Epsom Salts Safe for Animals?
14 years ago
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- 14 years ago
- 14 years ago
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Which type of Dyna Gro? + Epsom salts for Variegated Leaves?
Comments (10)I don't read here too much (GW) but stopped by and say this and thought this might be of help to someone. If you read the research cited on other GW areas, such as Containter growing (we do grow in containers), Dyna Grow 9-3-6 is the best choice of the Dyna Grow options. See posts by Tapla and Justaguy2. They are not easy reading - at least to me - but after I read enough I understood that using more P is not a good thing. I use it exclusively for all indoor and outdoor container plants and have no issues. When analyzed, the tissue in all plants always contains about 3-1-2 NPK - so any formula with those percentages is good. A 7-9-5 has much too much phosphorus and is bad for the environment. I suppose our water doesn't go down the drain so not a biggie but it makes me happier to have one fertilizer for everything and know it's safe for the world, too. I use in on streps, AVs, chirita (can't remember the new name of them!), and many others. They bloom wonderfully, I never need to add anything else, they grow quickly, I never have issues that some people have with white babies. I couldn't be happier that I stumbled onto that forum and learned so much about this. There is a lot of conflicting info. Sort of makes sense to follow with the science says....See MoreEpsom Salt
Comments (8)It is not harmful as long as you don't drive the total dissolved solids of the fertilizer solution past safe levels. If you don't know the TDS of your tap water then be cautious and use only 1/4 strength fertilizer and maybe 1/8 tsp of Epsom salts per gallon of water. If the problem with your plants is an unhealthy root system then using fertilizers etc will not help revive them. Perhaps taking cuttings and rooting them would be a better option. Are the plants still looking dehydrated? Using on your healthy Hoyas will cause no problems at all. Fertilizing and using Epsom salts etc on a Hoya with a damaged root system can easily do more harm than good as the chemical salts will quickly build up in the potting mix. Is it possible for you to show us photos of the sick plants? A good close up of the leaves would help us decide just how stressed the plants are. Mike...See MoreEpsom salt on plants
Comments (71)not all soil is created equal. its very possible YOUR soil is either magnesium or sulfur saturated. some clay soils are, especially in central USA with Mag if you need iron, use humic acid, or better, fulvic acid. its very beneficial to the plants at the same time as giving it the iron. its a 2 fer. if your soil has a lot of calcium, and is low on magnesium, epsom salt can make a big difference. 1 tablespoon per gallon of water has been the general recommendation. if you soil is low in calcium, and high in Mag, then, you will be further locking out the calcium, creating a bigger problem. soil test......See MoreEpsom Salt on Reno?
Comments (19)That's perfect! >>Morpheus, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you said it was fine to use whatever is the cheapest if there is a big difference. 100% correct. In this case, with OceanGro being much cheaper, there's no reason not to use it! Target amount of OG will be about 20 pounds per thousand, and eventually you're going to overdo the phosphorus levels in the soil and want to shift to something else (a 1:1 ratio with nitrogen is extremely high*), but that should take a while. I like to mix it up a little at least once a year with something else, but your spring corn and fall alfalfa more than accomplish that task. * Daniel has noted that I tend to hurl out pearls of "wisdom" (my detractors say I spew something else) every now and again that indicate I have Secret, Magic Lawn Tips. I don't, really, it's just that I tend not to send people into information overload if I don't have to. On soil tests, I have to since the amount of information is enormous. Grasses use nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium roughly in a 4:1:2 ratio, so the "perfect" fertilizer would be around this, and exactly supply what the grass has used from the soil (or, in the case of nitrogen, exactly what it needs). Everything would maintain its exact, perfect balance in the soil that way...at least for the three major resources. In practice? Well, not so much. Soy's ratio is 7:1:2, or very high on the nitrogen, tolerable but a touch high on K, and low on P. Corn's is 1.7:0.7:0.4, so overbalanced on P and under-balanced on K. OceanGro's 1:1:0 ratio is very overbalanced on P and very under-balanced on K. So what we do is use it, but keep an eye on the soil test. When phosphorus levels finally rise higher than they should, stop using it and move to something else with a far lower P ratio. For northern lawns, the actual feeding needs are pretty low overall, so four feedings a year organically aren't usually that expensive on a modest lawn no matter what you use. In my case, P levels have risen so high that I've discontinued Milorganite for now (5:2:0 ratio) and I'm using soybean meal pretty exclusively. Even in the gardens, I now use a mix. They get 25 pounds per thousand of soybean meal and 18 pounds per thousand of Milorganite a month....See More- 14 years ago
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