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Epsom Salts - Why?

The amount will vary from person to person, but from what I've been able to gather on this forum is that most people tend to use around 1tsp per liter of water. I've tried adding more, but I've found that it often leaves a film on the leaves.

I always spray it on the plant. I've never watered it in.
 
pepperjoe gives his mix in post #2.

my mix is very similiar. my bottles are 16oz/455ml. with precision accuracy, i stick my hand into the ziplock bag of epsom salt and take a pinch with my thumb & index finger(peter pointer - no i don't mean peter pepper), i then sprinkle it into the misting bottle. i then go for another pinch and add water to the bottle. now, sometimes i have a "clint eastwood" moment and in all the confusion was that 1 pinch or 2 "punk", so i sometimes reach back into the bag and add another pinch. if i am adding aspirin, after the epsom salt i drop in 1, 325mg tablet and swirl it around. with my kelp mix, i use about a tea bag worth of dried ground kelp(this mix i let sit until the water takes on a light tea colour then filter out the kelp because it will clog the mist bottle.

i have the mist bottle spray mechanism set for a fine mist. i start by misting the base of the plant, at soil level, then mist 1 trigger pull upward to hit the underside of the leaf, then another trigger pull from the top, downward. now that depends on the size of the plant, seedlings get 1 trigger pull and over wintered may get 3 or 4. my seedlings are close together, so as i mist other seedlings may get an extra dusting. my overwintered plants are different sizes.

before misting, i always swirl the mix around to make sure any residues that have settled out, clear the misting valve.

hope that helps.
 
Capitone said:
What are the exact quantities (if known) that you folks are using in the your spray bottles? How big are the spray bottles and how much epsom salt?

I've used it myself, but diluted in water for feeding. Occasionally I'll pour a little of that into a spray bottle for the leaves as well. Just curious to know what strengths everyone else is using.
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Peppers dont need much ferts. They could live on nothing if oyu wanted. Theyll grow on waterver you give them yo grow on. Personally, All i do is plant the plants outside and once the first flowers appear i hit them with epsom salts and then again when the peppers start developing. And possibly a third time if i think itsa neccesary. I mix 3 TBl sppons of epsom salts per gallon of water. So 15 tablespoons per 5 gallon bucket of water. This will increase your production ten fold. As for the earlioer growing stage just use a very light does of fish emulsion, preferably one with a number that reads something like 0-15-15. Always have a low nitrogen.
 
Also i never spray it on the plants. Watering it directly into the soil around the plant is a much more direct way. If you spray it on them the roots cant take the nutrients in, and you dont want that stuff on your pods i dont think, or I wouldnt want it there anyway.
 
I've heard the opposite OrganicChiles... As the magnesium is needed in the leaves it takes longer for the nutrient to be absorbed by the roots and travel to where it's needed especially if the plant is looking a bit sick. The leaves only absorb very little but it does the trick and it's faster. Any excess washes away and eventually makes its way to the roots. I wouldnt have any toxicity worries about spraying some pods with epsom salt solution. If you drink it you'll get magnesium poisoning but a diluted spray solution sprayed on the pods and then eaten a couple of days later I wouldnt worry too much...
 
I don't have the information at hand right now, but I have read studies that claim foliar feeding (misting of the leaves and stalk) is not only a faster method of delivering nutes, it's also more efficient. I can't recall the exact % of uptake, but it was considerably higher than feeding through the soil. Obviously you don't want to do this with chemical ferts or you'll burn your plants. It's fine epsom and fish emulsion though. You may want to reconsider spraying fish emulsion in the house if you're using it on overwintered plants ;)
 
how much of epsom salts to use /dilution and at what intervals ?? i got a 3 feet tall and bushy chilli pepper plant where its bottom leaves have started to turn yellow in between its veins, currently its loaded with pods..so how much and at what intervals do i spray these solution ?

thanks
 
One teaspoon per litre of water, use approx every second feeding.

