For the earth or container soils?

Other than pH what would you want to test for in a container soil?

All containers Jag. Not sure what to test for besides pH... I just didn't want to add any thing arbitrarily. I recently read about epsom salts being good for peppers so I thought I would ask about testing first. We have had some extreme temps and humidity for the last few days and all of a sudden I have a few peppers that look pretty wilted, worse after watering last night.

As you travel the web you will encounter all sorts of folks who swear by this or that to get outstanding [fill in plant name here].

Epsom salt is simply magnesium and sulfur. If you are using a fertilizer that contains both in adequate amounts then epsom salt is pointless. In fact magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) is often found on the 'derived from' list on the label under the NPK analysis section for those ferts containing both. In other words using epsom salt in this case would be doubling up on it.

Most ferts don't contain these. Your water supply might though then again it might not.

The problem with testing nutrient levels in a container is that there really are no affordable home test kits that work and even if there were, everything would change as soon as the container was watered.

If your fertilizer has no magnesium or sulfur then epsom salts may seem like a miracle tonic to the plants. If it already has both, you aren't likely to notice any improvement. I would say you run the risk of screwing things up by overdoing it, but it's so soluble in water it would be pretty easy to correct with a quick flushing of the soil.

Thanks for the explanation Jag. BTW, sorry if I confused you with my last response... it was actually me using my wife's log-in by mistake.

Pdawg

You can get a decent pH and NPK test kit at Lowes for under $15. It will tell you whether you need to add lime to your yard or garden. It won't tell you whether or not to add Epsom Salts (it doesn't test for Magesnium nor Sulphur, only for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium), but Mg and S are noticable absent in most commercial fertilizers and Epsom Salts is highly water soluable so you're not likely to overdose your plants on it. When I need to give my plants a boost, I use a tablespoonful of Miracle-Gro plus a teaspoonful of Epsom Salts per gallon of water. Test Kit is useful for testing your lawn at the beginning or ending of the season to see if you need "Starter" or "Winterizer" Lawn fertilizer (which has extra Phosphorus and Potassium) otherwise you're probably either going to load up you're garden with 1/3 compost at the beginning of the season and forget about testing -- or you're going to have to fertilize regularly (every 2-3 weeks at least) with a "balanced" commercial fertilizer (i.e., 10-10-10 or MG).

Thanks for the input guys. I think I might try a little ES on a couple of peppers I have that seem to have lighter green leaves than the rest of my plants... Just as an experiment.