Top 10 Important Gardening Tips And Uses for Epsom salt

Epsom salt {hydrated magnesium sulfate} is renowned to many for its various home remedy applications but that is not all there is to this wonderful mineral. Unknown to many, Epsom salt has several benefits in organic gardening. Uses for epsom salt in organic gardening and its efficacy has been well documented for decades. This article shares ten of the best ways to start using Epsom salt in the garden.

What is Epsom salt?

Epsom salt is different from traditional salt in that it’s actually a mineral compound of magnesium and sulfate, and is technically known as magnesium sulfate. It’s composed of tiny, colorless crystals that look like table salt, but it’s actually a completely different thing, as table salt is made up of sodium chloride. Magnesium sulfate is a mineral that many of us are lacking in, as levels have been decreasing over the last three to four decades around the world.

Uses For Epsom Salt

Its importance in Gardening has been one of nature’s best-kept secrets and it has long been a favorite for many gardeners as it helps grow sweeter, tastier vegetables, roses with more vibrant flower color.

It is very useful in seed germination and is widely used in home remedies as a saline laxative and pain reliever.

Epsom salts work best on soils that are slightly deficient in magnesium or high in calcium and potassium (soils found in western countries). Before applying Epsom salt, it’s a good idea to have your soil tested to determine the level of magnesium deficiency. You should also be aware that many plants, like beans and leafy vegetables, will happily grow and produce in soils with low levels of magnesium.

The Many Benefits of epsom salt for organic gardening | Gardening with Epsom Salt, according to this page it is good for all vegetables, flowers, trees, fruits and more.


Want to try Epsom salt for yourself? You can buy a 3lb container of White Mountain Epsom Salt from this page on Amazon
 

Plants like roses, tomatoes, and peppers, on the other hand, require lots of magnesium, and therefore, are more commonly watered with Epsom salt. When diluted with water, Epsom salt is easily taken up by plants, especially when applied as a foliar spray.

Most plants can be misted with a solution of 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt per gallon of water once a month. For more frequent watering, every other week, cut this back to 1 tablespoon.

 

Also check out: Insanely Clever DIY Garbage Disposal Refreshers

 

Uses for Epsom Salt in Gardening


Improved Seed Germination

This is one of the most acknowledged of the uses for epsom salt. Epsom salt when used at the planting stage, usually aid seed germination. It acts as a soil amendment before seeding thereby giving your garden a powerful boost right from the start.

Apply 1 – 2 tablespoons into the soil per seed hole or use 1 cup of salt per 100 square feet of tilled soil for the best results.

Increased Nutrient Absorption

Applying Epsom salt to the soil helps facilitate the uptake of organic soil nutrients and the faster absorption of plant nutrients reducing to a minimal level if not eliminating the need for chemical fertilizers.

Beautiful, Bountiful Roses

Epsom salt due to the abundance of magnesium plays a very important role in flower bloom formation. This is of significant importance to rosarians. Horticulturists will agree that application of Epsom salt helps roses to produce larger blossoms in greater numbers in flowers. Epsom salt also increases chlorophyll production meaning faster growth rate for roses.

Counter Transplant Shock

Epsom salt can also play a vital role in the transplants of nursery plants to the field. One of the many uses for Epsom salt is that it assists plants in adapting to their new environment. It also helps injured roots overcome transplanting shock.

Note that it is important that Plant roots do not come in contact with salt when adding a layer of salt around them.

More Plentiful Peppers

Peppers are another popular garden plant with a higher-than-average fruit to plant size ratio. As such, they should also be fed magnesium every two weeks to achieve higher yields of larger fruits. For hot peppers, over-watering can lead to fruit with less heat, thus the soil amendment method may be preferable in this case.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt for every foot of height around the drip line of your pepper plants once per week.

Green Up Foliage

Magnesium plays an essential part in the production of foliage due to its importance in chlorophyll production. This is quite evident as plants suffering from this deficiency reflect it by their yellowing leaves. The application of Epsom salt around your plants helps lead to healthier foliage.

Prevent Leaf Curling

Application of a mixture of 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt in a gallon of water directly to the leaves helps to prevent Leaf Curling caused by magnesium-deficiency in plants.

Deter Garden Pests

While Epsom salt is not as effective against pests as much as table salt (sodium chloride), it can still help to deter pests. Epsom Salt crystals are sharp and when sprinkled around plants, they can scratch and irritate the bodies and feet of unwanted pests in much the same way as other preventives.

Grow Sweeter Fruit

The most important stage in the life cycle of any plant is the production of fruits. This comes just after the flowering stage. Application of Epsom salt to the plant using the same methods and quantities stated above will lead to improved chlorophyll levels leading to increased energy which implies more sugar, thus allowing the plant to produce more yields of sweeter and healthier fruits.

Tastier Tomatoes

In a recent experiment, We observed that application of Epsom salt to tomato vines helps to balance the magnesium-deficiency on most tomato farms. It also leads to Tastier Tomatoes. It is a major in the many uses for epsom salt!

For tomatoes, the fruit to plant size ratio of tomato plant makes it susceptible to calcium deficiency (blossom end rot). However, systematic application of Epsom salts to tomatoes worked perfectly and the result was healthy tastier tomato fruits.

Our Findings revealed that tomato vines should have Epsom salt twice as often as other plants.

Application to tomato vines of dissolved Epsom salt – 2 tablespoons per gallon of water, every 2 weeks was the magic.

The most efficient application method for delivering magnesium to these plants is through foliage feeding method.

 

Further Reading: 29 Magical DIY Uses For Hydrogen Peroxide

 

Top 10 Important Gardening Tips And Uses for Epsom salts {Epsom Salt for Tomato, and Pepper Growing, helps prevent blossom end rot and encourages bigger fruit and healthier plants.

Conclusion

It is apparent that Epsom salt is a great addition to any organic Gardener toolkit. It’s almost impossible to use too much of it in your garden, unlike commercial fertilizers.

Epsom Salt is pH neutral and non-harmful to the soil structure. This means that it is safe to apply and works fast to correct a variety of problems. Epsom salt also increases the overall health of your garden.

It also works quickly to prevent and correct a variety of problems and to improve the health of your garden. Epsom salt is cheap and certainly one of the best-kept secrets of the health-conscious, competent gardener. I hope with this post you have learned several uses for Epsom salt to your grow your garden?

 

Want to try Epsom salt for yourself? You can get the Best type {White Mountain Epsom Salt} Here.

 

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