Over the past 20 years, the number of species grown in commercial floriculture greenhouses has greatly expanded. Data of sufficiency ranges for plant nutrients have not been investigated and this void makes diagnosing nutritional disorders difficult.
The objective of a new research project was to develop baseline sufficiency ranges for plant tissue analysis. Fifty-eight species were grown in a soilless substrate composed of (by vol.) 80% peat and 20% perlite and irrigated with a water-soluble fertilizer at 150 or 250 mg L-1 N. Leaf tissue was sampled during vegetative and/or reproductive growth phases. An additional 16 samples were collected from commercial greenhouses and represent a survey range of nutrients for these species.
Leaf tissue nutrient values for these 74 species are presented to provide the floriculture industry with a baseline sufficiency range when diagnosing nutritional disorders.