Category: Nutrient management

According to agricultural research, a typical corn crop requires a significant amount of phosphorus for healthy growth, with removal rates around 0.37 pounds of P2O5 per bushel of grain. Understanding precisely how much phosphorus is in corn is vital for farmers to implement effective nutrient management plans and sustain crop yields over time.

Excess nutrients are a common pitfall for gardeners, and overzealous use of cal-mag supplements can lead to a specific form of plant stress called cal-mag burn. Characterized by scorched leaf tips, dark green foliage, and stunted growth, understanding what this toxicity looks like is the first step toward effective treatment.

According to plant physiologists, once absorbed by a plant, some nutrients cannot be moved to other parts of the plant, defining what is an immobile nutrient. This differs significantly from mobile nutrients, which can be reallocated from older leaves to newer ones when supplies are low. Understanding this fundamental difference is critical for accurately diagnosing and treating plant deficiencies to ensure optimal health.

Did you know tomatoes remove more potassium, nitrogen, and calcium from the soil than any other nutrient? As heavy feeders, tomatoes can significantly drain the soil's resources over a single growing season, making it crucial for gardeners to understand what nutrients do tomatoes deplete and how to properly replenish them for future success.

Mixing concentrated calcium and phosphate fertilizers incorrectly is one of the most common mistakes in horticulture, often resulting in an insoluble precipitate that makes both nutrients unavailable to plants. Understanding the proper mixing order is crucial for preventing nutrient lockout and ensuring optimal plant health.

In sandy soils with high irrigation, experiments have shown that up to 57% of applied potassium can be lost to leaching. The exact amount of potassium removed by leaching is not a single figure but a complex variable contingent upon several interconnected environmental and soil factors.