I read an article that said to add 1 T. of Epsom salts to a 1/2 gallon of water when watering tomatoes.
I have searched the forum and can't tell if I should do it or how often. Every time I water or what.

I was under the impression that adding salt's to your soil is a bad idea. Part of the reason to avoid chemical fertilizer's is that they contribute to salt buildup in your soil. Maybe a tablespoon isn't going to be enough to affect much?

It will help the foilage. Too much and you won't get as much fruit.

Pasque, I think different salts give different results. Sea salt is supposed to be beneficial also.

Be careful, it may shift your calcium balance toward blossom end rot.

As far as the salt part, it's a sulphate so it's not like what we usually think of as salt in the soil.

It's called a salt but it's not sodium type salt. It will add calcium to your soil, but that helps prevent blossom end rot--I wouldn't use too much--but used like you mentioned--a dose just before the tomatoes turn, or just as they blush can keep the blossom end rot at bay.

epsom salts don't contain calcium though. their magnesium will actually negativly affect calcium availablity.

I must say I used Mumsey's mix at planting time, and when the neighbor came over to see them, demanded the recipe. It has some epsome salts in it.

veggie gal, if you're ever at the store or the nursery and a product looks good, but you're not sure why, what they say on the label for ingredients is your best information. A lot of products for plants have names that might be misunderstood, and what they really are makes it easier to search on.

There is no calcium in magnesium sulfate.


Epsom salts is magnesium sulfate, (sulfur is actually acidic, and epsom salts has a pH of 5.5-6.0) It is not a nitrate or a nitrite, which is the problem ingredient in synthetic fertilizers.


If you have a magnesium deficiency in your soil, potted plants, or a plant, like solanums (tomatoes, potatoes, etc) need a bit more magnesium, it is a quick amendment.

You can water it in at planting time (1 tsp per plant) and then after my plants have their first few red tomatoes I water it in again, along with other amendments to keep the plants going strong through the season (I get tomatoes through November). If you have determinate tomatoes (one crop and they die) you don't need to add it again.

It's also very good for a bath, a cup in a full tub of hot water, helps with aches and pains, and is beneficial for circulation. Although magnesium can be absorbed through the skin so people with kidney problems shouldn't soak in too much.

The amount of Epsom Salts you add, 1 tablespoon per 1/2 to 1 gallon of water, will not be enough to do anything except cost you money, although over time that Magnesium could change your soils chemistry enough to prevent the uptake of needed Calcium.
The best thing you can do for your plants is to make the soil they grow in into a good, healthy soil with balanced nutrients that are available to the plants in the quantity they need when they need them. A good, active Soil Food Web will see to that.

I added a handful of crushed egg shells in each hole at planting time. Do you think that will help with the calcium.
so from reading all your great reply's, I think its OK for me to try the Epsom salts now and later after when in full production.

If you are trying to get calcium available for your tomatoes this year, egg shells won't help much. I'm not sure when egg shells actually break down enough to provide calcium. A good glacier might work! I've tried putting them through the coffee grinder, but the dust seemed troublesome, and they still weren't tiny enough bits. I use them now on pathways. I walk them into the soil, some era they will improve things, probably not in my lifetime

If you are having problems with blossom end rot in tomatoes, and want to add calcium to your soil, add 1/2 C milk per tomato plant. It used to be that powdered milk was cheaper, but I don't think it is anymore. Whatever you can get your hands on.

veggie gal,

How about some
alfalfa meal and water
and make some tea.

Do we want to create an
imbalance with chemical fertilizers ??

LOL,
bill in socal

I add 1 T of dry epsom salts, scratched into the soil within the drip line about a month after planting for the sake of magnesium. This is in addition to my fertilizer mix (also scratched in) that is 3 parts bone meal, 1 part blood meal, and 1 part DE. (diamataceous earth)

For calcium, I put two peppermint TUMS in the soil at planting time and regularly put a couple Tums in my watering can. No blossom end rot here.

My tomatoes are going great guns!

Egg shells take so long to be digested that any calcium in them would not be available for your plants use for a couple of years and Tums would be the same. As I stated above the amount of Epsom Salts people add to their soil is such a miniscule amount that it really does nothing except waste your time, energy, and money.
The reasons for Blossom End Rot are multiple so the best way to prevent it is to be sure you have a good, healthy soil that is evenly moist but well drained.