Newbie to Growing Peppers

[VirginiaClay]

Originally Posted by PaulF

Epsom salts add magnesium and sulphate to the soil and can be very beneficial if your soil needs these minerals. It works best in acidic soils to help unlock nitrogen and phosphorus.

The main problem is using a chemical in soil not needing extra magnesium or sulphate, especially if the are tied together as in epsom salt. Soil that is in balance already may not need more of one mineral or another; it could be detrimental to add unnecessary elements. A good professional soil test is a cheap way to find out exactly is need or not needed for you particular garden.

Just want to heartily second your post. I think internet gardening bloggers and YouTubers have taken a bit of good advice ("here's a cheap, easy way to add magnesium to your soil") and universalized it in a way that isn't good. It's only a good idea to add magnesium to your soil if your soil needs magnesium, and it can be harmful if your soil doesn't need magnesium, or if you add too much. And it's pretty easy to add too much Epsom salts.

My mom, a very experienced and successful gardener, saw the Epsom salt advice in a newspaper gardening column years ago and added Epsom salts to her peppers two years in a row. Both years the plants were stunted, unhealthy and unproductive. She has since gone back to using just a 5-10-10 granular fertilizer and compost, and all is well again.

One way to add magnesium in an amount that won't be harmful is to choose a balanced fertilizer like Espoma GardenTone, which includes magnesium and some other minerals in addition to NPK.