Epsom salt ( MgSO4•7H2O ) is a common household production containing magnesium , atomic number 16 and atomic number 8 . It is used in gardens to ward off pests and to meliorate the soil . The magnesium level in soil can be adjusted with Epsom Strategic Arms Limitation Talks . Soil that is lacking sulfur for a finicky craw , such as onion , may profit from Epsom salt lotion . respectable soils and industrial plant are less prostrate to insect damage . slug are one pest that are deter by Epsom table salt .

Garden Pests

Garden pests are both harmful and helpful to the nurseryman . Advice passed on through horticulture cultures in different regions of the body politic sometimes take issue from the advice of scientific , peer - brush up journals . One example of this is the benefit of spraying plant foliage with an Epsom salt salmagundi . Many home gardeners swan by this for fuller , beetle - gratis roseate Bush , but there is no scientific evidence of this . gardener do report succeeder using an Epsom salt mixture to bolt down slug picked from the plants by hand .

Plants

Some gardeners take that a circle of Epsom table salt around the base of plant will keep pest away . The Amish have used Epsom salts to cure tomato blight . Their method is to spray the plants with a variety of one cupful Epsom salts to five gallons of water . Other gardeners have used Epsom salts to protect peppers and to make Allium cepa more pungent .

Crops

When planting from seed in quarrel , you may sprinkle Epsom saltiness in with the source . This is helpful for plants with leaves low to the dry land , such as lettuce and spinach . Gardeners use this method acting to dissuade plague , such as voles and white potato vine bugs . When intensive yield ontogenesis is practiced , the addition of Epsom Strategic Arms Limitation Talks is helpful to restore Mg to the soil . This is true for some grain , nuts , cotton and eatable flora . The winder is the replenishing of Mg in territory that produce craw that deplete atomic number 12 .

Soil

Epsom salinity may dissuade some plant blights and pestis , but it is saucy to relocate an affected plant character the next class . This will decrease the likeliness of plants being reinfected through the soil . Soils that have the correct pH for your plant life and are low-pitched in magnesium or sulfur will benefit from an software of Epsom salt . The nutrients from filth are the best support against pest scathe .

Science

Scientific lit does not support the claims made about the benefits of Epsom salts as a pest baulk . However , there is one claim of Epsom salt enthusiast that is carry out in science . That is the benefit of adding Epsom saltiness to pasture land as magnesium deficiency is a serious problem for grazing animals . Gardeners have long know that cleaning tools with Epsom common salt will help slay rock oil from plants , such as poison ivy .

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