Symptoms of mineral nutrient deficiencies and the nutrient concentration ranges in seedlings of Eucalyptus maculata Hook.

With the establishment of plantation eucalypts around the world there is an increasing need for reference data which can be used to diagnose the nutrient status of eucalypt seedlings. Therefore, deletion glasshouse nutrient trials were set up in sand and solution culture to obtain deficiencies of N, P, K, Mg, Ca, S, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn in the spotted iron gum (Eucalyptus maculata). Nutrient concentration ranges were obtained for leaves at defined growth stages for (a) healthy plants, (b) plants where yield was just depressed or where symptoms first appeared, and (c) plants with severe symptoms. The defined symptoms and nutrient concentration ranges should be useful in identifying single nutrient deficiencies in nursury grown seedlings or young plants with juvenile foliage in the field.