Common crops affected
What is it?
Calcium is an immobile nutrient that moves with water flow into new growth and depends on steady transpiration and even moisture. The plant can't relocate it from old tissue, so deficiency appears in the youngest leaves, shoot tips, and fruit. Erratic watering, high humidity, rapid growth, and root stress all disrupt calcium delivery — often more than low soil calcium itself.
How to identify it
- Brown, scorched tips and margins on new leaves (tip burn)
- Distorted, hooked, or stunted young leaves and growing points
- Disorders in fruit such as blossom-end rot
- Symptoms in the newest growth while older leaves look fine
Damage and how it spreads
Calcium shortage deforms and kills new growth, downgrades fruit (blossom-end rot, internal browning), and weakens cell walls so tissue is more prone to cracking and rot. Because delivery depends on even water and transpiration, the fix combines steady watering with readily available calcium rather than simply adding more to the soil.
How to control it
- Stabilize watering and avoid moisture swings and excess humidity that limit transpiration.
- Provide readily available calcium, including foliar where appropriate, to reach new growth.
- Support boron, which aids calcium movement and uptake.
- Avoid excess nitrogen and potassium that compete with calcium uptake.
Recommended Vegalab solution: Calcium Boost
Vegalab Calcium Boost is an advanced soluble calcium supplement that delivers readily available calcium to correct deficiency and the disorders it causes, and Cellular Boost reinforces cell integrity in fruit. Combine with even watering so calcium can move into the new growth that needs it.
| Role | Product | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Primary correction | Calcium Boost | Soluble calcium correction |
| Plant support | Cellular Boost | Cell integrity / anti-cracking |
Preventing it next season
Keep watering steady, manage humidity for healthy transpiration, balance nitrogen and potassium, and maintain available calcium through demand periods with Calcium Boost.
Claims and product availability vary by jurisdiction. Always read and follow the product label.