DoubleDogFarm
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Epsom Salt

Googled some information.
Gardeners have been using Epsom salts as a plant fertilizer for generations, but is there any evidence there's a real benefit to the plants? There is little research to prove conclusively that Epsom salts have any effect on plants, but many seasoned gardeners cite their own gardens as proof that Epsom salts help certain plants grow stronger and produce better
and
Epsom salts contain hydrated magnesium sulfate, two elements crucial to plant growth.
•Sulfur (13%) is crucial to the inner workings of plants, but it is almost never lacking in the soil, thanks in part to synthetic fertilizers and acid rain.

•Magnesium (10%) can become scarce in soil, usually because of erosion or depletion of the top soil or a pH imbalance. Some plants, like lettuce and spinach, don't mind going without magnesium. Others may exhibit symptoms like leaf curling, stunted growth, that could be attributed to more than one cause. Magnesium deficiency has even been blamed as a cause for biter tomatoes.
and
Tomatoes and peppers may show signs of magnesium deficiency late in the season, when their leaves begin to yellow between the leaf veins and fruit production decreases. Whether you will get more and/or larger fruits will depend on many things in addition to using Epsom salts, but using them does seem to have some benefit.

Either mix in 1 T. of Epsom salts into the soil at the bottom of the planting hole when setting out transplants or mix the 1 T. in a gallon of water and water the seedling.

Follow-up with a foliar spray of 1T. per gallon of water when the plants start to flower and again when the young fruits start to form. Try it on a few plants and see if you can tell the difference as the season goes along.
Have you used Epsom Salt? What are your conclusions?

Eric

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rainbowgardener
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There's an epsom salts thread in the Tomato forum here:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4239&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

It has lots of different opinions....

Most organic gardeners do not use epsom salts. They are a salt (chemically- not sodium, not table salt, but they are a salt -- technically , salts are ionic compounds which can result from the neutralization reaction of acids.)

"Epsom Salts' (technically Magnesium Sulfate, or MgSO4) is one of just a few water-soluble Sulfate minerals, and it is a soluble salt -- a salt that dissolves in water. ALL chemical fertilizers are also 'soluble salts'. When Ammonium, Potassium, Chloride or Nitrate dissolve in water, they are soluble salts. A little will fertilize the plants. Too much will damage and sometimes destroy a plant. That can happen quickly --or it can take time and build up slowly. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR USE OF EPSOM SALTS AND THE USE OF A CHEMICAL FERTILIZER LIKE MIRACLE GRO. Because ALL chemical fertilizers ARE SALTS. Salts KILL microbes in your soil. I love my microbes. I love my soil foodweb. I love all the beneficials down in the dirt. One teaspoon of healthy soil holds MILLIONS of friendly microscopic organisms. If salt hurts my microbes, it's got to go." from https://en.allexperts.com/q/Fertilizer-717/EPSOM-SALT-HYDRANGEAS.htm

TZ -OH6
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I find the first statement about "little research" very hard to believe based on how much detail is known about magnesium in plant cell physiology. Epsoms salt was probably the magnesium source in most of the experiments from which that information originates.


You can look at any site that has pictures of nutrient deficiencies to see the marked effects of magnesium. And Yes, I have greened up sickly container plants by giving them epsom's salts. It also helps with cold tolerance of winter greenhouse grown plants.

DoubleDogFarm
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Thanks Rainbow.

That was an interesting post.

When it is recommended to be used with Miracle Grow and pushed by Jerry Baker, I'm out!
I too have used the Epsom Salts Trick on some of my garden plants, in the days when I experimented all over the place. Epsom Salts seemed to be a great, cheap source of Magnesium. Jerry Baker recommended it, I read about it a few other places, and it was a novel idea at the time.
Eric

lily51
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My geraniums in the greenhouse started having problems with leaves turning red and the plants going downhill. :? We had a water sample tested..the Ca:Mg ratio is off in our well water, which could contribute to it.
I tried all sorts of references, advice,forums, a master gardener with no help.
Did get a reply for Ohio State hort. department, but no one was really sure what the deal was.
My husband found a site online that suggested an Epsom salt solution for a mineral deficiency, so I calculated the amount needed and dipped the pots in in it. Voila! the plants improved and were beautiful by planting time. :D
One variety had a continuous bloom of 15-20 blooms per plant all summer!

I wouldn't make a carte blanche recommendation, but it worked for that situation.

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jal_ut
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"Have you used Epsom Salt? What are your conclusions? "

I have never used it.

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rainbowgardener
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jal_ut wrote:"Have you used Epsom Salt? What are your conclusions? "

I have never used it.
which should tell you something, as jal has the most amazingly productive gardens in his short season climate!

DoubleDogFarm
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Maybe his garden would go to 11.


Eric

garden5
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I've heard of the Epsom salts and miracle grow, but I've never tried it and, for the reasons stated by others, don't have plans on doing it anytime soon.

Well, OK, perhaps if the plant is showing clear signs of magnesium deficiency, but I think even then there may be more microbial-friendly ways of clearing up the situation.



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