CALCIUM DEFICIENCY IN PASSIFLORA-CAERULEA L

Symptoms resembling calcium deficiency of Passiflora caerulea were dis covered in a production greenhouse, where symptomatic plants were grow ing with natural and supplementary light (SON-T). Plants that were gro wn under similar conditions, but without supplementary light in anothe r greenhouse were normal. A preliminary experiment with Passiflora wit h or without calcium revealed that they can suffer from a lack of calc ium. After treatments with calcium the plants recovered completely. Fo liar applications of Ca(NO3)(2) resulted in dark green leaves and shoo ts. Analyses of the mineral composition of the leaves indicated that l eaves exhibiting the calcium deficiency symptoms suffered from mineral imbalance, shown by comparing normal leaves with leaves with presumed symptoms of calcium deficiency.