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Farkesht diagnostic atlas

Nutrient deficiency symptoms in trees, and how to correct them

A photograph of a sick leaf teaches nothing, because in a photograph every deficiency is "yellow". What separates them is the pattern — and the patterns are genuinely distinct once they are drawn on the same leaf, side by side.

The rule that halves the listThe symptom atlas
Essential elements a tree takes from soil
14element
Days after full bloom: the standard sampling date
90days
Days before a foliar correction shows
14days

Updated September 1, 2026Farin Kesht Taban Co.

Chapter one

First, see which end of the tree it started at

The most useful thing a grower can know about deficiency, and the thing they are almost never told. This one look halves the list of ten before a single pattern is compared.

Mobile elements

The plant pulls these out of old leaves to feed new growth. So when they run short, the old leaves are sacrificed and the shoot tips stay green.

Where the symptom appearsold leaves, low on the shoot

Elements in this group

  • Nitrogen
  • Phosphorus
  • Potassium
  • Magnesium

Immobile elements

Once placed in a leaf, these cannot be moved again. So the new growth starves while the old leaves stay perfectly green.

Where the symptom appearsyoung leaves, at the tip

Elements in this group

  • Iron
  • Zinc
  • Manganese
  • Calcium
  • Boron
  • Copper
Both shoots are drawn identically. The only difference is the direction of the arrow — and that direction decides whether the old leaves yellow or the new ones do.

Chapter two

The atlas: ten deficiencies on one leaf

All ten patterns are drawn on the same leaf outline at the same scale so they can be compared. The veins are identical in every panel, because on half of these the diagnosis is precisely which side of a vein the colour went.

  • old leaves, low on the shoot

    Nitrogen

    Pattern:
    Even yellowing of the whole blade, starting on the oldest leaves. Small leaves, short shoots.
    Confirm:
    No pattern is itself the pattern: if vein and blade look the same, check nitrogen.

    Speed of yield loss

  • old leaves, low on the shoot

    Phosphorus

    Pattern:
    Dull dark green, then bronze or purple on the underside of older leaves. Slow growth.
    Confirm:
    Commoner on cold, calcareous ground; read the soil test alongside the leaf analysis.

    Speed of yield loss

  • old leaves, low on the shoot

    Potassium

    Pattern:
    Scorch running inward from the leaf margin on older leaves, with the edge curling up.
    Confirm:
    Rule out salinity and drought first — both make exactly this.

    Speed of yield loss

  • old leaves, low on the shoot

    Magnesium

    Pattern:
    Interveinal clearing on older leaves, with broad green bands left along the veins.
    Confirm:
    Heavy potassium makes it worse; look at the K to Mg ratio on the sheet.

    Speed of yield loss

  • young leaves, at the tip

    Iron

    Pattern:
    Interveinal clearing on young leaves with a very fine green net. Severe cases go almost white.
    Confirm:
    The classic calcareous-soil deficiency. Check pH: it is usually lockout, not absence.

    Speed of yield loss

  • young leaves, at the tip

    Zinc

    Pattern:
    Small leaves and short internodes — rosetting — with mottling on the young growth.
    Confirm:
    Compare leaf size against last year; little-leaf says more than colour does.

    Speed of yield loss

  • young leaves, at the tip

    Manganese

    Pattern:
    Interveinal clearing on young leaves too, but blotchy and with wider green bands than iron.
    Confirm:
    It is told from iron by the width of the green band along the vein. Look at both together.

    Speed of yield loss

  • young leaves, at the tip

    Calcium

    Pattern:
    Death of the shoot tip and terminal bud, and sunken spots on the fruit.
    Confirm:
    Seen on fruit more than on leaves; in apple it shows as bitter pit.

    Speed of yield loss

  • young leaves, at the tip

    Boron

    Pattern:
    Growing point dies, tissue turns brittle, and corky cracks appear on the fruit.
    Confirm:
    The gap between sufficiency and toxicity is narrow. Do not correct without a leaf analysis.

    Speed of yield loss

  • young leaves, at the tip

    Copper

    Pattern:
    Shoot tips die back from the tip down and young leaves twist.
    Confirm:
    The rarest on this list; rule out root and vascular problems before it.

