Epsom Salt in the Garden?

[Jewell]

I was reusing potting soil for my potted runner beans. Epson salt cured the yellowing leaves that were a problem early in the season. Have had to reapply in one pot, and all plants are tall, beautifully green and flowering like crazy. Am also using it for my clematis that are in the ground. It was suggested for the the yellowing leaves at the base of the plants. Don't know how it works, but seems to have made for some great looking plants. Some where I had read that you might have to reapply up to three times during the growing season. Definitely keeping the ES on hand.

 

[Tiara Murphy]

I had no idea about this! I definitely need to incorporate that next year and see if that helps with my tomatoes. They're less than desirable in general this year.

 

[Chuck]

How do you know if you need this or not? My vegetable garden doesn't have any plants with yellow leaves, but I live in Alabama so don't know if es is needed in this area.

If you have blossom end rot on anything you need it

 

[InvasiveCreeper]

Chuck:

Epsom salts are an important part of organic gardening. ...

Revolving Toast:

I've used epsom salts for my tomato plants. ...

Chuck, Revolving Toast,

What brand of epsom salt do you purchase? Is it from England? Who is the manufacturer? Is there a real, natural Epsom salt product still on the market today? Is this the natural mineral, from the springs of Epsom England, or are these the synthetic manufactured ones pawned off at "health" food stores and made in China (which is said to be high in heavy metals and arsenic)?

I appreciate finding where to buy true epsom salt, so thank you in advance.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

The epsom salt I use is made in the USA, I buy mine a the Family dollar store and have been for the last 10 years, I use it for all my roses and in my veggie garden., its also good for your lawn. If you can still find it from England it might cost a whole heck of a lot more than the one from the USA. FYI its the same stuff that lowes has that is marked Garden Epsom salt but at half the price.

 

[Corzhens]

This is the first time I've heard of Epsom salt for fertilizer. From what I know, epsom salt is expensive compared to ordinary rock salt. And using it as fertilizer does not sound practical to me. We have a compost bin and the compost it produces is the best fertilzer in town, what makes it best is the fact that it is free. But I guess that garden Epsom looks good enough.

 

[Chuck]

Chuck:


Revolving Toast:


Chuck, Revolving Toast,

What brand of epsom salt do you purchase? Is it from England? Who is the manufacturer? Is there a real, natural Epsom salt product still on the market today? Is this the natural mineral, from the springs of Epsom England, or are these the synthetic manufactured ones pawned off at "health" food stores and made in China (which is said to be high in heavy metals and arsenic)?

I appreciate finding where to buy true epsom salt, so thank you in advance.

I use Monterey brand. It is OMRI rated. Most if not all ES is produced in Canada by PQ Corp. It is not mined per se. It is made by a process whereby magnesium and sulfur are turned into a liquid and then crystalized. I don't know for sure if the mine in England is still in production. At one time there was a ES mine in Death Valley but no longer.

 

[InvasiveCreeper]

Thanks for the information Fernsdaddy.

Chuck, the Monterey brand sounds interesting. It sounds as if it is synthetic though, if it's not mined, or at the very least highly processed by the way you described it.

If it was a product that met organic standards produced from the springs of Epsom England, it might be worth adding a touch of it from time to time. Magnesium can be found other places. I might just stick with the greensand and kelp, those brands that meet the requirements for organic gardening.

 

[Mamasan]

Thanks for the article, Pat--it is so good to get a full scoop on ES in the garden...nice find

Here it is again in case you've missed it:
http://www.saltworks.us/gardening-with-epsom-salt.asp#houseplants

 

[headfullofbees]

Epsom salts is great if you like to grow strong onions.
Shop-bought onions here are insipid, so I grow enough for the year, and Epsom salts when the bulbs start swelling gives them the sulphur that makes them pungent.

 

[Buggs81]

I use Epsom Salts mixed with vinegar to kill unwanted weeds, but I have never heard of using them as a fertilizer. I had no idea, and since I use them to kill weeds I would have never thought to put them on a plant that I want to live.

 

[IcyBC]

I use Epsom salt to soak but haven't used it in the garden, although I have seen/read that other people used it in their garden. I have plenty of Epsom salt on hands, so this summer I will have to test it out.

 

[Daren]

Thought I'd Bump this Thread As I'm Interested To know if anyone else on this forum has been Playing With Epson Salts In there Garden. I've Never Used it as yet as a Garden Aid, But Plan to try it out on a few garden tasks this year. there seems to be a lot of support for its place in the Garden not just in the Bath & anyway a good thread needs a bump from time to time

 

[Chuck]

Last year I did a side by side test. The tomato plants with ES did not show any signs of blossom end rot. The plants without ES, 10 out of 13 plants had BER. Also the plants with ES were quite a bit greener but I saw no difference in the amount of foliage nor in the size of the plants.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Ok, I am off today and while working on the soffits of the house I have managed to enjoy a few good German beers, so I am not going to delve into the prior posts, I am just here to say this one thing, an observation really, and it may even be beersophical in its nature.

In our local clay, which is an ultisol, of the humid variety they sub classify, the leaching is so bad that magnesium and sulphur seem to act as magic agents. But having dealt with my soil for a decade longer than I would care to admit, I want to point out that it is the sulfur that has the major effect, inasmuch as it impacts the EC of the soil and drops the ph accordingly. Canada sells us a great deal of Sulphur as a fertilizer, and I am sure the EC electrical effect is one of the major reasons as to why.