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Copper shortage: empty heads, bleached leaf tips

A trace. Doubling it hurts.

Nutrient shortage
Speed
  1. Leaf tips bleach and curl; ears set poorly.
  2. New leaves go first.
  3. Drought wilts at noon on dry soil; copper shortage does not need dry soil.
  4. Spray injury has a spray date and comes fast.
  5. Don’t treat every blank ear as a disease; copper’s toxic window is not wide either.
  6. Foliar copper (after copper is confirmed): Labelled lower rate once. A small patch first. High-organic-matter soil must be tested
  7. Name what you see before you feed.
  8. If leaves, roots and the surface disagree, stop.

What you see in the field

Leaf tips bleach and curl; ears set poorly. New leaves go first.First the leaf position: new or old, even yellow or between the veins. If that does not match, do not fertilise yet. Pull one plant and read whether the roots are white, brown or foul.

A sketch. Do not fertilise from the picture alone.

Tap to enlarge. The caption says what to photograph. Missing field photos are marked as to-be-added.

Why it looks like this

The field looks like this because the root cannot take water or nutrients the usual way. Fix the soil condition first — drainage, salt, acidity, compaction or a salt of fertiliser — then a thin feed. Rates live in the range on this page; confirm with a local station and the label.

Easy to mix up

  • Looks like “Drought empty heads”

    Drought wilts at noon on dry soil; copper shortage does not need dry soil.

  • Looks like “Spray-injury white tips”

    Spray injury has a spray date and comes fast.

Do this / don’t do that

  1. 1Leaf tips bleach and curl; ears set poorly. New leaves go first. Compare the worst plants with a neighbour ridge before you add a bag, or the next step will chase the wrong thing.
  2. 2Test copper. Foliar at the label floor, small patch. Don’t dump it on the soil. Clear water, salt, a hard pan or a fertiliser band first, so the feed can enter.
  3. 3Don’t treat every blank ear as a disease. Use the range on this page only as a range. Confirm with a local station and the product label.

Don’t do this first

  • Don’t treat every blank ear as a disease; copper’s toxic window is not wide either.

Rate range

Foliar copper (after copper is confirmed)

Labelled lower rate once. A small patch first

High-organic-matter soil must be tested.

These are ranges. Confirm with your local extension station and the product label.

Available copper

Empty heads plus white tips

Peat soils often run low.

Organic matter

Too high knocks copper down

Read it with copper.

When you see Leaf tips bleach and curl; ears set poorly. New leaves go first, test. Mix several spots of the tilled layer; skip the edge and the manure heap.

Lesson video

2026-03-07 · Li Zeyu · For learning. Serious damage: local agronomist or a soil test.

For learning only. Fertiliser and pesticide decisions need a local agronomist and a soil test.

Not sure? Photograph the field to identify the problem