap boards that you may have left over from other projects and when you paint it

My plant has curly leaves ...the new ones in my pepper plant. In the avocado almost all the leaves in the plant..does this mean lake of Neiotregin ? I got some Fertilizer and need to know when to use it ...? If it is written once each 2 or 3 weeks.. can I alreratie it with another one? Or 1 Fertilizer each 2 or 3 weeks and that is it ?

This most likely the most use video I've found for helping in understand what is wrong with a plant. Thanks man. Will subscribe legend

The reason magnesium was on the list twice is likely because someone meant to write manganese, since that is an essential element needed for a plant to thrive

Thank you a very good refresher.

Hi there, I reside in LA sub-tropical zone 9. Tks for info on yellow leaves. Very helpful! I'm wondering about my Gardenia bushes which are 3+ yrs. They flower beautifully and are quite fragrant when blooming. Many of their leaves are now turning yellow. Do I try feeding them Nitrogen? I don't recall them yellowing this much in the past. Is it too late to fertilize once more prior to winter. Help please! Tks.

ok - great information. But what do we need to do once we identify them? Will be really helpful if you can let us know what we need to add - for instance, calcium can be added through eggshells.

I wonder if my loquat trees leaves were dying and turning brown due to nutrient deficiency or if they die quick like that naturally. Thank you for specific explanations

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.

Another good 'n, even if a couple years old. Would love to know if you had insight on this subject but specifically regarding cannabis! You make the best vids, and your teaching ability is top notch.

well the sad part is that most of these symptoms are also caused by fungus or bacterial or virus or nematode diseases so what i suggest is to be careful if there are other signs on other parts of the plants example on stem or flowers so that you don't only focus on the symptoms showing on the leaves

Are you recommending that we test container soil as well? I just use a balanced blend of compost, peat, and an quality bag mix. I don't like use the garden soil that we have available locally and my own soil is just gravelly-silt. Not too much going on in that stuff.

I understand it changes depending on where the life cycle of the plant is, and for that matter what plant etc etc. I’m just curious if I put 10 10 10 is that a hot mix? Not sure what percent of nutes my soil should be.

Great video. What book did you use in this video? Always curious about good sources of info. Thanks.

Hi Iam growing micro greens here in Australia, on co co mat fiber. Can you help. Do they need nutrients? If so what. Can you suggest a good 2 part nutrient for these go grow to there best ability. A Kiwi living in Aussie.

Great video. Very straight forward and informative 👌

This is my type of math. Love this video guide, thank you!

Really good information. Thanks!!

Although I am using dry amendments so does it even matter since I’m feeding the soil?

Very helpful. Thank you. God bless!

Wow what a great video. Thanks!❤

Great video, very informative, Super. I loved it, thanks a lot !

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

love the instructional videos like this also! #1 king of the Garden Content!

@10:41 #22GP has 3 types of copper (light green, dark green, and regular). No wonder my salsa's so tasty!

Hello my name is Peri I'm a grower on Kauai. I planted some artichokes and its not budding? what am i doing wrong?

What weight-percentage to water, mg, etc of the secondary minerals trace elements mentioned as well as fertilizer, per gallon of water would you use to treat your hydration feed water, for self wicking feed hydration water ? Have you heard or covered using Salicylic Acid Aspirin Treatment for Tomatoes ?

Thanks for sharing such great information!

thank you for this video, you´re a great teacher !

There are zero pages about pons and cannibas. That would help many including me. How much to feed max minimum and how to come to a conclusion on how much and when. Hello