That's what i think i just read anyway :P
 
I would go with every second fert application. No need to give them eppies every second watering IMO ;)
 
Novacastrian said:
I would go with every second fert application. No need to give them eppies every second watering IMO ;)
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hmm the yellowing seems to be spreading up the bush. i did give a misting 3 days ago.
but the new growth are dark green , its effecting only the old and bigger leaves.
 
slick said:
I've heard the opposite OrganicChiles... As the magnesium is needed in the leaves it takes longer for the nutrient to be absorbed by the roots and travel to where it's needed especially if the plant is looking a bit sick. The leaves only absorb very little but it does the trick and it's faster. Any excess washes away and eventually makes its way to the roots. I wouldnt have any toxicity worries about spraying some pods with epsom salt solution. If you drink it you'll get magnesium poisoning but a diluted spray solution sprayed on the pods and then eaten a couple of days later I wouldnt worry too much...
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OK, not to be mean but everyone should READ the package, epsom salts has a large variety of uses. When ingested Epsom Salts, acts as a laxative and the amount you have to use for this effect is equal to about the same amount you are going to spray on an entire garden's worth of peppers. So, no you will not be poison by it. If you don't believe me, epsom salt is also used in neslte water as a mineral for taste. So it is safe for consumption.

Also, I am not as knowledgeable about it but foliar feeding is something like 80% more effective than soil feeding because the minerals are not leached away from the leaves like they are in the soil.
 
OK here I go again with Graham Sait but he knows his stuff.

The Top Seven Plant Blunders

In part one of this series I looked at some of the costly mistakes associated with the soil. In this second installment, the emphasis is upon the growing crop and how to avoid those profit sucking shots in the foot.
1) Forsaking Foliars

Foliar fertilisers are twelve times more efficient than soil-based nutrient delivery and this promotes more effective chlorophyll management. Chlorophyll is the green pigment where all the production happens within the plant. This productive capacity diminishes as stripes, blotches and pale colours reduce chlorophyl density, so the more rapid the correction the bigger the gain. Foliar fertilising increases in popularity each year as growers discover that you get more than just a nutrient correction. When chlorophyll density is increased with foliars, there is more sugar production and an associated increase in the sugars the plant donates to the army of microorganisms surrounding its roots. These creatures return the favour by fixing more nitrogen, solubilising more phosphate and releasing more beneficial exudates to stimulate their host. The end result commonly exceeds expectations.

It is common to see growers choose the easier option of fertigation to deliver nutrition but this can be a mistake. If you have mineral excesses (which is more often than not in intensive horticulture), their antagonistic effect can nullify the benefits of mineral correction in the soil. For example, if you have a soil containing 250 ppm of phosphorus, due to the extended over application of inexpensive chicken manure, then you will often see crop shortages of zinc, copper or iron induced by this excess. Addressing these shortages via fertigation will often not do the job because the excess P continues to impact the uptake of these minerals. The answer is to bypass the soil and deliver the minerals directly into the leaf. Timely foliars will always offer more effective crop nutrition, even if they require a little more effort than fertigation.
 
Bumping an old thread! So if I understand correctly, delivering nuts to the foliage is so much better than adding it to the water that goes to the roots? 
 
NorwegianChili said:
Bumping an old thread! So if I understand correctly, delivering nuts to the foliage is so much better than adding it to the water that goes to the roots? 
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Just make sure there are no bugs on the foliage.  Would hate to get bugs on my nuts.
 
 
:)
 
 
Foliar feeding is much quicker to show results than soil drench.  You can see results usually in a day.  Any that washes off the leaves goes into the soil and uptakes through the roots.  Its a win win.
 
Nutes! But yeah, I´d hate to see bugs on my nuts... that reminds me of a tick I got once... hmmm... better save that story for later.
 
So foilage spray will be the same dosage as soil solution? 
 
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