Plant nutrients and nutrient deficiencies

plus fertilisers, tonics and stimulants

SORRY This is now mostly a holding page, considering that basic information is now plentiful elsewhere on the internet. Furthermore, the demise of online advertising and the rise of content appropriation (particularly by artificial intelligence) removes the incentive to put the effort into making well-written information freely available.

If you live in Queensland and are generally interested in gardening in this state, consider a subscription to the email publication (mini-magazine) Get Results Gardening. Go to calyx.com.au/getresultsgardening.html for more information.

Meanwhile, this page will be used to park bits and pieces such as photographs and news items.

News

Ants not anti-plants

Ants on plants are often bad news as they "farm" sap-sucking insects, but can benefit in various ways, including as a fertiliser source. Researchers installed weaver ants in isolated coffee plants and fed ants with a form of traceable nitrogen (15 N). When ants were allowed to travel from one tree via bridges, it was found that visited trees became larger and had more nitrogen. What's more, leaves that where wrapped to protect them from ants nevertheless contained 15N, showing that waste from the ants was taken up and moved throughout the plants. In certain ecosystems, ants may thus contribute to plant nutrition by catching and digesting insects and foliar-feeding the trees in which they live. Source: Profitable cooperation: Ants protect and fertilize plants New research shows that ant fecal droplets serve as a valuable fertilizer for plants, absorbed directly by the leaves (August 2017)

Fertilisers and plant tonics for Qld

Landscape supply yards, garden centres and the garden departments of variety stores and hardware chains usually carry a variety of fertilisers, but certain specialised products (including organic products) may also be available from online suppliers. Specialist nurseries are another place to look, especially if you seek fertilisers developed for specific types of plants (e.g. orchid nurseries would be likely to carry orchid formulations).

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Vegetables, orchards, lawns, herbs, flowers and ornamentals all benefit from soil with a good balance of minerals. But what does your soil have already, and what do you need to add? First, your soil is laboratory tested. You will receive a comprehensive soil analysis, mineral balancing recipe and biological gardening program in a printable document. Then, Home Soil Solutions can provide a custom blend of minerals, specifically designed for your soil and delivered to your door. For more information and instructions, visit the WEBSITE

If you're a fertiliser manufacturer or retail outlet supplying Qld and you're interested in promoting your products, you can find out more about advertising on this site here.

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Older News

New symbiosis found

A new type of plant-fungus association with the potential to increase crop yields has been discovered in Europe. A type of Colletotrichum was found in wild Arabidopsis on phosphorus-poor soils. It lives within the whole plant and though it colonises via the roots, is not a mycorrhiza. However, function appearsto be similar moving phosphorous to leaves. Plants inoculated with the fungus produce more fruits and seeds. Source: A new plant – microorganism symbiosis discovered by UPM researchers (March 2016)

Plants need iron to make Vit A

A new plant enzyme critical to Vitamin A production by plants has been discovered. What's more, it's dependent on a form of iron similar to that found in red blood cells. Source: Researchers discover new enzyme, link to iron in vitamin A synthesis (June 2015). In addition to the many implications this has for the study of vitamin synthesis and heme biochemistry, this indicates the way that soil nutrients can have many roles in plants. Iron doesn't simply just make leaves greener.

Invention promises economical P recovery from sewage

Recovering nutrients from sewage and food processing waste has the potential to conserve precious agricultural phosphorus and reduce pollution problems. Now German scientists have developed an electrolytic process employing a magnesium anode that precipitates magnesium-ammonium phosphate from wastewater. The crystalline product can be used directly as fertiliser. Importantly, little energy and no additional chemicals are required. Source: Using wastewater as fertilizer (August 2012)