Are your plants healthy?

Soil tests done in a lab are one way to check the health of your soil. However, the ultimate test is how well your plants are doing. By carefully observing your plants, you can tell which nutrient your plants are lacking. With this information, you can choose which amendments should be added to the soil to maximize the soil health.

When adding amendments to your soil, always start with very small amounts. Too much of a nutrient can be worse than too little. If there is a serious nutrient imbalance, your plants may be unable to absorb the nutrients they need. Therefore, your plant may exhibit signs of a nutrient deficiency, but the problem is an excess of other nutrient. Observe your plants closely and if they don't improve, go ahead and have a lab check your soil. Excess nutrients can also pollute our water and soil and waste energy during manufacturing and distribution. So use soil amendments carefully.

Major nutrients

If your plant has slow growth, leaves are uniformly yellow-green, cucumbers are pointed at the tips, then it may be lacking nitrogen, which is used for chlorophyll, proteins, genetic material, hormones, and other chemicals. Good sources include fish, alfalfa, or blood meal and green manures

If your plant has purplish leaves; yellow or streaked leaf margins; leaf tip die off; late, poor or absent fruits, then it may be lacking phosphorus, which is needed for genetic material, root growth, storage and use of energy. Good sources include manure, bonemeal, rock phosphates.

If your plant has brown leaf margins on lower leaves, shriveled fruit, weak stems or is not healthy, then it may be lacking potassium, which aids in nutrient movement, protein synthesis, and carbohydrate metabolism. Good sources include greensand, granite dust, kelp, compost, manure.

If your plant suffers from upward curled leaves, scalloped leaves, dried out or absent buds, buds that drop off early while the stem is still stiff and erect, weak stems or tomato blossom end rot, your plant may need calcium, which is important for cell wall manufacture and regulation, activates several enzymes. Good sources include limestone, ground clam and oyster lime shell, gypsum, wood ashes.

If your plant symptoms include leaves at branch tips turn down or stems are hard and brittle, then it may need sulfur, which is found in amino acids, vitamins and co-enzymes. Good sources include manure, sul-po-mag, gypsum, and elemental sulfur.

If your plant has leaves that are thin and brittle; purplish red or brown to bronze; striped or yellow to brown between veins; curl upward; or don't grow long or the plants mature late and don't thrive,

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