Plant nutrition - the essentials

In order to grow and flourish, plants need some 20 mineral nutrients taken from nature. Discover more here.

Background to plant nutrition
In addition to carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the building blocks of life itself provided by water and carbon dioxide, most plants require some seventeen mineral nutrients for normal growth and function. These are traditionally and conveniently divided into a number of generally accepted groups, ie. major, secondary and micronutrients together with the so called functional elements. Micronutrients are also known as minor nutrients or trace elements and are laid out on the familiar Periodic Table below.

Nutrient grouping is based on the relative amounts required by plants, ranging from 1 unit of molybdenum to 150 thousand units of nitrogen. The table below gives typical dry leaf tissue concentrations (ppm) for various nutrients.

Of course the nutrient quantities needed by plants have no bearing on their relative importance. All are equally vital and any deficiency can have equally serious consequences.