Epsom salt

rainey

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How much is too much? What can benefit from it?

I've got an inflamed hamstring and I'm soaking it a few times a day in an epsom salt soak. I've emptied the pot onto some of my roses. I've got a few more before they've all had a dose. But I'm going to be dumping this stuff for days.

What besides roses could benefit from it? How would I know I've overdone it?

Thanks in advance.
 

so lucky

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Tomatoes and peppers benefit from Epsom salt. You might want to dump the water in the garden where you'll be planting these plants. But it is cheap, and I don't know if it would still be active in the soil by the time you set out plants. So I wouldn't just depend on that amount.
I use "a handful" in each hole for each plant. My handful is probably about a quarter of a cup.
 

digitS'

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I posted a little on TEG about chlorophyll a few years ago: LINK

Chlorophyll, of course, is critically important for green plants. The magnesium in Epsom salts is, apparently, the magnesium in chlorophyll. However, a chlorophyll molecule requires lots of nitrogen, etc. but only 1 atom of magnesium. Probably, it would be easy to supply too much to plants but at what point would the Epsom salts be harmful to plants: that's the question.

In that linked post, I mention applying too much Epsom salts to some of my garden plants. It was to part of a bed so I was able to compare treated plants to untreated. I'm reluctant to tell you why I did this. I didn't really suspect that my soil was deficient in magnesium. Instead, I fell for what was probably a fake story on rabbits being deterred by Epsom salts. Since I knew that plants in "some soils" were benefited by Epsom salts, I decided to give it a try.

This had to be ... I'd guess about 1994. It must have been my first year in a new garden where I didn't even quite know what I was up against. It wasn't rabbits - which I doubt would be deterred by the salts. No, it was marmots. I'm a little surprised that I didn't know this right off since those varmints were there in such good supply and were a primary reason I quit gardening there after 6 years of experience.

Anyway, the plants I was growing were chicory, of all things ;). I started them and set them out hoping they would develop strong roots that would grow the Witloof chicory I'd read about being grown from roots in storage during the winter. It worked but the problem was that I didn't like Witloof chicory! Similar to radicchio - too bitter!

Results of too much >>
Worked but I would have had larger stronger roots if I hadn't mixed and poured the Epsom salts on them (and if the marmots had left them alone). Someone on TEG suggested that I may have bumped up the pH of the soil too much with the salt. That might have been the problem. << Results of too much

Personally, I'd think a soil test would be a good idea and I bet that well-watered lawngrass would be a safe choice for yours-truly if his Epsom salts bathwater didn't just disappear down the bathtub drain.

Steve :)
 
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Beekissed

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I use them each year and see great results from them....leaves darken up, foliage gets more lush, growth seems to accelerate when I use the epsom salts on maters and peppers. I've even used them on taters.

They say it makes for a great foliage spray too.
 

Ridgerunner

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Epsom salts contain nutrients plants need but like any nutrients for you, animals, or plants is they get too far out of balance too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing. Plants use chemistry to absorb nutrients, that's why pH is important. But if you get a soils report you should also get a CEC value. That's a value that tells someone like Monty that knows about it better than me how readily the plant can absorb nutrients. If certain chemicals are out of balance it can mess up how plants absorb nutrients.

If it were me I'd spread it out quite a bit where you will eventually plant stuff. I think tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers can really benefit (I usually put a tablespoon of epsom salts in the hole when i plant these and mix it up well) but most other things probably can too. If you do it now well before you are ready to plant it should break down in a usable chemical form in the soil plus when you mix it before you plant you spread it out more. I'd think flowering bushes and such could probably benefit as long as you don't overdo it. I spread a little on my iris beds along with some wood ash, it seems to help. Or dump it into your compost pile. If you are like me it will get mixed up really well when you harvest the compost.

That is some good stuff. I would not pour it down the drain and get it into the water supply. Use it but think moderation. Spread it out, even if it is just on your lawn.
 

digitS'

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harvest the compost.
Yeah! (& Where is that @MontyJ ?)

This area is arid but we have this tremendous aquifer zipping along through glacial till. That's gravel, ripped out of a number of mountains. It's microscopic bits of minerals. On top, it's our soil.

Not for horticultural purposes but I used to regularly take pH readings of well water. It was a little disconcerting to see the numbers advance from about 7.4 to above 8 in late summer.

Imagine growing with those numbers. Well, it's not bad but I couldn't get away with applying wood ashes. Tried it.

Steve
 

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