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  • #1

    Epsom salt alternative?

    Does anyone know of any homegrown alternative to Epsom salts? Trying to grow with only what I can gather in the garden eg Nettle tea for potassium, leaf heads from my own veg and grass in compost, my own sheep for manure etc.

    Tomatillo plants look like they have a magnesium deficit and are turning yellow.

    Cant really find anything apart from sea salt or seaweed which we dont get much of round here.
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  • #2
    Possibly Comfrey?
    Which should give you everything needed.
    Maybe your plants are getting too much Potash and it is locking up the magnesium in the soil--so you may have a soil rich in magnesium but the plant can't access it.
    The only way I know to find out is a laboratory soil test.
    Last edited by fishpond; 05-08-2015, 08:21 AM.
    Feed the soil, not the plants.
    (helps if you have cluckies)

    Man v Squirrels, pigeons & Ants
    Bob

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    • #3
      Comfrey tea is potassium rich . Too much Potassium can inhibit Magnesium uptake.

      Nettle tea is Nitrogen rich.

      Magnesium can be applied as dolomite (magnesium limestone) Superphosphate is also Magnesium rich.
      I use crushed dolomite instead of lime as it doesn't cause scabbing on tatties.

      Home made compost applied as a mulch and watered in is a readily available solution to Magnesium defficiency.
      My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
      to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

      Diversify & prosper


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      • #4
        Originally posted by fishpond View Post
        Possibly Comfrey?
        Which should give you everything needed.
        Maybe your plants are getting too much Potash and it is locking up the magnesium in the soil--so you may have a soil rich in magnesium but the plant can't access it.
        The only way I know to find out is a laboratory soil test.
        I have been doing a nettle tea feed about every 3 weeks, so thats nitrogen and I thought potassium was in nettles as well?

        Comfrey isnt native here, at least to my garden. I saw clumps of COmfrey for sale on Real Seeds in winter which Ill get my old man to bring over at Christmas but doesnt solve the short term.

        Yeah might be time for a soil lab test, Im getting the well water tested soon, wonder if they can test soil too.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Snadger View Post
          Comfrey tea is potassium rich . Too much Potassium can inhibit Magnesium uptake.

          Nettle tea is Nitrogen rich.

          Magnesium can be applied as dolomite (magnesium limestone) Superphosphate is also Magnesium rich.
          I use crushed dolomite instead of lime as it doesn't cause scabbing on tatties.

          Home made compost applied as a mulch and watered in is a readily available solution to Magnesium defficiency.
          Ive found some "Dolomitic Lime" in garden shop sites but with additives in it and Im loathe to put any off the shelf foreign matter into the garden as I dont trust it. What about builders merchants "Dolomitic Lime"?

          Im not growing spuds as everyone in the village does and gives them away so have no qualms about using quicklime/non hydraulic/unslaked lime and have been using it before the growing season.

          Whats the consensus, might this help my magnesium deficit?

          Ive got a ready supply of lime as I use it for plastering walls and mortar.
          Last edited by Ovce domácí; 05-08-2015, 12:44 PM.

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