How to Correctly Use Epsom Salt on Cucumber & Tomato Plants with Mix Recipe - Don't Over Use it!

Welcome to the Rusted Garden Homestead .

Today .

I'm going to talk about how to use Epsom salt in your garden on your cucumber plants on your tomato plants .

And I will show you examples of how to water them in .

Now , Epsom salt used to be loved .

Five years ago .

Youtubers were saying it's the best thing ever .

Now , Youtubers are saying , don't use it .

People are saying it's a fertilizer .

Then people are saying , no , it's not a fertilizer .

So before you use anything in your garden , you have to understand what it is .

Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate .

It'll say right there .

This is just from your local pharmacy , you know , pharmacy section at your grocery store .

It provides magnesium and sulfur to your garden plants .

I use a lot of compost .

I use a lot of mulch .

I feed my plants regularly .

They probably don't need any magnesium and they don't need any sulfur .

The problem with Epsom salt is people were using it every week , every two weeks .

Once a month , they were overdosing their plants with magnesium and sulfur that will cause a problem .

I'm going to show you how to use it , you know , simply and correctly .

So there are six macro nutrients .

The first ones are the primary ones .

The ones you always hear about nitrogen phosphorus and potassium .

Your plants need that in higher amounts .

They need nitrogen the most .

And we , and we're always adding nitrogen phosphorus , potassium to our gardens because those are the main macro nutrients .

The primary ones , the secondary ones which all plants need , but not nearly as much as the ones I just mentioned are magnesium , sulfur and calcium .

If you oversupply , magnesium and sulfur to your soil , it can , it can lock out the plant's ability to transfer other nutrients into their system .

So overdo it is going to cause a problem .

You only need to use this in my opinion .

Number one , if you're not supplying your garden with ample compost , manures , et cetera , maybe , maybe you're just getting started and you're building up your soil over time and you only really need to use it at planting just a little bit .

I'll show you how to use it .

And then maybe mid growth for like cucumbers , melons , zucchini squash , mid season .

Those plants are heavy feeders , they're really sucking the nutrients out of the soil .

And I do recommend using it more in containers where the root systems of your tomato plants , your cucumber plants pull out all the nutrients .

So I would really target this more for container growing to use it .

One tablespoon of Epsom salt into a gallon of water .

This is two gallons of water .

I put in two tablespoons .

This is a water soluble fertilizer , fertilizer in the sense that it's applying two secondary nutrients to your garden .

It is not a fertilizer in the sense that you can just use this and it's going to give your plants everything they need .

It is only for magnesium and sulfur .

So this has been mixed up .

It dissolves really quickly .

If I just say just put these in or maybe just , you know , drop seeds .

This is all I would do around the base , soak it in .

I'm done .

That's all you need .

If you want to add magnesium and sulfur to your garden , when the plants are bigger , maybe mid season they're producing , I would do the same thing and just water it in , you know , maybe twice as long get it to the root system and then you're done with it over using it is what the issue is .

Let's take a look at the tomato plants .

I also want to mention that magnesium sulfate is not a cure .

All .

Don't go running to it when your plants are yellowing .

If your plants are yellowing , the first thing you want to give them is more water soluble nitrogen .

When you look at this cucumber plant , there is some dust on here .

The leaves are nice and green bottom leaves , they're just all beat up really from the sun and from a cold spell we were having so I don't need to come out here and say , oh , look , you know , it's starting to yellow on the edges .

I need magnesium sulfate .

That's how you damage your plants .

You misdiagnose them .

Here's a better example of leaves that have yellow blotching and spot spotting .

They're just gonna die out .

It's fine .

The top growth is nice and dream .

So you have to be able to assess your plants in a healthy way .

Here's another example , sometimes people see that pattern and they panic and then they start throwing magnesium sulfate at it .

If your plants look like they're struggling , always give them a water soluble form of nitrogen first , like fish emulsion or agro thrive or something like that .

That usually takes care of the problem .

Use the Epsom salt in a strategic way just to give them enough magnesium and sulfur for them to manage for the year .

These guys are nice and green , nice and healthy .

They have not been given any Epsom salt this year .

And realistically , I don't use it every year again because now I've got so much compost going into my garden , they're getting what they need .

Let's pretend this is mid season .

This plant's like five ft tall .

This is how I would use it .

I would just soak around the whole base , putting it in so that it gets to all the roots that have moved away from the plant and that's it .

No more magnesium sulfate no more .

Some salt for my plants .

After possibly the mid season feeding , you just don't need that much .

So , yes , it's a fertilizer .

No , it's not a primary macro nutrient .

Supplying nitrogen phosphorus or potassium to your plants .

It only supplies magnesium and sulfur .

I think it's more important in your container plants at mid season when the plants have been taking all the nutrients out of the soil .

If you're using a chemical type water soluble fertilizer like miracle grow or plant expert or vigoro , I think is another one .

They will , they will typically have magnesium and sulfur already in there .

So you want to check the granular fertilizers you're using , you want to check the water soluble fertilizers you're using and make sure they're not already getting , you know , low amounts of magnesium and sulfur .

This is not a must , you don't have to do it , but I just wanted to show you the right way to do it and this is how I use it on tomatoes and cucumbers .

Thanks so much for watching .

Please check out my see chop at the rusted garden dot com and please subscribe .

I'll show you how to take care of these tomatoes and cucumbers over the year .

Thanks for watching .