Plant Talker and Nutrient Deficiencies

lubadub · February 15, 2019

If I wanted to learn how to look at my plants to develop an idea of what is missing in my soil and what the plants need. Is there a book I can buy or a place I can go to develop these skills? I need to learn from a "plant talker."
How many of the growers here know how to decide what to feed their plants based on how they look? I know one person who says his plants tell him what they need. He never gets a soil test, grows organically and has fantastic results. He is unwilling to disclose his secrets.

zipcode · February 15, 2019

That's because he has no secrets. In soil it's fairly simple. Add fertilizer, water, and make sure you keep diseases and pests away if possible and needed.
Haifa and now Yara have some decent guides to deficiencies, but I feel like there is still a lot more to improve on these guides (as I have learned after starting to grow without soil). You will almost never run into them in normal decent soil, the only one you might encounter is iron deficiency which is quite easy to see.

If you ever see some great plants and think, what is that guy doing that his plants look so good, 90% of times is because he uses more fertilizer.

AKmark · February 15, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by lubadub

If I wanted to learn how to look at my plants to develop an idea of what is missing in my soil and what the plants need. Is there a book I can buy or a place I can go to develop these skills? I need to learn from a "plant talker."
How many of the growers here know how to decide what to feed their plants based on how they look? I know one person who says his plants tell him what they need. He never gets a soil test, grows organically and has fantastic results. He is unwilling to disclose his secrets.

We send leaf samples to Servi Tech in Kansas for leaf analysis. We no longer have to guess.

lubadub · February 15, 2019

Leaf analysis sounds pretty solid to me.

amideutch · February 16, 2019

Lubadub, There is a 3 volume set titled "The Garden doctor" by Jacob Mittleider that addresses how to diagnose and treat nutritional deficiencies in plants. It was one of the first I purchased when I got into growing tomatoes.

https://growfood.com/shop/the-garden-doctor-vol-1-3/

Ami

lubadub · February 16, 2019

Ami, thank you. The book really looks interesting. Has it been of real value to you? Are you growing organically?. Do you get soil tests done? Have you ever done tissue analysis as was suggested here in an earlier post?

amideutch · February 17, 2019

The Books have a wealth of information. 3 volumes covering the Macro and Micro nutrients and for each nutrient it explains the chemistry of and the plant symptoms for deficiency and excess for the given nutrient. It also gives you a list of Inorganic and organic ferts you can use for the particular nutrient you want to supplement.
As far as my growing methods I grow in containers, raised beds and some times in soil. I use Microbial Biofertilizes (microbial inoculants) added to the growing medium to improve soil Fertility and disease control.
I don't use tissue analysis as I never had the need which is used mostly by commercial/Greenhouse growers who use hydro feed systems.

Ami

Here are a couple books that might interest you.

Nature Farming and microbial Applications. Hui-lian PhD

Handbook of Microbial biofertilizers. M.K. Rai

They are listed at Amazon.de

amideutch · March 14, 2019

Here is a is a guide from Haifa on Nutritional recommendations for tomatoes and also has photos of leaves showing deficiencies and info on BER.

https://www.haifa-group.com/files/Gu...ato/Tomato.pdf

Ami

February 15, 2019	#1
lubadub Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: PA Posts: 169	Plant Talker and Nutrient Deficiencies If I wanted to learn how to look at my plants to develop an idea of what is missing in my soil and what the plants need. Is there a book I can buy or a place I can go to develop these skills? I need to learn from a "plant talker." How many of the growers here know how to decide what to feed their plants based on how they look? I know one person who says his plants tell him what they need. He never gets a soil test, grows organically and has fantastic results. He is unwilling to disclose his secrets. __________________ Bigger is Better!

February 15, 2019	#4
lubadub Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: PA Posts: 169	Leaf analysis sounds pretty solid to me. __________________ Bigger is Better!

February 16, 2019	#5
amideutch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Germany 49°26"N 07°36"E Posts: 5,041	Lubadub, There is a 3 volume set titled "The Garden doctor" by Jacob Mittleider that addresses how to diagnose and treat nutritional deficiencies in plants. It was one of the first I purchased when I got into growing tomatoes. https://growfood.com/shop/the-garden-doctor-vol-1-3/ Ami __________________ Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘...Holy Crap .....What a ride!'

February 16, 2019	#6
lubadub Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: PA Posts: 169	Ami, thank you. The book really looks interesting. Has it been of real value to you? Are you growing organically?. Do you get soil tests done? Have you ever done tissue analysis as was suggested here in an earlier post? __________________ Bigger is Better!

February 17, 2019	#7
amideutch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Germany 49°26"N 07°36"E Posts: 5,041	The Books have a wealth of information. 3 volumes covering the Macro and Micro nutrients and for each nutrient it explains the chemistry of and the plant symptoms for deficiency and excess for the given nutrient. It also gives you a list of Inorganic and organic ferts you can use for the particular nutrient you want to supplement. As far as my growing methods I grow in containers, raised beds and some times in soil. I use Microbial Biofertilizes (microbial inoculants) added to the growing medium to improve soil Fertility and disease control. I don't use tissue analysis as I never had the need which is used mostly by commercial/Greenhouse growers who use hydro feed systems. Ami Here are a couple books that might interest you. Nature Farming and microbial Applications. Hui-lian PhD Handbook of Microbial biofertilizers. M.K. Rai They are listed at Amazon.de __________________ Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘...Holy Crap .....What a ride!'

February 15, 2019	#2
zipcode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6 Posts: 1,582	That's because he has no secrets. In soil it's fairly simple. Add fertilizer, water, and make sure you keep diseases and pests away if possible and needed. Haifa and now Yara have some decent guides to deficiencies, but I feel like there is still a lot more to improve on these guides (as I have learned after starting to grow without soil). You will almost never run into them in normal decent soil, the only one you might encounter is iron deficiency which is quite easy to see. If you ever see some great plants and think, what is that guy doing that his plants look so good, 90% of times is because he uses more fertilizer.

March 14, 2019	#8
amideutch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Germany 49°26"N 07°36"E Posts: 5,041	Here is a is a guide from Haifa on Nutritional recommendations for tomatoes and also has photos of leaves showing deficiencies and info on BER. https://www.haifa-group.com/files/Gu...ato/Tomato.pdf Ami __________________ Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘...Holy Crap .....What a ride!'