Plants need at least thirteen elements obtained from the soil, for proper growth, in addition to carbon, hydrogen and oxygen which are obtained from air and water.
Plants generally grow normally until they run out of one nutrient, which then limits growth.
Deficiency or excess of nutrients often causes discoloured or deformed growth, which may be characteristic of that particular element, although there is a considerable overlap of symptoms. Most plants will grow better in the long term if additional nutrients are provided by application of fertilisers. Gross excess of some nutrients can induce deficiency of others. The moral is therefore to use balanced mixtures of nutrients in fertilisers, rather than applying a large amount of one element. Other fertilisers explicitly list their trace element content.