    Speed of yield loss

The badge on each card says which end of the tree to look at. That is the second half of the answer, and the half least often given.

Sufficiency ranges in a leaf analysis

A laboratory sheet is read against these bands, not against zero. That is the commonest mistake made with one: an element is not "present" or "absent", it is inside a range or outside it.

  • Nitrogen

    2.2–2.8 %

    04 %

    Above the range is also a problem: heavy vegetative growth and light cropping.

  • Phosphorus

    0.14–0.3 %

    00.5 %

    The least variable of them; outside the range usually means a root problem.

  • Potassium

    1.2–2 %

    03 %

    Falls in a heavy crop year, because the fruit is the largest consumer.

  • Magnesium

    0.25–0.5 %

    01 %

    Always read next to potassium; the ratio matters more than either figure.

  • Iron

    60–200 ppm

    0300 ppm

    The leaf figure can look normal in lime-induced chlorosis. Trust the symptom over the number.

  • Zinc

    20–50 ppm

    080 ppm

    A foliar spray before sampling inflates the figure. Leave a gap.

  • Manganese

    25–150 ppm

    0200 ppm

    On acid ground this can reach toxicity rather than deficiency.

  • Boron

    20–60 ppm

    0100 ppm

    The narrowest gap between sufficiency and toxicity of any element here. Correct cautiously.

  • Copper

    5–15 ppm

    025 ppm

    Copper fungicide sprays make the leaf figure unusable.

Chapter three

Six things that look like a deficiency and are not

Once a grower can name the patterns, the next failure is naming them too readily. Every entry here has cost somebody a season of feeding a tree that was not hungry.

  • Soil or water salinity

    Mistaken for:Potassium

    The tell:
    The margin scorch is even across the whole tree regardless of leaf age, and there is a white crust on the soil.
    The check:
    Measure EC of the soil extract and the irrigation water.

  • Drought stress

    Mistaken for:Potassium

    The tell:
    It worsens in the heat of the day and partly recovers after irrigation; a real deficiency has no daily swing.
    The check:
    Open the soil to rooting depth, not just the surface.

  • Root and drainage problems

    Mistaken for:Nitrogen

    The tell:
    The yellowing is general but confined to one tree or one patch, not to a whole row.
    The check:
    Dig an inspection hole and look at root colour and smell.

  • Herbicide damage

    Mistaken for:Zinc

    The tell:
    Twisted, distorted young leaves, and a pattern that follows the sprayer’s path rather than the soil boundary.
    The check:
    Check your own and the neighbour’s spray dates and route.

  • Virus disease

    Mistaken for:Manganese

    The tell:
    Mosaic and irregular mottling that does not follow the veins, and which answers no amount of feeding.
    The check:
    If two foliar rounds change nothing, send a sample to a plant clinic.

  • Mites and sucking pests

    Mistaken for:Iron

    The tell:
    Fine scattered stippling that ignores the vein pattern; the leaf looks dull and dusty.
    The check:
    Look at the leaf underside with a ten-times lens.
In all six, the check that settles it costs less than the fertiliser it saves.

And if it is not nutritional at all? The ten main causes of stalled growth are here:The stalled-growth dossier

If salt is what sits behind these symptoms, a nutrient treatment will not answer it:The soil salinity dossier

Chapter four

Leaf sampling: the only route to a number

A mistake at this stage invalidates everything downstream of it. A laboratory sheet is worth exactly as much as the sample you sent for it.

Composite sample size

60 leaves from 20 trees

Do not sample one tree. Take leaves from trees spread through the same block, of the same age and rootstock; a composite of twenty trees gives a defensible figure that a single tree never will.

  1. 01

    Sample at the right date

    About ninety to a hundred and twenty days after full bloom, mid-season. Leaf figures move through the season, and every reference range is written for that window alone.

    The sampling date recorded on the sample

  2. 02

    Take the right leaf

    A whole leaf from the middle of the current season’s shoot, on a non-fruiting branch. Not the tip leaf, not the leaf beside a fruit — both shift the figure.

    Mid-shoot leaf from a non-bearing branch

  3. 03

    Take enough

    Around sixty leaves from twenty trees spread through the block. One leaf per tree, from four sides of the canopy at shoulder height.

