Guide to Plant deficiencies.

[Chi Ma]

A guide by one of the guys from another forum I frequent.

Nutrient Deficiency Chart for Plants 

Nitrogen: 
Leaves to show effects first: Old 
Entire plant turns yellow green, and the older leaves become more yellowish than the younger. 
Older leaves do not die unless deficiency is extreme. 

Phosphorus: 
Leaves to show effects first: Old 
Plant stops growing and becomes darker green or stays green. 
Some species may become purple with excess anthocyanin pigments building up. 
Other species do not produce excess anthocyanins and just stay green and small. 
Premature leaf drop-off. 
Similar to nitrogen deficiency. 

Calcium: 
Leaves to show effects first: New 
Mild deficiency: Smaller, distorted new leaf growth. Reduced leaf tissue, with the central vein persisting. 
Leaves often cupped, rather than flat 
Moderate deficiency: Often sudden bends or twisting of leaf, which is now much reduced in size. 
White streaks or white edges in new growth. Roots are stubby and twisted. Root tips may die. 
Leaves of Vallisneria are strongly crinkled as though they have tried to grow and got jammed in a small space. 
Severe deficiency: New growth almost entirely white. Leaves are tiny deformed stumps. Growing points for both shoot and root die. 
Damage and die off growing points. 
Yellowish leaf edges. 

Magnesium: 
Leaves to show effects first: Old 
Indicots: Yellowing of older leaves that starts from the edges inwards. The midrib may remain 
green while the edges are yellowed or whitish and dying (I don't know what this deficiency looks like in monocots like Vallisneria, but it should involve death of the older leaves.) 
Yellow spots. 

Potassium: 
Leaves to show effects first: Old 
Small dead areas appear in older leaves. These can start like little pinpoints and grow. In some species, like Ceratopteris, the older leaves stay green while the little dead spots grow. The new leaves are reduced in size and leaf area, looking a bit 'singed'. In other species the older leaves can turn yellow before they die, but they do not have green persisting along the major veins as in magnesium deficiency. 
Yellow areas, then withering of leave edges and tips. 

Sulfur: 
Leaves to show effects first: New 
Similar to nitrogen deficiency 

Iron: 
Leaves to show effects first: New 
Reduced chlorophyll in new growth. Leaves and stem are about the same shade. Growing tips of Ceratophyllum become pinkish and then white. Egeria densa tips become greenish yellow to yellow with the leaves small and clasped close to the stem. The new leaves of swords are smaller with patches or broad streaks extending lengthwise that are more pale than the rest of the leaf (in mild deficiency). In more severe deficiency in most plants chlorophyll is lacking completely in the new growth which soon dies. 
Leaves Turn Yellow. 
Greenish nerves enclosing yellow leaf tissue. 
First seen in fast growing plants. 

Manganese: 
Dead yellowish tissue between leaf nerves. 

Copper: 
Dead leaf tips and withered edges. 

Zinc: 
Leaves to show effects first: Old 
Yellowish areas between nerves, Starting at leaf tip and edges. 

Boron: 
Leaves to show effects first: New 
Very similar to calcium deficiency. New growth is distorted and smaller, and then the growing tips of both roots and shoots die. In mild deficiency in Crypts, the leaves are cupped and the roots are shorter and distorted. 
Dead shoot tips, new side shoots also die. 

Molybdenum: 
Leaves to show effects first: Old 
Yellow spots between leaf nerves, then brownish areas along edges. 
Inhibited flowering 

[Matt Denten]

Its funny that you say that Moses, because the plant is in its flowering stage.  To answer some of your questions Harold, pH is at 7.0, water temp. at 75.  NItrates have been tested at 0ppm.  Don't have a DO meter, but do have my air pump on 24/7 and would like to believe there is enough O2 around.  I feed my fish a lot, possibly too much, and do supplement iron and potassium.  I have added very small amounts of grow solution in the past, but not on a regular basis.

 

The current set up pumps water from the fish tank at the bottom to a small reservoir at the top. From there it drains to the grow tubes and then back down to the fish tank.  It is currently set up as a nutrient-film-technique system.  I would like to change it to a flood and drain system and add more fish, but I have moving cross-country and getting married in 5 months, so a larger more appropriate system will have to wait until september.  

