When a plant exhibits symptoms that could be caused by a deficiency of more than one nutrient, how would you determine the specific mineral that is deficient?
The solution is to place plants that exhibit multiple nutrient deficiencies in different sets of water cultures. The first, second, and third sets are given with three different nutrients and are grown hydroponically by supplementing one of the deficiencies. When an element is supplemented that is actually deficient, the plant will grow normally without any symptoms of deficiency.