You may have heard of using Epsom salt for personal hygiene. Although, using Epsom salt for tomatoes plants can be something unique and exciting for you. Epsom salt can indeed be used in the garden purposes and also helpful to eliminate a tree stump. Most of the gardeners suggest using epsom salt to tomato plants for astonishing advantages to vigour health and to get excellent tomato flavour. Besides it, if you want your tomatoes to taste good then, you can take a try on Epsom salt for your tomato plant.
What is Epsom salt?
Epsom salt is not like ordinary salt. This is not something you can add to your food. Epsom salt is a natural mineral compound that is made of about 10 per cent of magnesium plus 13 per cent of sulfate and often called magnesium sulphate too. It is also usually advised as a self-care product for muscles, cold symptoms, and medicinal salves. The name Epsom is like the name for a salty spring found in a part of England. Magnesium sulfate is recognised to give amazing benefits, when tomatoes grow, act as a plant fertilizer with magnesium deficiency.
What does Epsom salt do for tomato plants?
Epsom salt used as a foliar spray or soil additive that improves tomato and also pepper plants in its growth and great flavours too. Use Epsom Salt to boosts up your tomato yield and maintain plants leafy and bushy in late-season. Just add Epsom salt to the soil to germinate beginning in the season, and to limit initial root and cell growth, photosynthesis, plant growth and blooming rot.
Epsom salt is highly soluble plus simply taken up by plants when added on the leaves and mixed with water. In the form of soil additive, Epsom salt solubles with soil moisture and gets into plants through roots. Furthermore, tomato plants may become small and spindly due to a lack of magnesium or sulfur in the soil, it can turn yellow between the veins of the leaves at the end of the season, and fruits then become slow in growing and ripening.
Moreover, Epsom salt can also do marvellous additional things for your tomato plant are-
- Deficiency in problem to tomato plants
- Tomato bear fruits longer
- Enhanced chlorophyll production
- The ripening colour is red compared to normal and became more attractive
- Healthy and larger tomato fruits
- Tomatoes became sweet and amazingly juicy
- Better seed germination and growth of plant too
Related Post: How to Grow Organic Tomatoes?
Include Epsom salt and tomato plants from the beginning
1. Use Epsom salt for potted tomatoes
Dissolve only two tablespoons of Epsom salt in one gallon of water and then use the liquid to water your plants. Further, it is not required to put Epsom salt on your plant every day. Slightly apply this liquid once a month and switch to watering regularly for the remainder of the day.
2. Planting tomato seedlings from the beginning
When planting seedlings of tomatoes for the first time in the garden, all you have to do is take one cup of Epsom salt and sprinkle it carefully on the plot. Just only one cup of Epsom salt would cover about 100 square foot. Also, make sure you spread it evenly. That makes it simpler for your tomatoes to get nutrients from the soil, strengthen cell walls, develop strong roots plus burst into healthful blooms.
3. Maintenance of tomato plants
If you notice tomato leaves becoming yellow, this notifies that your tomato plants suffer from lack of magnesium. Don’t wait for this to occur, when your tomatoes mature then keep adding Epsom salt to the soil.
4. Use Epsom salt as a soil drench or a foil spray
Epsom salt gives a great dose of magnesium by enhancing the overall health of tomato plants drenched with it. If you are looking for anything else, then give a try to Epsom salt.
Must Read: How to Get Rid of Black Bug on Tomatoes?
How Much Epsom Salt Does Put on Tomato Plants?
The perfect ratio to add into your tomato plant is one tablespoon Epsom salt per foot accordingly to your plant height. If your tomato plant is at a height of two feet then, feed it about two spoons of Epsom salt at only twice a month. Furthermore, for other plants, the general rule is once every six weeks. Choose a less frequent method and see how your plants respond to it.
If your tomatoes require to boost up then mix and dissolve approximately two tablespoons of Epsom salt in a gallon of warm water. Let the drench and water-salt solution soak in the ground at the base of tomato plants. You can repeat this during the season as needed. Using Epsom salt for chilli will have similar benefits. You are actually fertilizing tomatoes with the help of Epsom salts. Use as a foliar Epsom salt spread to plants using two tablespoons in approx one gallon of water. Make sure to not to overuse it.
Does epsom salt make tomato taste sweet?
The micronutrients in Epsom salt are magnesium and sulfur. Producing delicious tomatoes depends upon several parts, containing a healthy micronutrient amount in the soil. Therefore, by adding magnesium and sulfur that is Epsom salt can do marvellous work to the garden soil. Most of the gardeners may find that Epsom salt has a definite impact on taste. Although this only depends upon their garden soil that is already deficient in micronutrients. If the soil is lacking in micronutrients, then possibly try a more balanced fertilizer which is a better choice than applying Epsom salt alone.
Benefits of Using Epsom Salt for Tomatoes
Epsom salt is also known as hydrated magnesium sulfate, and it is an occurring mineral that was first found in the wells in Epsom, England. You may be used Epsom Salt as a remedy to cure constipation problem, but what you might not know is that Epsom Salt has many uses in regular gardening too. Epsom salt can help you make succulent, healthy plants, sweet vegetables and even big flowers. So here are some benefits of using Epsom salt-
1. It helps to enhance seed germination
If you want to boost up the possibilities of your seeds sprouting early, your soil requires a good portion of magnesium, which can serve to increase cell walls leading to healthy seedlings. To get excellent outcomes then, mix one tablespoon or two of Epsom salt at the bottom of the hole before planting the seeds.
2. Protects during transplant
When you are going to transplant your seedlings or immature plants from a small pot into a large, the plants usually get scorched under changed circumstances. Feeding the transplanted plants with the help a spoon of Epsom salt can benefit the roots recover from this setback. When doing this, make sure to avoid close contact of salt with the roots.
3. Encourages greeny leaves
Magnesium is an essential element that requires the production of chlorophyll. If you notice yellowing of leaves or white veins, then this is a sign of lack of magnesium in it. All you have to do is only sprinkle one tablespoon of Epsom Salt throughout the plant to promote greenery foliage.
4. Help to stop leaf curling
Leaf curling in plants is another symbol of lack of magnesium. You can sprinkle Epsom salt throughout the base of the sick plant works well. Nevertheless, if you mix two tablespoons of Epsom salt in around four litres of water and spraying it straight on the leaves, it will rapidly absorb into the plant system and revitalize your plant.
5. Pest protection
Epsom salts are in the form of crystals so using an application throughout the base of the plant will stop garden pests such as slug, snails and other insects from making your pot or container their home. However, watering the salt will reduce its effectiveness, and it can still work as an insect repellent upon drying.
6. Improves the tastes
Use Epsom salt on some vegetables like tomato and cabbage to create its taste better and tastier. Epsom salt increases chlorophyll production inside plant cells, increasing its strength and boosts up the sugar levels, which in turn gives the sweet fruits.
7. Sweeter tomatoes
Epsom salts require a particular mention when it comes to tomato plants. Tomato plants are especially prone to magnesium insufficiency. Tomatoes frequently suffer from blossom-end rot due to the lack of calcium in it. The application of calcium-rich fertilizers influences the intake of magnesium, which is evenly needed by the plant. That is why a great foliar spray of Epsom salts benefits the tomato plant to properly absorb magnesium straight into the system. You can use it in every two weeks for the betterment of tomato production.
Khaja Moinuddin, a computer science graduate, finds joy in gardening and homesteading. Join him on this blog as he shares his experiences in homesteading, gardening, and composting