Calcium—it’s essential to recognize the significant impact of calcium deficiency on agricultural yields. Here, we’ll explore the effects of calcium deficiency on various crops, identify common signs of deficiency, discuss proactive measures to prevent deficiencies, and outline strategies to remedy it when it occurs.
What is a calcium deficiency?
A calcium deficiency means there is insufficient calcium in the soil or inadequate uptake by plants. This deficiency can often lead to physiological impairments, like cell deterioration, tissue collapse, and reduced nutrient uptake, which can impact plant vigor and disease resistance. Calcium deficiency usually results in reduced crop quality.
Why is calcium so important for crops?
Calcium is essential for plant cell division, strengthening cell walls, and improving nutrient absorption, contributing to overall plant growth and health. Calcium might be considered a secondary macronutrient, but it’s essential for the overall productivity of crops! It influences various physiological processes critical for plant performance (like cell wall structure and nutrient transport) and improves crop resilience in agricultural ecosystems. Secondary macronutrients, like calcium, also work in synergy with phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen, so ensuring a balanced supply of nutrients is good for managing calcium deficiency and optimizing nutrient efficiency.
What are the common signs and symptoms of calcium deficiency?
Calcium deficiency shows up in different ways but commonly can lead to various symptoms such as:
- Leaf Tip Burn: Necrosis or browning of leaf tips, often progressing inward along leaf margins.
- Leaf Curling: Upward or inward curling of young leaves, accompanied by distortion or stunted growth.
- Blossom End Rot: Sunken, darkened lesions on the blossom end of fruits, such as tomatoes, peppers, and watermelons.
- Fruit Cracking: Cracks or fissures on the surface of fruits, particularly in tomatoes, apples, and peppers.
- Stunted Root Growth & Tip Necrosis: Reduced root development, browning, or blackening of root tips, indicating impaired root function and poor nutrient absorption.
- Weak Stems: Weak, brittle stems prone to lodging or breaking, particularly in cereals like wheat and corn.
How does calcium deficiency impact yield?
Calcium deficiency in crops can lead to a higher risk of disease, decreased ability to handle stress, and a lower quality of crops. These crops may also become more sensitive to environmental stressors such as drought, heat, and salinity. It is essential to address calcium deficiency through proper soil management and fertilization practices. Not only will it help to optimize crop performance, it will also ensure sustainable agricultural production.
How does calcium affect specific crops?
Crop-Specific Effects of Calcium Deficiency:
- Increased risk of internal rust spot (internal browning) and hollow heart.
- Reduced tuber quality and marketability.
- Increased risk of tuber disorders and lack of structural integrity
- Higher incidence of bitter pit and cork spot.
- Decreased fruit quality and shelf life.
Soybeans:
- Greater susceptibility to diseases like soybean cyst nematode and sudden death syndrome.
- Decreased seed quality and oil content.
Corn:
- Increased likelihood of blossom end rot.
- Reduced kernel development and grain quality.
How can growers avoid calcium deficiency?
- Regular soil testing and analysis should be conducted to assess calcium levels and pH.
- Incorporate calcium-rich soil amendments, like Polysulphate® that provides a sustained release of calcium that matches crop uptake.
- Take a balanced approach to fertilization practices and incorporate calcium applications into soil and foliar applications to adjust to crops’ needs and environmental conditions.
- Implement crop rotation, diversification, and precision agriculture technologies.
- Manage water and organic matter effectively to enhance soil calcium availability.
Remedies for Calcium Deficiency:
- Calcium-containing fertilizers, such as Polysulphate, can be applied.
- Standard practices include adding gypsum or lime to raise soil calcium levels and adjust pH. However, using gradual-release multi-nutrients like Polysulphate or addressing pH and calcium levels with an acidifying fertigation and pH management solution like Nova® PeKacid can often yield optimal results with a better economic and environmental return.
- Address underlying soil factors affecting calcium availability, such as compaction or excessive leaching.
Why is Polysulphate (polyhalite) an excellent source of calcium?
- Polysulphate contains 12.2% soluble calcium sulfate, making it a valuable source of calcium for plants.
- Polysulphate provides a gradual release of calcium, maintaining essential soil reserves and balancing cation exchange capacity, which is particularly beneficial for acidic soils.
- Calcium from Polysulphate helps alleviate aluminum toxicity symptoms and counteracts challenges like sodium, aluminum, and bicarbonate in soil, promoting soil health and fertility.
How does managing pH help with calcium?
Soil pH directly affects the availability and uptake of calcium by plants!
- Optimal soil pH (typically between 6.0 and 7.5) maximizes calcium availability to plants.
