Chemical methods allowing a single soil extraction followed by multi-elemental simultaneous measurement by ICP-OES are increasingly used to predict plant uptake; however, calibration results against crop response are scarce and contradictory. Our aims were to evaluate the efficacy of five extractants to predict nutrient uptake by a greenhouse wheat crop, as well as the influence of soil properties on nutrient concentrations in soil extracts and wheat plants. Unlike other calibration studies, we monitored the pre-seeding to post-harvesting changes in soil available Ca, K, Mg, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn and Al. We extracted 14 acidic soils (C content: 47-114 g kg-1) with two traditional (AA: ammonium acetate; DTPA: diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid) and three multi-element extractants (AB-DTPA: ammonium bicarbonate-DTPA; Mehlich-3; AA-DTPA: ammonium acetate-DTPA). Relationships between bioavailable and chemically extractable elements were strong for K (R2=0.776 to R2=0.882; p<0.001) and Zn (R2=0.663 to R2=0.721; p<0.001), especially for AB-DTPA and AA-DTPA. Multiple regressions including also soil properties can predict wheat-Ca (Feoxihydroxides, clay and CaAB-DTPA; R2=0.656; p<0.001) and wheatCu [Aloxihydroxides and either CuAB-DTPA (R2=0.515; p<0.01) or CuAA-DTPA (R2=0.472; p<0.01)]. Pre-seeding to postharvesting changes in KAA-DTPA and KAB-DTPA were strongly related with K uptake by wheat (R2=0.927 and R2=0.949, respectively; p<0.001); similarly, for wheat-Zn the best relationships were with ZnMehlich-3 and ZnAA-DTPA (R2=0.654 and R2=0.757, respectively; p<0.001). Consequently, chemical extractants alone can adequately predict K and Zn bioavailability, and combined with some soil properties can predict wheat uptake of Ca and Cu, but not that of other nutrients.