    A composite from across the block

  4. 04

    Keep healthy and affected apart

    One sample from the symptomatic area and one from a healthy area of the same orchard. Comparing the two says more than any absolute figure.

    Two separate labelled samples

  5. 05

    Pack it properly

    Wash the leaves in distilled water if they carry dust or spray residue, dry them in shade, and send them in a paper bag — not plastic.

    Clean, dry leaves in a paper bag

  6. 06

    Read the sheet against the range

    Compare each figure to the sufficiency range, not to zero and not to last year’s sample. An element at the bottom of the range but inside it is not a deficiency.

    A short list of elements outside range

Chapter five

Correction routes: speed against duration

Both bars are drawn on one time axis so they are directly comparable. Neither is "better": one is for a crop that is failing now and the other for a deficiency that will still be there next year.

  • Soil application

    Fertiliser into the root zone at the start of the growing season. The slowest answer and the longest-lasting, and the cheapest route — but often inert for iron and zinc on calcareous ground.

    Time to answer28–56 days

    How long it holds180–365 days

    7 days90 days1,095 days

    Relative cost
    When
    Chronic shortage, before the season

  • Foliar spray

    Straight onto the leaf in the cool of the day. The fastest answer and the shortest-lived; it is for getting this year’s crop to harvest, not for solving the problem.

    Time to answer14–21 days

    How long it holds21–45 days

    7 days90 days1,095 days

    Relative cost
    When
    Acute shortage, in season

  • Fertigation

    Injected into the irrigation water and split across several doses. Middling on both counts, and the finest control of rate — given a sound drip system.

    Time to answer14–28 days

    How long it holds30–90 days

    7 days90 days1,095 days

    Relative cost
    When
    Seasonal programme, equipped orchard

  • Trunk injection

    The element delivered straight into the vascular system. A fast answer lasting several years, but expensive and invasive.

    Time to answer14–30 days

    How long it holds365–1,095 days

    7 days90 days1,095 days

    Relative cost
    When
    Large trees, severe deficiency

    A last resort. It works, and it puts a hole in a tree the tree then has to wall off. Large trees and confirmed severe deficiency only.

The axis is logarithmic; on a linear one, everything faster than a season would collapse into a stub against trunk injection and the whole comparison would vanish.

Chapter six

Farkesht products for correcting deficiency

Three groups, in the order that makes sense on calcareous ground: first an available form, then the element, then the soil that keeps it available.

  • Chelated fertilisers

    Chelates: hold the element on calcareous ground in a form a root can lift. The direct answer to lime-induced iron chlorosis and to zinc shortage at high pH.

  • Micronutrients

    Micronutrients: for a deficiency a leaf analysis has confirmed, foliar for a fast answer or soil-applied for a lasting one.

  • Organic fertilisers

    Organic fertilisers: they raise the soil’s ability to hold nutrients. The slowest and the most fundamental, because they change the cause rather than the symptom.

The order matters: until a leaf analysis has named the element, buying a micronutrient is an expensive guess. And above pH 7.5 a simple salt locks up within weeks however much of it goes on.

Chapter seven

The Farkesht tree nutrition course

What you have read so far is the atlas. The course walks the same atlas over real trees: the leaf in hand, the laboratory sheet on the table, and the same tree a month after correction.

  • Orchard growers

    Iron chlorosis, little-leaf and margin scorch are the three recurring problems of these orchards, and all three take different answers. The course separates them on the tree.

  • Greenhouse growers

    In a confined substrate both deficiency and toxicity appear several times faster. The course covers EC and pH control and reading symptoms quickly.

  • Advisers and agronomists

    Standard sampling, interpreting a laboratory sheet and writing a defensible recommendation — what separates a professional opinion from a personal one.

What the course covers

Every module ends in something you can do, not something you can define. If you finish a module unable to do the thing written beside it, that module has not done its job.

  1. 01

    The mobility rule

    Why some deficiencies start on old leaves and some on new ones, and how that single look halves the list.

    Rule out half the elements at a glance

  2. 02

    The atlas on real trees

    The ten patterns of this page on real leaves, mild and severe examples side by side, across several species.

    Recognise the pattern on your own orchard’s leaves

  3. 03

    Telling look-alikes apart

    Salinity, drought, herbicide, virus and mites — and the cheap check that separates each from a real deficiency.