 

I have just started several pepper seeds and so what I'm going to do is revert back to hydroponics for 4-5 months to grow some beauties, then come back to aquaponics when I have more time and more room for a larger fish tank.

[Chi Ma]

Unless you want the seeds it's better to pinch off the buds before they flower.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Enviable readings for any AP system! So you are getting to the coriander stage with your cilantro which i understand is great to have two types of flavor from one plant. I've grown it but never to reach this stage.

Here's a blog on the subject;   

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=261306

Matt Denten said:

Its funny that you say that Moses, because the plant is in its flowering stage.  To answer some of your questions Harold, pH is at 7.0, water temp. at 75.  NItrates have been tested at 0ppm.  Don't have a DO meter, but do have my air pump on 24/7 and would like to believe there is enough O2 around.  I feed my fish a lot, possibly too much, and do supplement iron and potassium.  I have added very small amounts of grow solution in the past, but not on a regular basis.

 

The current set up pumps water from the fish tank at the bottom to a small reservoir at the top. From there it drains to the grow tubes and then back down to the fish tank.  It is currently set up as a nutrient-film-technique system.  I would like to change it to a flood and drain system and add more fish, but I have moving cross-country and getting married in 5 months, so a larger more appropriate system will have to wait until september.  

 

I have just started several pepper seeds and so what I'm going to do is revert back to hydroponics for 4-5 months to grow some beauties, then come back to aquaponics when I have more time and more room for a larger fish tank.

[Sylvia Bernstein]

Matt, with zero nitrates, and iron and potassium supplementation I'm a little worried that you are getting into an imbalance situation....which may be causing your cilantro to bolt early.  If it weren't for your current intense life situation (congrats on the impending nuptials, BTW) I'd suggest just adding more fish until you start seeing some nitrates.  Later, though...

[AlbertF]

I found this resource on one of the Aussie forums:

http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/list.htm

[Sylvia Bernstein]

Awesome resource, Albert!

[Allisyn Wood]

Can you tell me what I'm looking at:  These are pole beans  Also happening on my wee cucumber sprouts (far right).  Added maxicrop with iron (about a capful for 40 gallon tank - 8 cat fish fingerlngs).  pH is about 6.2.  Little low, I know.  Going to search for oyster shells.  How clean do these need to be? Safe sanitizer soak?  Nitrates are a little high (80 ppm).  Only feeding these guys in the evening to try and combat this issue unless anyone can tell me otherwise...

 

Thanks in advance.

[Bryan Man]

I can finally help someone!! those are leaf miners :) the parents lay these eggs and the miners hatch and live within the plants leaf. being that your plants are young it could possibly be to late for them, lots of folks say to just cut off the infected leaves. But you cant because your plants are so young. My older cucumbers can withstand the damage.

 

if you are not to creep out by bugs, you can hold the leaf up towards the sun or the light, and you can actually see the little worm inside of it :)

 

They have some organic spray you can use, but I do not know if it is safe for aquaponic systems.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Spinosad-Garden-Insect-Spray-Monterey/dp/B002...

 

I am going to try some for my soil garden :)

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Bryan,

Didn't find out until now what those were,thanks! Now i know why my cucumbers never survived, and i was, like Allisyn, thinking it was a deficiency all this time.

[Allisyn Wood]

Oh, no!

Anyone know if this product is safe as a foliar for AP?? 

Is there a preventative way to keep them off to begin with (like beer and slugs)?

 

 

[Bryan Man]

Manual control is probably the best you can do right now, just put on some garden gloves and SQUEEZE every single leaf with the trails, you should squish the little worm that is eating the plant from the inside out. Most soil gardeners recommend keeping the plants covered to protect them from insects until it is time to pollinate.

I think squishing the worms until the plants are healthy enough to just deal with the miners :) my soil cucumber plants are about 5 feet high and have tons of OLD miner trials throughout the leaves. I probably lose 1 leaf a month from the miners. 

The damage looks alot worse than it really is to the plant :)

Also crop rotation helps keep the buggers away.

[Allisyn Wood]

Is crop rotation even a consideration in AP??

 

Meanwhile, squishing away...