Native plants are increasingly being grown in Western Australia to produce flowers for export and the nutritional requirement of some of these species is not known. The nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium requirements for optimum growth of seedlings of one such species, Ptilotus exaltatus Nees., were measured in the glasshouse experiment reported here. There was a significant (P<0.05) growth response to nitrogen fertilisers over the range 20–80 mg N/kg soil. At all amounts of phosphorus and potassium, except for the nil-phosphorus treatments, the largest amount of applied nitrogen (80 mg N/kg soil) gave the maximum dry weight of shoots. The dry weight of shoots increased with the addition of phosphorus fertiliser up to 40 mg P/kg soil, particularly with 60 mg potassium and 80 mg N/kg soil. The addition of 160 mg P/kg soil and 120 mg K/kg soil depressed shoot growth at 80 mg N/kg soil. Potassium fertiliser increased plant growth at amounts up to about 60 mg K/kg soil. At the seedling stage of growth, critical concentration in shoots for deficiency was about 1.5% for potassium, and 0.9% for phosphorus. Adequate concentrations in shoots were about 1.7–2.7% for potassium, and 1.0–1.6% for phosphorus.

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Summary. Native plants are increasingly grown in Western Australia to produce flowers for export. The nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) requirements for optimum production of one of these species, Geleznowia verrucosa (Yellow Bells), was measured for 17-week-old seedlings in a glasshouse experiment reported here. There was a significant (P<0.05) growth response to all levels of N fertilisers. At all levels of P and K, except for the nil K treatments, the lowest level of applied N (20 mg N/kg soil) gave the maximum dry weight of shoots. The dry weight of shoots increased with the addition of P fertiliser to the highest level (160 mg P/kg soil), particularly for the lower levels of applied K (0 and 30 mg/kg soil) and the lowest level of applied N (20 mg/kg soil). Combinations of high levels of P (P160) and N (N80) fertiliser severely depressed shoot growth. When applied at greater than 30 mg K/kg soil, K fertiliser depressed plant growth at all levels of N and P when compared with the lower levels of applied K. At the seedling stage of growth, critical concentrations for deficiency of both N and K were 1.3% in shoots. The critical concentrations for toxicity in whole shoots of Yellow Bells appeared to be about 1.7% for N and about 2.2% for K. Adequate concentrations of N were 1.4–1.5%, while 1.7% K appeared adequate for growth of Yellow Bell shoots.

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