    Rule out an impostor before buying fertiliser

  4. 04

    Leaf sampling and analysis

    Timing, the right leaf, the count, packing, and reading the laboratory sheet line by line against the sufficiency ranges.

    Take a valid sample and read the sheet yourself

  5. 05

    Writing a correction programme

    Choosing the route by the speed of answer needed, setting rate and timing, and avoiding antagonism between elements.

    Write a seasonal correction programme

  6. 06

    Follow-up and assessment

    When to look again, what counts as evidence of success, and why a yellowed leaf never turns green again.

    Judge the result on the right measure

  • Sectioned curriculumEach course is divided into sections and lessons, so you can go straight to the part you need.
  • Pick up where you left offProgress is saved per lesson and the player resumes from the point you stopped.
  • Free preview lessonsSome lessons are open before purchase, so you can judge the depth and the tone first.
  • Permanent accessA course you buy stays open in your account. There is no time limit on watching it.
  • Phone or desktopThe player runs in the browser. Nothing to install.
  • Ask an adviserStuck anywhere along the way, post the question in the forum and get an adviser’s answer.

Courses available now

This list is read straight from the Farkesht library — every course published appears here.

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Chapter eight

Plans and how to get in

There are two routes to these lessons: buy the single course you need, or take a plan that opens the whole library at once.

  • Buy one course

    You buy a course and it stays open in your account permanently. Right when you know exactly which subject you need.

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  • Farkesht plan

    Opens every video course, the technical knowledge base and the species files together — and any course published while the plan runs is included too.

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  • Basic

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    • Ask questions in the forum
    • Orchard records and care sheets for your species
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Questions

Common questions about nutrient deficiency

The eight asked most often in the forum.

How do I work out which element is short?

With two looks and one test. First see whether the symptom started on old leaves or new ones — that halves the list of ten. Then match the pattern against the atlas on this page: even yellowing, interveinal, or margin scorch. Finally confirm with a leaf analysis, because several deficiencies are often present at once and the eye cannot give you their quantities.

Why does it matter whether it is on old or new leaves?

Because it tells you the element’s mobility in the plant. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium are mobile: the plant pulls them out of old leaves to feed new growth, so the old leaves yellow first. Iron, zinc, manganese, calcium, boron and copper are immobile: once placed they cannot be moved, so the new growth starves. That one look does half the work before any test.

I keep applying iron sulphate and the chlorosis stays. Why?

Because on calcareous ground above pH 7.5 the iron in a simple salt converts within weeks into a form no root can lift. There is plenty of iron in the soil and none of it is available. The answer is not more of the same: a chelate stable at high pH, local acidification of the root zone, and organic matter. To carry this year’s crop, a foliar is needed as well.

Is a foliar spray better than a soil application?

It depends how much of a hurry you are in. A foliar shows on new leaves in two to three weeks but is gone in six; it is for getting this year’s crop to harvest. A soil application takes one to two months and holds a full season; it is for solving the problem. In practice usually both: foliar for this year, soil correction for next.

What time of year should I take the leaf sample?

About ninety to a hundred and twenty days after full bloom, mid-season. Element figures move through the season and every reference range is written for that window alone; an early-summer sample and a late-summer one cannot be read against the same table. If you have just sprayed, leave at least three weeks.

The analysis shows three deficiencies. Where do I start?

With the element that costs yield fastest, then the rest. But before that, check one possibility: several deficiencies at once usually share one cause — high pH, damaged roots or salinity — and correcting that cause lifts all three figures together. Buying three separate fertilisers is the most expensive way to reach the same result.

Which product should I buy?

Until a leaf analysis has named the element, none of them. After that the order is: a chelate if soil pH is above 7.5, a micronutrient if the deficiency is confirmed and the soil is ordinary, and organic matter so it does not recur next year. Chapter six lists those three groups in that order.

Can I diagnose from this page alone?

The patterns, yes, and it is enough to start. What a page cannot give you is seeing these ten patterns on real leaves at different severities — mild iron chlorosis and severe manganese chlorosis look alike on paper and not on a tree. That is exactly what the video course shows, in the orchard.

Know which element is short before you buy fertiliser

Start with the video course — or request a consultation if you want an adviser to look at your own analysis sheet and leaf photographs.

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