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About Nutrients...for information on soil science click
here.
Plants take their entire nutritional needs from their organic
enviornment. Plants require carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen,
plus other naturally occuring elements taken from the soil
and sun light.
Nutritional elements normally required by plants vary in
amounts. Science has devised a way to categorize these amounts
into two divisions. Macronutrients (large quatities) and
micronutrients (small quantities). Below is a table listing
the elements required by plants.
|
Element
|
Chemical symbol
|
Available form
|
|
Macronutrients
|
|
hydrogen
|
H
|
H20
|
|
carbon
|
C
|
CO2
|
|
Oxygen
|
O
|
O2,
CO2
|
|
nitrogen
|
N
|
NO3,
NH4
|
|
Potassium
|
K
|
K
|
|
Calcium
|
Ca
|
Ca
|
|
Magnesium
|
Mg
|
Mg
|
|
Phosphorous
|
P
|
HPO4
|
|
Sulphur
|
S
|
SO4
|
|
Micronutrients
|
|
Chlorine
|
Cl
|
Cl
|
|
Boron
|
B
|
BO2
|
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Iron
|
Fe
|
Fe
|
|
Magnesium
|
Mn
|
Mn
|
|
Zinc
|
Zn
|
Zn
|
|
Copper
|
Cu
|
Cu
|
|
Nickel
|
Ni
|
Ni
|
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Molybdenum
|
Mo
|
Mo
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These essential elements play specific roles in plant growth
and reproductive life cycles. The absence of any one of
them will exhibit a corresponding deficiency symptom in
plants. Additives in the form of composted material can
help supplement elements and reconstruct soil structure.
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