This episode may be a little disconcerting for those of you who have been using Epsom salts

in the garden religiously, but unfortunately we got to do the episode.

They're really not good.

There's really no good reason to do it except for one very specific use case, which almost

none of us run into in the garden, so let's first of all talk about Epsom salt.

Well, it is made out of magnesium sulfate.

That's the compound, magnesium and sulfur, right?

So it stands to the reason that if your garden is deficient in either of those, it might

help, right?

Let's talk first about some of the reasons why people think it's a good idea and how

those reasons are not actually true.

And so here we go.

Blossom and rot.

People will say that it prevents blossom and rot.

Well, blossom and rot is a mixture of sort of two core problems.

The one would be a calcium deficiency.

Usually it's not because there's not enough calcium in the soil.

It's a watering issue that causes a calcium transport issue, which causes the calcium deficiency.

But Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate.

There's not a really good reason to believe that adding magnesium sulfate to treat a calcium

deficiency when it's unlikely there even is a calcium deficiency will help blossom and

rot.

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