sulfur calcium is one of the three
secondary nutrients that are needed by
plants for optimum growth other than
primary nutrients like nitrogen
phosphorus and potassium calcium is one
of the secondary nutrients that a plant
needs for healthy growth and although
calcium is needed by plants they are
needed in lesser amounts compared to the
primary nutrients that the plants need
and now let's look at some sources for
calcium that you can use in your home
garden the first option is an organic
fertilizer like the one you see here
this is a tomato vegetable and herb
fertilizer if you look at what's
contained in this fertilizer you can
clearly see that it contains calcium and
this type of calcium is a slow-release
calcium so it will be absorbed by your
plants as and when it needs it the next
source for calcium is garden lime now
garden lime should be used carefully
because it's an excellent source of
calcium but it alters the pH of the soil
so if you look at the ingredients or
what the garden lime contains you can
see a lot of types of calcium that are
there in garden lime and it can be
readily used by plants it's quick
release as well as slow release another
source for calcium is seaweed or kelp
as you can see here the calcium in
seaweed or kelp is listed differently
than the solid products because this is
mostly used as a liquid product and this
is an excellent source of calcium
because it's available to the plants
immediately and you can even use a
foliar spray to apply this and seaweed
or kelp meal is one of the better
sources of calcium because it's readily
available for the plants now you also
can use calcium nitrate which is a salt
and this is the most readily available
source of calcium
and I will shortly show you how to use
these products in your home garden now
gypsum is another source of calcium and
you can buy gypsum as garden gypsum or
large bags of gypsum and gypsum is
generally more expensive because it not
only contains calcium it also breaks
down hard clay soil and is very
effective if you're gardening in the
ground it's not so effective in
containers for breaking down compacted
soil because for containers you mostly
use container mixes now let's look at
what happens if your plants have a
calcium deficiency plants need calcium
for developing healthy leaves stems and
cell walls and a lack of calcium in your
plants will show up like these leaves
which look quite disfigured almost like
bubbling leaves and a very common
calcium deficiency can be seen in
vegetables like tomatoes and bell
peppers and this is called blossom and
rot and as you can see here the bottom
part of the fruit actually is deformed
it's almost like it is rotting and this
one of the most common reasons why
gardeners use calcium in your home
garden now let's look at how you can
apply these calcium products in your
garden beginning with calcium nitrate
which is a salt all you do is dissolve
the salt in water I use one tablespoon
in two gallons of water and this is a
very readily available source of calcium
you just have to be careful that calcium
nitrate also contains nitrogen and you
do not want to apply excess nitrogen to
a lot of your vegetables as you can see
here we are doing a foliar application
where we are drenching the plant with
this solution and as the solution goes
down and into the roots it will be
absorbed by the plant as well so I
generally do both I do a foliar
application where I am drenching the
plant the leaves and the stem so that
the calcium
can be absorbed and I'm also watering
the base of the plant now it's important
to remember that calcium is an M mobile
nutrient which means that you need to
keep reapplying calcium as and when the
plant needs it now let's look at how to
apply calcium using organic fertilizers
as you can see here we are spreading the
fertilizer on the base of the plant and
this will provide enough calcium as the
plant grows let's now look at how to use
gypsum now gypsum is available as
pellets and the best time to apply
gypsum is to apply it when you are
preparing your raised beds that way it
gets into your soil very well and then
you just mix it in or water once you are
done and for established plants you can
just sprinkle some gypsum I just eyeball
it and put it around the plant and it's
a great calcium supplement for your
plants now when you're buying gypsum you
need to make sure that you buy calcium
dihydrate which is more readily
available for your plants so I hope you
like this episode on the importance of
calcium in your home garden and with so
many sources of calcium it can get a
little confusing so if you have any
questions about calcium or how to use
them in your home garden do put them in
