Peppers, Epsom Salt

What is the best way to use Epsom? As a spray for the foliage or sprinkle it around the base of the plants?

MJ

Reply to
mjciccarel
Loading thread data ...

Epsom salts has been used to relieve magnesium defi ciency found during intensive cropping of many fruit and vegetable species worldwide. Th ese include commonly grown North American crops such as alfalfa, apple, beets, carrots, citrus, cauliflower, cotton, grains, hops, kale, nuts, okra, peppers, plums, potatoes, snap beans, sugar beets, sweet potatoes, tobacco, tomatoes, watermelon, and wine grapes, as well as more exotic species including banana, cacao, coff ee, rubber, Swedish turnips, and tea.

Among the diverse plant materials that have been studied under treatment with Epsom salts, there are two commonalities: all are intensively produced crops and all were suffering from magnesium deficiency.

There are two primary causes of magnesium defi ciency in plants: an actual lack of soil magnesium, or an imposed defi ciency caused by mineral imbalances in the soil or plant. Magnesium defi ciencies most commonly occur in soils described as light, sandy, and/or acid, though occasionally clay soils under intensive production can show magnesium defi ciency as well.

Regardless of type, soils heavily leached by rainfall or irrigation are more likely to exhibit magnesium defi ciency. Thus, soil addition of highly soluble Epsom salts under leaching conditions does not benefit magnesium-deficient plants but does increase mineral contamination of water passing through.

To restore magnesium, buy some Epsom salts at the drugstore and add about one tablespoon to an empty spray bottle. Then fill the bottle with lukewarm water, shake it up so the Epsom salts dissolve and spray the solution on the leaves and blossoms of your pepper plants.

Epsom salt solutions have been sprayed on foliage, resulting in leaf scorch; inclusion of a wetting agent can relieve this. A teeny bit of detergent maybe? Commercial wetting agents look pricy.

Reply to
Billy

As well as all this keep in mind that a foliar spray is a quick fix not a long term solution and it doesn't last long. Unless you want to do it every few weeks study your soil and see what needs to be done to provide a long term balance of minerals.

D
Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Everything is fertilized with 10 10 10. The peppers (bell) do not have very thick walls and I thought I had read that this would help. There is a lot of irrigation to the garden, so am I wasting my time and effort? The burnin g issue concerns me too. Would early morning be enough to combat that? MJ

Reply to
mjciccarel

My land is mostly oak forest , the piece where we have made a garden was woods until recently and the soil is acid enough that low-bush huckleberries thrive . Because a local recommended it I've been adding 1 tbsp of ES under each tomato and pepper plant as I transplant . Seems to be working ... and much as I hated to do it , today I used some

13/13/13 on the lettuce and a couple of the tomato plants . I'd rather build the soil naturally , with mulches and composts . But our situation won't allow a couple of years to let the soil become productive , I have a feeling we're gonna need it sooner rather than later .
Reply to
Terry Coombs

Chickens (birds) will give your soil phosphates, too, as well as reducing any bug problems.

"Magnesium defi ciencies most commonly occur in soils described as light, sandy, and/or acid, though occasionally clay soils under intensive production can show magnesium deficiency as well."

Being reclaimed forest, you may have acidic conditions. Turning the soil the next couple of years to incorporate organic material, and to deepen the growing zone (top 2 ft.) will let some of the CO2 blow off, raising the pH. Then I suggest you go to no till. Joel Salatin says that 12 worms/ sq. ft. will give you 3" of soil per year. Organic material (5% by weight, or 10% by volume) will encourage the worms.

Reply to
Billy

Of course I recommend that you go organic. That said, I can only recommend you try different pepper cultivars, and find the ones that best like your garden. Watering at levels above what is needed can create cultivation problems (root rot), and dilute flavor in the fruits, and vegetables. ======

Early Girl is well suited to a technique known as "dry farming".[4]

Researchers at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California, Santa Cruz, are among those who have described the technique: not watering tomatoes after transplanting, forcing the roots to grow deeper to seek out moisture, producing more "concentrated flavor," and saving water.[5]

Dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes have a cult following, and aficionados claim the taste of dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes rival those of the best-regarded heirloom tomatoes.[6][7][8]

Dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes are popular in farmers markets in the San Francisco Bay Area. The variety is also popular with home gardeners in that region, where it thrives despite the area's cool and often overcast summers.[9][10][11]

Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters is a fan of the Early Girl tomato, telling an interviewer "[O]ne of the best tomatoes I¹ve ever had was an Early Girl that was dry-farmed up in Napa at a friend¹s house." ======

The problem with burning is the concentration of salts in a droplet of water. Wetting agents let the water spread out in a sheet, rather that let the surface tension hold it together in a droplet.

Try a drop of detergent per bottle, and then spray a leaf. If droplets persist add another drop. I wouldn't go above 10 drops (1/2 ml), but more than that may be OK, depending on the size of the sprayer bottle.

