Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) uses in the garden is not a new idea. Gardeners are using Epsom salt in their gardens for decades. Most of the people are familiar with the Epsom salt bath and its healing properties, but the mineral in Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) is a real superfood for plants.
Epsom salt has many many uses in the garden but only one kind of Epsom salt which is marked as USP is suitable for human uses. So keep the bulk of Epsom salt away from the children and your pets. Here are the 12 best uses of Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) in your garden.
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1: Helps In Strengthen The Seedlings
Magnesium is a very important part of Epsom salt and it can increase the strength of cell walls of new seedlings. Strong cell walls of seedlings make them stronger and they will survive harsh environments and transplant shock.
Here are two methods to increase the strength of your seedlings:
- Take a cup of Epsom salt and spread it on 100 square feet of your soil. Means for every 100 square feet of soil, 1 cup of Epsom salt is enough.
- Or add 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt in the hole that you will use to sow the seed. 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt in each container of your seed tray.
Also Read: HOW TO BUILD A SMALL GREENHOUSE FOR VEGETABLES
2: Grow Sweet Tomatoes
Tomatoes plants with a deficiency of magnesium produce less sweet tomatoes. But you can increase the sweetness of your tomatoes by giving them Epsom salt treatment. Here is what you need to increase the sweetness of tomatoes:
- 1 tablespoon Epsom salt
- 1-gallon warm water
- 1 container to mix these two ingredients
Mix 1 tablespoon Epsom salt in 1-gallon warm water in a container. Give this water to your tomato plants. Once in two weeks will do the trick. Magnesium in Epsom salt will overcome the deficiency and tomatoes will be sweeter.
ALSO READ: How To Grow Tomatoes From Seeds In Containers
3: Greener Plants
This problem is very common. Plants with yellow leaves usually lack magnesium. You can make them green again by applying Epsom salt. Epsom salt helps plants to produce more chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is responsible for the green color in plants. More chlorophyll means a more vibrant green color.
- You can apply the same method here. 1 tablespoon Epsom salt in each gallon of warm water that you need.
- Or just sprinkle Epsom salt on the soil surrounding soil of affected plants. 1 tablespoon Epsom salt for every 12 inches height of the plant is enough.
4: No More Chemical Fertilizers
Higher magnesium concentration can help your plants to absorb more nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, and sulfur. Magnesium in Epsom salt can be effective in helping your plants in absorbing the required nutrients.
Most of the fertilizers are used for the same purpose. So you can replace the use of harmful fertilizer with cheap and non-harmful Epsom salt.
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5: High Yield Of Pepper
Pepper crops need magnesium for better yield and sometimes magnesium in the soil is not enough for pepper plants as they absorb most of it from your garden soil. Here is what you can do to increase the yield of pepper plants:
- Spread some Epsom salt around the base of your pepper plants and it will increase some yield at the end of the growing season.
6: Make Your Rose Plants Happy
Epsom salt can improve the color of roses in your ornament garden. Here is what you should do:
- Soak the roots of roses in a solution of half cup Epsom salt and a gallon of water.
- Sprinkle a tablespoon of Epsom salt in the base of hole or container where you want to plant the soaked rose plant and cover it with a thin layer.
- During the growing season, one tablespoon of Epsom salt on the top of the soil can help your rose plants in producing beautiful flowers.
7: Make Your Garden Soil Reusable
After heavy use of soil and getting a good yield at the end of the growing season, soil loses tons of nutrients to plants. We can use this soil again next season but the next crop will not get enough nutrients. We can provide magnesium and sulfate to our garden soil by sprinkling Epsom salt on our soil.
ALSO READ: How To Make Potting Soil At Home For Container Gardening
8: Control Pests By Using Epsom Salt
Epsom can be a cheap and non-toxic way to get rid of pests like slimy slugs. Commercial chemicals can be very effective against pests but they are really harmful to our soil and overall environment, that is why we should use organic alternatives. Here is the simple method to get rid of slimy slugs:
- Sprinkle Epsom salt in the way of slugs and get rid of them. Epsom salt is non-toxic, so you don’t have to worry about your kids and pests.
9: Get Rid Of Weeds
Weeds are not good for our plants. They are a competition of sunlight, soil nutrients, water and space for our plants. You can simply pull them with your hands but some weeds are very stubborn and they will keep coming back. Here is the method to get rid of them using Epsom salt:
- Take 2 cups of Epsom salt
- 1 gallon of vinegar
- Few drops of liquid dish soap
- 1 spray bottle
Mix Epsom salt, vinegar, and liquid dish soap in a spray bottle and spray this solution on weeds. Do not spray it on your desired plants. This solution will kill the weeds from your garden.
Also Read: 15 NATURAL WAYS TO GET RID OF WEEDS
10: Easy Way To Remove Tree Stumps
Removing tree stumps is not an easy task. Epsom salt can make it easy. Epsom salt has absorbing properties. It can absorb the water from stumps and that will make it easy to remove them. Here is a simple method:
- Drill some holes on the top of the tree stump. Holes should be 3-4 inches away from each other.
- Now pour some Epsom salt in the holes and add water in them. Also, make holes in exposed roots.
- Epsom salt will suck the water out of stumps. You may have to do this every week to make that stump fully dry.
11: Take one teaspoon of Epsom salt and one gallon of water. Mix them well and give this mixture to cycads as a cure of yellow leaves.
12: Use the same mixture as above to get rid of curling leaves problem or just sprinkle some salt and then water on the surrounding soil of the plant to prevent curling leaves.