Does anyone know of a place to purchse sul-po-mag in northeast wisconsin? Green Bay - Aplleton area etc. The shiping cost to buy online is terrible.

Thanks
Gary Reif

Hi, gary reif!

Don't know how far you are from Blue Mounds, WI., but Midwestern Bio-Ag (phone # 1-800-327-6012) carries it.

http://www.midwesternbioag.com/products/sulpomag/

BTW: I hear you about the S&H charges on some of these things! They can kill you! :_|

gardenz

Thanks, but that's about a 3 hour drive each way.

OK i am ignorant....
What is sol-po-mag?
What is it used for?

Hey.....no way: "ignorant"! X-( I much prefer to say one is "Not yet informed". Goodness knows, every gardener has been in that boat a few or hundreds of times!

Anyhoo....Sul-Po-Mag is short for Sulphur-Potassium-Magnesium. Usually about 23% sulfur, 22% potassium and 11% magnesium. It's used in soils that are low in magnesium.

I prefer to use Epsom Salts to supply any needed magnesium. (Especially for my tomatoes). In addition to putting some in the planting hole, because it's water soluable and can be applied as a foliar spray as well, it's therefore more easily taken up by the plants.

Snip from an article on Sul-Po-Mag and Epsom Salts:
"Magnesium tends to be lacking in old, weathered soils with low pH, notably in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest. Soils with a pH above 7 and soils high in calcium and potassium also generally have low magnesium levels. Calcium and potassium compete with magnesium for uptake by plant roots, and magnesium often loses. Sometimes, a soil test will show adequate magnesium levels in soil, but a plant grown in that soil may still be deficient because of that competition.

Gardeners add magnesium when they apply dolomitic lime to raise the soil's pH. However, this product (46 percent calcium carbonate, 38 percent magnesium carbonate) breaks down slowly, and the calcium can interfere with magnesium uptake. For soils with a pH above 7, many gardeners use Sul-Po-Mag (22 percent sulfur, 22 percent potassium, 11 percent magnesium) to increase magnesium. Although dolomitic lime and Sul-Po-Mag are inexpensive ways to add magnesium, Epsom salts' advantage over them is its high solubility."

gardenz

and I thought it was a new type of greens...like Bok Choy
I was going to plant some this year!

But are thought epsom salts where not organic, since they are now made from chemicals & not mined. or so I've read

Yes. Originally epsom salts were prepared by boiling down mineral waters, thereafter, sea water was used. More recently, these salts come from silica hydrates of magnesia. A naturally occuring mineral. (Chemistry mavens, please correct or advise, here. ?:| This was not my strong suit in school! )

I think the terms "organic" and "natural" are too often incorrectly used synonymously. Even if someone's running a certified organic operation, where one of their criteria is minimal reliance on artificial inputs, IMO, there's nothing wrong with using something that's manufactured (even by the hand of man/woman) from naturally occuring, non-toxic substances, such as Epsom Salts. (I humbly bow to any contradictions or corrections by those certified organic farmers here .....Lucy?). ES is used in such applications as bathsoaks and even taken internally as a liver cleanse and many other homeopathic remedies. ES is recommend as either soil ammendments or foliar sprays on nearly every "organic" or "natural" website I've ever seen. So, based on all that, I think ES falls under the category of "doing the least harm with the most natural substances" for the health of our gardens.

gardenz

As far as I know epsom salts are not allowed because of the way they are processed but if one is not certified & selling food to the public i don't see the problem with using magnesium sulfate.

But epsom salts are not quite the same as Sul-Po-Mag. No potassium in ES.

I'd check out http://www.fertrell.com to see if there are distributors in Wisc. if so, they would sell Sul-Po-Mag.

You might also contact any organic/sustainable growers in your area and see where they get their's