Reply to
Billy

"Billy" wrote>

Shades of Ruth Stout ! Actually , Billy , what you suggest is my basic plan . This fall I'll be tilling some straw or hay in , followed by more manure/compost before planting next spring . Every pass with the tiller gets more rocks up and deepens the loosened soil a little . Light supplemental feedings with 3/13 only if necessary . Since the ground has a slope , as I till I'll be terracing this area . We got between 4 and 6 inches of rain last night , looks like more of the same tonight/tomorrow . That terracing thing helped a lot , only had a couple of minor washouts .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

Clay may have held on to part of it, but that is part of the beauty of organic fertilizers, they are more likely to stay put.

Reply to
Billy

I am assuming you have good reason to think your soil is deficient in magnesium. If this is just a guess on your part it might be easier to do some testing before springing into action. If the only indicator you have is the thickness of the walls of your peppers then consider that this may be the cultivar you have not the environment. For example the 'bulls horn' capsicum (sweet pepper) has much thinner walls than the short square kind.

First check the pH of your soil, if it is too low instead of raising it with garden lime try dolomite instead which contains magnesium as well as calcium. This form of magnesium is nowhere near as soluble as epsom salts and so it will last longer.

Keeping the magnesium in the soil also depends on the presence of colloids such as those in clay or compost (look up cation exchange capacity). Retentive soil will always be easier to maintain minerals compared to very sandy soil. This does not apply just to magnesium but all minerals. So the long term solution would include the steps: getting the pH right, get the exchange capacity up and add a source of magnesium if required.

D
Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Every hole/hill I planted a seed or start in was a 50/50 mix of soil and manure/compost . The row stuff all got a side dressing of same m/c on the uphill side . Got 2 bags of straight manure to be added as the season progresses . So far weeds haven't been a problem .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

...

if you have scrub woods that you can trim back you can use the green leaves in a mulch pile and chip the wood and add that. use agricultural lime to increase the pH, short term the finest powder acts quickest, for a longer term amendment use limestone grit.

it doesn't take much to get worms going and they can generate many lbs of calcium rich compost. a few yards within a year.

pigs can do a lot of conversion of forest grub into manure. i'm not into using animals here on this small a site, but a larger farm with more acres and plenty of woods might support a small population of pigs in rotation to clean up the acorns and fruit tree droppings. but then you have to be a farmer/farmer for that as once you have animals to take care of then that's a whole different arrangement than if you are just doing veggies and worm wrangling (both of these you can leave go for a few days if you have to).

for a free range bird fertilizer solution a few of the permaculture authors recommend having a pigeon loft as then you can get the droppings underneath there for the scraping when you need hot fertilizer or extra nitrogen for the compost heap. i'd probably just site the compost heap under the pigeon roost -- then once in a while add a layer of carbon and dirt and water it a bit. empty it once a year and start over... the birds are unpaid employees gathering bugs, fruits, seeds, etc. and turning them into free fertilizer. i like this approach even better than having chickens. sometime in the future i hope to raise quail, pheasants and/or bob whites as they can free range and i don't have to go after them for meat or eggs if i don't want to. just be nice to have more of them around again.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

Hmm , not sure my neighbors would hold still for pigs , and no way we can let 'em roam the woods . Already got a big problem in this area with feral swine , and I won't take a chance here . The chickens are another thing entirely , several neighbors let theirs roam during the day - though Tom down the road lost a couple last week , he thinks a fox got 'em . And during the day ! Great benefit here to let chickens roam , they take care of the ticks ... only potential problem is the dog . She's never been around birds , might decide they look tasty . And she's big enough to easily take one down . A goat , on the other hand , is quite likely to do well here . Get a nanny , let 'er breed , and we'll have meat AND milk ! Can you say goat cheese ?

Reply to
Terry Coombs

Terry Coombs wrote: ...

i didn't mean let loose without fencing and tags, perhaps even making sure they are sterile so even if they did get loose they couldn't procreate.

feral pigs are on the upswing around here too. haven't seen any yet on this property. it is open-season on them any time.

they can strip a green area bare and scratch the soil searching for bugs. some people use them to clear gardens before or after harvest.

i think if you raise them from eggs or chicks the dog might cope better. if you can find a broody hen to take care of them even better (so they would be raised as normal birds and have some protection by an adult bird)...

songbird

Reply to
songbird

ry thick walls and I thought I had read that this would help. There is a lo t of irrigation to the garden, so am I wasting my time and effort? The burn ing issue concerns me too. Would early morning be enough to combat that?

I have had the soil tested many times at through the cooperative extension office but it has been a few years. I don't remember the exact results but there was never anything that stood out and the 10 10 10 was their recommen dation. The soil is fairly sandy and slightly acidic due to the pine trees near by. I have never been able to figure out what is in the soil that cau ses my tomato plants to develop wilt but they do every year. In fact I took some dirt out of the garden, put it in a pot, planted the tomato plant and it too has wilted. But back to the peppers, I put a tablespoon of the Epsom Salt around the b ase of each plant and I sware the plants are greener. How often should or c an I do this? The garden is watered twice a day for 15 minutes. The plants are just getting flowers.

