What are the Symptoms of Calcium Deficiency in Organic Garden Plants?
Calcium deficiency in organic garden plants takes many forms. General symptoms include leaf margin necrosis on young leaves, leaf curling, and eventually terminal bud and root tip death. New growth is affected first, but the older leaves can be affected if the deficiency isn’t corrected. Many have heard of or experienced blossom end rot on tomatoes and peppers. It begins with a sunken, decayed spot on the end of the fruit farthest from the stem – the blossom end. It’s possible that not all the fruit on the plant will be affected. On other crops, symptoms include “bitter pit” on apples, where pits appear on the skin, and brown spots develop on the skin or in the flesh. The taste of those areas is bitter. Cabbage and brussell sprouts may develop internal browning, while celery may have stunted growth of the central leaves. “Cavity Spot” in carrots starts as oval spots that progress into craters.
