Epsom Salts

From reading various topics, I see that a lot of lotty owners aren't familiar with the gardening benefits of Epsom Salts, so here goes. Technically, it's magnesium sulfate, the name you'll find it under at the farm supply shops or wherever you get bulk agric. supplies. For our science lotty owners, it's MgSO(little4).7H(little2)O - the K of NPK.    It's also available at the chemists, where they charge about 10X the price the ag suppliers will. I buy it in 50 lb (22K) bag and it lasts quite a while. Not sure if this size is available in UK though. It isn't actually a salt (not a chloride sulfate), just named after someone and the fact that it looks like salt. In the garden, it makes plants grow bushier, produce more flowers and improves phosphorous and nitrogen uptake by roots. Unlike commercial fertilizer, you can never overuse it.  It's especially good for roses, peppers and tomato plants. Only plant that hates Epsoms is SAGE.

Here are the recipes - in imperial. Have to convert to metric yourself. Sorry.

Houseplants: 2 Tbsp Epsom to 1 gallon water, use once a month
Tomatoes: 1 Tbsp epsom per foot of plant height per plant - every 2 wks and scratch into soil or dissolve in some water.
Peppers: ditto
Roses: 1 Tbsp epsom per foot of plant height per plant every 2 weeks AND scratch 1/2 cup epsom into soil at plant base to encourage flowering canes and new basal growth. If moving/transplanting roses, soak roots in 1/2 cup epsom/gallon water to help roots recover. Add 1 Tbsp epsom to planting holes.
Use as a weak epsom solution for a weekly foliar spray on most plants to deter pests.
Shrubs, evergreens & rhodos: 1 Tbsp epsom per 9 square ft (3Msq) over root zone every 2-4 weeks.
The results aren't instant; be patient. And this isn't a fertilizer replacement, merely something that enhances fertilizer absorption and plant growth.

Epsom salts are also fab for the skin as a skin softener in the bath - about 1 - 2 cups depending on the size of your bath (or occupancy). It's also a fab detox as it's absorbed by the skin for purging, relaxing muscles and reducing swelling. Don't guarantee it as a hangover cure, however.
If you're on water restrictions and using bathwater as greywater, epsoms are perfectly safe, unlike bath oils, foam baths, etc.

Hope this helps.

salkeela you beat me to it. K is potassium in the NPK fertilisers, and it is a salt as its bonding between the magnesium cation and the sulphate anion is ionic.

I really hate the american spellings that are creeping into chemical names as a result of IUPAC naming. I will not stop using ph 'cos i can spell proper!  i wont start leavign the i's out either

 :evil: chemistry student - sorry, couldnt resist either :roll:  :roll:

magnesium is an essential metal in the protein complexes of photosynthetic organisms (plants to you!) along with copper, sulphur is also a trace element used by plants, but as said its main benefit is to help make nutrients 'available' for uptake by the plants

Quote

It isn't actually a salt (not a chloride sulfate

a combination thats unlikely anyway -

chloride  cl-
sulphate  SO4-

as we know, opposites atract - you can have a chloride of a metal (MgCl)
or a sulphate (MgSO4 for example) but im pretty sure a chloride sulphate is fairly thermodynamically unfavourable! :shock:  


here endeth the lesson

I think Trillium is abbreviating... as in "it's not a chloride rather it's a sulphate"


Personally I have no objection to the spelling of sulphate as sulfate - granted I have been trained using the former, but the latter is more logical really and much easier for students to learn.  And on the other side of the Atlantic it IS correct!

bugga thread a bit technical for me :oops:
epsom salt can be used instead nutrient in wine making cheaper to

 

Apparently fed as a supplement to horses it also helps their feet to grow well.  And it's good for soaking an infected cut, abcess or what ever in!  

:oops:  :oops: Sorry - science teacher and can't help myself!  :oops:  :oops:

Old habits die hard.... Your info was much appreciated.  

I wasn't trying to earn chemical 'brownie' points

 

dont worry, no ones having a go at you, your info was very informative,

you may have noticed were all a bit mad on here