Epsom Salt on peppers and tomatoes

Greg1959 · Apr 22, 2015

Have any of you heard about using Epsom salt on peppers and tomatoes? or is it an old 'wives' tale?

Supposedly, Epsom salt has a high value of magnesium, which is beneficial to growing large peppers.

I don't know but I think i'll try it on some to see if it makes a difference.

http://www.epsom-salt.org/tomatoes-pepper-vegetables-epsom-salt/

http://www.harvesttotable.com/2012/08/epsom-salt-tomato-and-pepper-growing/

Mike M · Apr 23, 2015

At first I thought when you were eating them ! LOL Should work too.

47fivewindow · Apr 23, 2015

my dad spread it on tobacco seed beds when the plants were yellow. It turned them dark
green

Hobo,NC · Apr 23, 2015

I do as advised in the second link but never sprayed the plant... I will give the spray a try tho... For some reason I forget to add to the soil when planting :twisted: so side dress most of the time... The best tip I ever got was to add a hand full of bone meal to the hole when plating...

john in la · Apr 23, 2015

Magnesium sulfate are two things plants need.
Epsom salt is a quick fix for a long term problem especially if you spray it on the leaves.

We get our magnesium when we lime the soil but it takes months for it to work.
You may not even have a magnesium deficiency. If your potassium is to high it locks up the magnesium to where the plant can not take it up. Hence spraying epson salt on the leaves works better if you do not fix the original problem.

Sulfate leaches out of the top soil quickly. With the reduction in acid rain; and the practice of removing old plants from the garden to prevent pest; sulfate levels drop.
Adding good decomposing humus to your soil often should keep sulfate levels in check.

rustyfarmall · Apr 23, 2015

Couple of years ago our tomatos developed "blossom end rot". Basically the blossom end, or bottom of the tomato would rot just as it turned ripe. 1 tablespoon of epsom salts, mixed in one gallon of water and applied to each plant once per week cured the problem.

Charlie M · Apr 23, 2015

Blossom rot is due to sudden changes in moisture availability which messes up the plants ability to take in calcium. The magnesium in Epson salts helps to fix the problem.

Billy NY · Apr 23, 2015

Bell peppers and eggplant like the same kind of soil, and I have placed some epsom salts in the furrow or hole when transplanting, for both. Its hard to remember what all the garden plants like, but these 2 are alike in that way, so it sticks in my memory. I've also added sulfur to the soil for bell peppers, using match heads. Read up on what you plant, it should help.

Might be subtle but the plants were healthy. Seems my bell peppers take too long some years, but will produce well, just later than I like, I've really tried to make the soil right, plant on time, some years to no avail, and some years they were thick bushy plants that produced very well.

rustyfarmall · Apr 23, 2015

(quoted from post at 06:00:04 04/23/15) Blossom rot is due to sudden changes in moisture availability which messes up the plants ability to take in calcium. The magnesium in Epson salts helps to fix the problem.

Yes, it is the magnesium that cured the problem, but in this case, there was no sudden change in moisture availability or anything else that we could directly lay the blame on. A friend of ours had the same problem with blossom end rot just last year. The epsom salts cured it, but we never did figure out what caused it in the first place.

Traditional Farmer · Apr 23, 2015

Why not just put down High Mag/High Cal Lime as a long term solution?

Rollie NE PA · Apr 23, 2015

I use a product called Rot Stop to treat blossom end rot. It contains calcium and you spray it on the plants.
I am going to try the epsom salt and see how it works.

rustyfarmall · Apr 24, 2015

(quoted from post at 10:51:05 04/23/15) Why not just put down High Mag/High Cal Lime as a long term solution?

We now add 1TBS of epsom salts to the soil when we plant the tomatos.

Epsom Salt on peppers and tomatoes

Greg1959

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Mike M

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47fivewindow

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Hobo,NC

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john in la

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rustyfarmall

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Charlie M

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Billy NY

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rustyfarmall

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Traditional Farmer

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Rollie NE PA

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rustyfarmall

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