Epsom Salts

August44

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I'm sure I'm not the only one who has come across this as a cure for ailing plants. 4 TLB per gallon and mist and drench. Neighbor lady who is a pretty good gardener told me this...swears by it! She says it gives the plant a shot of magnesium which helps it get going. Have I been mislead again? :D
 
The lore lives on!!

Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate.
Mg is essential for making various chlorophylls, but Mg deficiency is very rare simply because it is in everything, the soil, fertilizer, ...

In gardening/landscaping/agricultural terms, high Mg makes a 'tight clay' soil (gooey, suffocating stuff). When this happens, calcium/gypsum is added to 'loosen' it.
 
I live in the coastal south east, soil here is all ancient beach sand down to bedrock in some instances. Water drains very quickly and washes nutrients thru the soil very quickly. Water is very iron laden, plants frequently suffer chlorosis as magnesium is missing in proper proportions for the plants to effective use the other minerals. So the application of the salts helps balance this out. It’s been a life saver on field growing trees.
 
I use it to keep my chemicals and seeds dry.
If you bake epsom salts in the oven, the stuff becomes a dry cake that'll act as a dessiccant. Great for seed storage, keeping anhydrous chemicals, and it's non-toxic.
 
Use it professionally occasionally for “prescription soil treatments” on clients trees on their properties.

it can be used to retain a vibrant blue on trees like blue spruce and atlas cedars.
 
Use it professionally occasionally for “prescription soil treatments” on clients trees on their properties.

it can be used to retain a vibrant blue on trees like blue spruce and atlas cedars.

Does it help retain the blue on all things blue? I have a coast redwood "filoli" that is a blue cultivar. I might have to try some. I'm growing in a mix of napa and coconut coif. Trees can probably use the trace minerals anyway.
 
I use magnesium sulfate, Epsom salts, once every 2 to 3 months. More frequent if I see chlorosis, less if everything is vibrant green and conifers blue. My standard dose is 1 tablespoon (15 ml) per gallon, rather than 4 tablespoons per gallon your neighbor uses. The magnesium is essential to make chlorophyll, and the sulfur of the sulfate ion is itself an essential macro nutrient, needed at about 20% the rate of nitrogen consumption. Sulfur is pretty abundant in the environment. One common source is air pollution, significant amounts of sulfur in various oxidation states is flushed out of the air and into our bonsai pots by rain. The dirtier your air, the less you need to worry about sulfur in your fertilizer program. Peter, you are in the "wide open spaces" where the air is clean(ish). So it is good to keep sulfur in mind as a part of your fertilizer program. Epsom salts is just as good at delivering sulfur as it is at delivering magnesium, so a good "two-fer" fertilizer nutrient.
 
There is some new info on using vitamin B with the magnesium sulfate carrier ...makes much more ATP.
Seems calcium,magnesium and potassium are interelated in terms of too much or too little.
Potassium is awesome during heavy growth like buddind,intense candle growth of pines or veg in trees,or intense lights or lots of co2 fertilization.
Though mag deficiency may be rare outside, indoor gardens show this alot with the lights,long days,co2 and such.
Too much potassium actually shows up as magnesium and calcium deficiency....no reason not to use it though...potassium is the bomb.
Deficiency is corrected in a few days.


 
I use magnesium sulfate, Epsom salts, once every 2 to 3 months. More frequent if I see chlorosis, less if everything is vibrant green and conifers blue. My standard dose is 1 tablespoon (15 ml) per gallon, rather than 4 tablespoons per gallon your neighbor uses. The magnesium is essential to make chlorophyll, and the sulfur of the sulfate ion is itself an essential macro nutrient, needed at about 20% the rate of nitrogen consumption. Sulfur is pretty abundant in the environment. One common source is air pollution, significant amounts of sulfur in various oxidation states is flushed out of the air and into our bonsai pots by rain. The dirtier your air, the less you need to worry about sulfur in your fertilizer program. Peter, you are in the "wide open spaces" where the air is clean(ish). So it is good to keep sulfur in mind as a part of your fertilizer program. Epsom salts is just as good at delivering sulfur as it is at delivering magnesium, so a good "two-fer" fertilizer nutrient.
Stuff like sulpher is paramount with indoor gardening....sulpher of potassium ,magnesium....and what else?.......always go for the sulphate versions of mineral.......makes more brix.
This stuff has a reputation....extreme sulpher oder....so sulpher it actually differentiates from anything else really...I do not mind it .
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Am I the only one hungry here for pan fried cabbage in butter w/ salt and pepper?
Lol😃View attachment 326037

That actually looks pretty good! I don't think I've ever made cabbage that way but will have to give it a try. We're planning on trying some home-made kraut as soon as I can get a good cabbage.

This whole issue of plant nutrient deficiencies is so complicated. I've had trees with leaf symptoms and trying to match them up to a specific nutrient is often almost impossible as lots of symptoms overlap. That is something they were discussing during the Mirai podcast on the compost tea, the idea that to really know what is wrong requires testing the plant material or a significant amount of soil (or both). And as you noted earlier, if you add too much of one item you can potentially lock up others.

The more I learn about this, the more I'm amazed that people can keep trees in these small pots with inorganic "soils" at all, much less for decades or even hundreds of years.
 
That actually looks pretty good! I don't think I've ever made cabbage that way but will have to give it a try. We're planning on trying some home-made kraut as soon as I can get a good cabbage.

This whole issue of plant nutrient deficiencies is so complicated. I've had trees with leaf symptoms and trying to match them up to a specific nutrient is often almost impossible as lots of symptoms overlap. That is something they were discussing during the Mirai podcast on the compost tea, the idea that to really know what is wrong requires testing the plant material or a significant amount of soil (or both). And as you noted earlier, if you add too much of one item you can potentially lock up others.

The more I learn about this, the more I'm amazed that people can keep trees in these small pots with inorganic "soils" at all, much less for decades or even hundreds of years.
Hydroponics is quite easy to see deficiency.....The spoon feeding method of adding certian elements when needed.I recently paid for a class on hydroponics....very similiar to bonsai media outdoors.......if salts are used these deficiencies can be identified and rectified very quickly...I am still learning .

The only other problem really is unwanted funguses that affect roots.......the molds and mildews on the other hand can be controled nearly 100% with high brix/calcium plants indoors anyway.....not always though.
I am employing these methods outdoors as of 11 days ago when I brought a pine and some leafy deciduous with the Dutch natural fungicide techniques outside......see how it goes.
High brix plants.....lots of calcium pectate in the leaf cell......apparently the spores of various molds cannot get their tuber into the cells quick enough....then they die.....whereas a watery leaf is no problem for mold/fungus spores to get their tuber into leaf cells to grow.
 
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@cmeg1 - funny, I just bought a beautiful small cabbage from a farm stand. I was debating how to prepare it. You gave me a great suggestion. SImple, just butter, cabbage and season with pepper to taste.
Excellent.....if you have access to farm butter(amish roll butter in my area).
Fry it up good!!
 
I have been using Epsom salt for some of my fruit trees lately and looks good. Epsom salt actually reduces pH of tap water which is alkaline in my area.
This is pH test
On the left is Epsom salt solution. On the right is tap water. It can reduce pH down to one level. It is good.
F954EBBB-EAFA-4E96-854D-306F12858FB3.jpeg

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