Garden » Garden Health » potassium deficiency
Potassium is essential for the healthy growth of plants. Plants deficient in potassium show symptoms of wilting, browning lower leaves plus yellowing of veins.
Check lower leaves for wilting, yellowing veins and browned off scorching of leaves from edges towards centre.
If you suspect potassium deficiency apply an appropriate organic fertiliser. The Kiwicare NOURISH ORGANIC FERTILISER fertilisers include formulations for all the plants in your garden; ALL PURPOSE, CITRUS, FLOWER and VEGETABLE fertilisers. Each has an ideal balance of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (N:P:K) plus trace nutrients and humics for each plant type.
Because potassium is easily leached from soils it important to use a natural organic source of potassium that is longer retained in the soil and the fertiliser is regularly applied particularly in times of high rainfall.
Typical symptoms of potassium deficiency include lower leaves wilting, browning off, scorching and yellowing of veins in leaves. Scorching starts at the leaf edges and moves inward.
Potassium salt is easily dissolved by water and leached from soils. It is important to fertilise with natural organic forms of potassium that are retained in the soil so that it is available to plants for longer.
Potassium is important in many aspects of plant growth including protein synthesis, photosynthesis, fruit quality and immune systems.
The macro nutrients that plants need in relatively large quantities are nitrogen (N), sulphur (S), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg). But plants also need trace elements in small quantities for healthy growth. Trace elements include; iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), boron (B), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), molybdenum (Mo) and humic acids.