Chemical Elements related to gardening

This page provides a list of just some of the chemical elements that are related to gardening.

• Boron - Used by by plants in the process of sugar translocation.
• Calcium - Used by plants in the structure of cell walls and membranes
• Carbon - The main ingredients of organic compounds.
• Chlorine - Some gardens are lucky enough to have swimming pools and spas in them, chlorine disinfects the water. It's importance within plants is still unclear.
• Copper - Used in the plants respiration sytem and forms part of certain emzymes.
• Hydrogen - Contained in water and used by plants to make organic compounds
• Iron - Used by plants in the nitrogen fixation process.
• Magnesium - The chlorophyll molecule has a it's centre an atom of magnesium in a porphyrin ring, thus plants require it or else the photosynthesis process cannot take place.
• Manganese - Used by plants in the photosynthesis process.
• Molybdenum - This element is used in the formation of an enzyme called nitrate reductase that reduces down nitrates.
• Nickel - Used to break down Urea into ammonium and carbon dioxide within the plant especially in legumes
• Nitrogen - Used by plants to make amino acids and proteins, obtained  primarlily by the root system that takes up compounds absorbed in water.
• Oxygen - Obtained by plants from the air either in pure form or more commonly from carbon dioxide and from water. Plants release oxygen back into the atmoshere. Used in making organic compounds
• Phosphorus - Used by plants to produce enzymes and it promoting root growth. The plant takes in phosphorus via the root system.
• Potassium - Plants use compounds of potassium to promote resistance and to assist in fruit setting
• Silicon - used by plants in the energy transfer process
• Sodium - Is used in some plants to replace the funxtion of potassium
• Sulphur or Sulfur is used in building plant proteins but is also inmportant as a fungicide too. Amino acids, methione, cysteine and cystine all contain sulphur.
• Vanadium - Used in green algae but no clear evidence of being essential in higher plants
• Zinc - used in the plants enzymes that produce growth hormones and starch