Just like how humans need their daily vitamins to stay healthy, plants need a regular dose of nutrients to thrive and survive! Aside from supporting speedy growth and a bountiful harvest, nutrients improve the flavor of fruits and veggies and help plants fight pests and diseases.
Without the essential macro and micronutrients, your garden may not grow to the fullest and show alarming signs of deficiency. If you notice poor growth, weak stems, fewer flowers, small fruits, and yellowing leaves in your plants, you may have a nutrient problem on your hands.
The good news is you can nourish your plants back to life and correct nutrient deficiencies by adding fertilizer and other amendments to your soil. Here’s what you need to know about micronutrients, plant deficiencies, and fertilizer to keep your garden thriving!
Get to Know the Essential Plant Nutrients
Did you know that plants require 17 essential nutrients to grow properly and remain healthy? Each nutrient supports a specific function of your plant’s growth and development, and all are necessary for it to complete its life cycle—from seed germination to flowering and fruiting.
Nutrients can be divided into two groups according to the amount that plants need:
- Macronutrients: Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulfur, magnesium, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
- Micronutrients: Iron, boron, chlorine, manganese, zinc, copper, molybdenum, nickel
Macronutrients are required by plants in large amounts, while micronutrients or trace nutrients are needed in tiny amounts. A combination of both will give your plants optimal health!
So, where do plants get all these nutrients? Well, they absorb life-sustaining carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen from the air and water around them. They get the remaining 14 nutrients from the soil, but they may need supplements in the form of fertilizers or organic materials, like compost.
Identifying Nutrient Deficiency in Your Plants
A plant that lacks an essential nutrient will struggle to complete its life cycle. As a seed, it may not germinate, as a young plant, it may develop small, weak, or deformed roots, stems, flowers, or leaves, and as a mature plant, it may not be able to produce seeds or continue to survive.
It can be tricky to tell if your soil has a nutrient problem, just by looking at your plants. Symptoms of nutrient deficiency can vary depending on severity and plant species.
The best way to check for a lack of nutrients is to have your soil tested using a do-it-yourself kit or at a local laboratory. The results will show you what specific nutrients are deficient and amounts you’ll need to apply to give your precious plants exactly what they need!
Here are some of the most common signs of nutrient deficiency in plants:
- Nitrogen: Yellowing of leaves, starting from lower, older leaves to newer ones
- Phosphorus: Stunted growth, purple or bronze discoloration of leaves
- Potassium: Browning of leaf tips, scorching of margins, brown spots
- Calcium: Curling of young leaves, poor root systems, tip burn
- Sulfur: Small leaves, stunted growth, pale green to yellowish-green leaves
- Magnesium: Pale lower leaves with dark green veins, leaf shedding
- Carbon: Twisting of leaves, yellowing, browning, stunted growth
- Hydrogen: Wilting, brown leaf margins, premature leaf dropping, damaged roots
- Oxygen: Drooping leaf stalks, fading and shriveling of leaves
- Iron: Shoots dying from the tips, pale yellow leaves, and in severe cases, white leaves
- Boron: Distorted stems, leaves, and tips, brittle foliage, reduced plant height
- Chlorine: Wilting of leaf margins, leaf curling, bronzing, leaf spots, restricted roots
- Manganese: Tip dieback, brown dead spots on leaves, crinkled leaf margins, yellowing
- Zinc: Small and reduced leaves, low fruit production, shedding, purple tint
- Copper: Foliage can be cupped, deformed, drooping, and bleached
- Molybdenum: Scorched edges, little to no fruits, stunted growth
- Nickel: Yellowing of leaves, tip dieback, reduced leaf size
When applying fertilizer or soil amendments to correct your deficiency, remember that too much of a nutrient can harm or even kill your plant. You can save money, time, and effort if you do a soil test first to know what and how much to give your plants—no more, no less!

Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.