- Maintaining proper pH improves soil structure, aiding root growth and nutrient uptake, including calcium.
- Soil pH management ensures calcium remains soluble and accessible to plant roots, preventing deficiencies in actively growing tissues.
- Adjusting pH to neutral levels helps alleviate aluminum toxicity, allowing calcium to compete for soil binding sites.
- Balanced pH promotes optimal nutrient uptake, prevents calcium absorption from being hindered by other ions, and supports healthy plant growth.
- Water quality, influenced by factors such as bicarbonate levels and pH, directly affects the availability of critical nutrients like phosphorus, calcium, and micronutrients in crop fertigation, impacting overall crop health and productivity.
Regular soil and crop health monitoring and targeted fertilization practices are crucial in maintaining adequate calcium levels and sustaining profitable crop production. Our agronomists and team of product experts are here to help.
3 Brands found

The groundbreaking total range of water-soluble straight and liquid fertilizers
You need pure, clean fertilizers to grow your crops safely. Nova provides the solution. The Nova line of water-soluble straight and liquid fertilizers offers a comprehensive portfolio of unique, highly soluble fertilizers specially selected for fertigation and foliar application. Offering growers a superior selection of single-source fertilizers essential to healthy and productive crop growth, at every stage, Nova fertilizers are a highly efficient, fast-dissolving, and 100% water-soluble source of essential NPK plant nutrients. Select Nova formulations are also available in concentrated liquid form for added flexibility and versatility! Derived from an unrivalled quality source, you can mix it with other straight or compound fertilizers, such as Agrolution, for maximum performance. Available as safe powder-blend fertilizers, and now in concentrated liquid form, precise formulations effectively deliver the nutrients required for optimum growth, yield, and quality. Highly pure, fully chelated, and fully soluble, nutrients quickly dissolve with no risk of clogging irrigation systems and are easily and safely blended, stored, and handled.
View Brand
The power of Polysulphate with a boost of phosphorus and potassium for season-long nutrition
ICL PKpluS: Your Complete 5-in-1 Fertilizer Solution for High-Performance Crop Nutrition ICL PKpluS is a premium line of PK fertilizers plus Polysulphate, designed to provide a single solution for granular crop nutrition. PKpluS delivers five essential nutrients—phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, magnesium, and calcium— all in one convenient application. This advanced fertilizer formulation ensures a steady, controlled release of nutrients over an extended period, optimizing nutrient delivery throughout the growing season for a wide range of crops. By applying ICL PKpluS, farmers can efficiently supply key nutrients such as phosphorus and potassium, along with sulfur, magnesium, and calcium, in a single product. This streamlined approach reduces the need for multiple applications, saving both time and effort.
View Brand
The four-in-one natural fertilizer
What is Polysulphate (polyhalite)? Made by nature, mined by ICL. Polysulphate® is a naturally occurring mineral fertilizer, polyhalite, mined exclusively by ICL. Available as a granule, sphere, or powder, it is soluble, plant-available, and easy to blend and spread, making it a cost-effective sulfur solution. Deposited in the earth 260 million years ago, each Polysulphate granule naturally contains Sulfur, Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium – four of the six essential macro-nutrients required for optimal plant growth. Since 2010, hundreds of field trials have been conducted worldwide demonstrating Polysulphate’s efficacy in improving both crop yield and quality. Why is Polysulphate more effective than other forms of sulfur? Polysulphate—a better source of Sulfur As a naturally occurring sulfate-based multi-nutrient, polyhalite, Polysulphate requires no chemical separation or industrial processing, delivering high agronomic value for low environmental impact. Providing a season-long source of plant-available nutrients, Polysulphate’s gradual release pattern safely meets peak plant demand and improves nutrient use efficiency while reducing risks of leaching. It is proven to produce a healthier and more productive crop across a wide variety of soil types. Low-chloride, low salt index, neutral pH and no liming effect make it a safe choice even for sensitive crops. Natural, certified-organic, low carbon footprint. Polysulphate is a natural product with a low carbon footprint, licensed for use in organic farming systems. Polysulphate sets the standard in environmental sustainability among fertilizers, with Polysulphate Standard, and Granular having the the lowest carbon footprint (compared to similar products) of just 0.029 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of product. Polysulphate is suitable for organic farming systems and is approved for organic use by several certification agencies around the world, including Ecocert, Ceres, and OMRI.
View Brand4 Products found
5 Resources found
Contact our experts
Our specialists are available to advise you on best practices and solutions to address issues you may be facing in the field. Whether it's crops, fertilizer solutions, or agronomy, we are ready to collaborate with growers to develop best-in-class methodologies and solutions. Contact ICL Growing Solutions today.
"*" Indicates required fields