MJ

Reply to
mjciccarel

I've been around pig farms , I think I'll stick to buying my pork ... besides , if we run low on meat here , the deer reproduce like rats in a grain silo . And the only water for miles runs thru my land ...

There are 12 acres of woods for them to harvest bugs from . Between ticks , chiggers , and fleas > , might decide they look tasty . And she's big enough to easily take one

Actually , she's a pretty good dog . Once she knows they're off limits I don't expect trouble .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

it may be still too early to pick them, try giving them a bit more time to develop.

if your soil is not holding moisture well and requires a half hour of watering each day that is a good sign that your soil could use some added clay and organic matter. this also would help in holding nutrients for the plants. also top dressing lightly with a mulch (once the soil warms up after the spring) will help hold moisture.

if nothing stood out they should have left it alone, but anyways...

have you had the water tested? is it city/treated or well water?

are you watering using hoses that are laying in the hot sun all day? if you spray that directly on plants fresh out of the hose that's not a good thing... when i water i always flush the hose first until the water runs cooler and then use...

use a little agricultural lime (powder acts fastest, grit lasts longer) in your garden. if you make your own compost add it to the compost heap. how much you need depends upon how far off your pH is from neutral. if you are 6.5 to 7.5 that is fine for most garden plants (other than those well noted for needing acidic conditions). don't add a lot all at one time, but over the course of a few years you should be able to gradually increase the pH. however, if your soil is mostly sand and has little clay or organic material to hold the moisture it can be leached away quickly once stopped. that is why i recommend adding a little clay and organic material to help hold things in place and to give the rest of the soil community more to work with.

diseases can be a problem for some plants. do you start your own seeds? have you tried different varieties? do you do crop rotation or are you planting tomatoes and peppers in the same soil year after year? if you are starting your own seeds you could be using infected seeds/trays/pots/starting mix, tools, watering can, hoses or location. if your starting process is flawed then it all follows.

what do you do for soil organic matter? do you add compost? do you grow other crops in the area and turn them under?

we've grown tomatoes for years and had some problems with fungi (after flooding and heavy rains), but not wilt. we also rotate plant on a minimum three to five year cycle (tomatoes first on new soil, then peppers, then beans, peas, beets, greens, then cover crops like buckwheat or alfalfa or trefoil. if we've planted the same crop two years in a row it is because i've turned the soil deeply enough to not worry about diseases.

also, mulching lightly to reduce rain and watering splashing of soil on the leaves. some people even remove the lower leaves of the plants once they get growing to keep disease problems from having an easy start. i don't go that far...

i dunno, around here both magnesium and sulfur are at reasonable levels and we amend enough with other materials that they shouldn't be getting depleted.

you could be picking them too early. when we get thin walled peppers it is those at the end of the season when the temperatures are lower and the light is not as strong. they are still edible up until the frosts get them, but the flavor isn't as good as prime time.

you could also try different varieties.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

The water comes out of the lake we live on and is acidic although I do not know the actual number. It is an irrigation system that waters around 10 pm and then again around 5 am.

ALL of the above. I start my own seeds, I have tried everything from seeds from actual tomatoes, cheep ones from Wal Mart, disease resistant seeds fr om a mail order place in Florida. All of my utensils are correctly used.

Yep rotate every year. Have not turned them under, especially the tomatoes because of the wilt. Organic matter is just fallen leaves and not much else . I cover the garden is black plastic for the winter (November - February)t o kill the weeds but whatever is there gets tilled in. We are homebrewers s o any spent grain gets put in the garden but nothing else compost wise. I h ave tried it and it just doesn't seem to work for me.

I do. I remove all the lower leaves on everything.

Again have done this too. The ones I have had success with have been from s eeds harvested from grocery store peppers, believe it or not.

Thank you for your time and information. I just feel like I have been doing this long enough that I should be growing perfect produce :)

MJ

Reply to
mjciccarel

I've been mixing up in a spray bottle 2T of molasses, 2T organic liquid seaweed fertizer, and about 1T+/- of Epsom Salts pre-disolved in warm water added to this mixture... then I fill the bottle with rain water or tap water if I have no rain water. I've been spraying that mixture 1 time a week on everything that I have planted. Cukes, tomatoes of various types, melons, jalopeno peppers, and habanero's. I did the same thing with my peas, but it burned a few pea leaves. I ended up pulling up my peas anyway because they didn't like where I planted them and I replaced them with pole limas that have broken ground over the weekend. Everything else I sprayed that mixure on is growing like crazy and my peppers have nice big blooms on them now. I even sprayed it on a kumquat tree that I overwintered indoors and had just put outside. It was dropping leaves and a couple branches died back, but now even my kumquat is growing like a weed!

This is the first time I've opted for mixing this combo of organic fertizers and hand spraying them every week, so it's an experiment for me this year, but seems to be working out so far.

Reply to
Natural Girl

If you're lazy like me, you'll just put out a bird feeder, and a bird bath. It might be just coincidental that i've never had problems with bugs.

Reply to
Billy

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.