Epsom salt/MgSo4 for yellow phal leaves with unexpected "side effect"

[Optimist]

I have a mix I made with powdered bone meal, powdered epsom salts and powdered egg shells. I toss it on the ground dry for my plant plants, also my orchids every few months. Maybe 4 times a year. Powder those things in an electric coffee grinder.

[RJSquirrel]

I use the peters 15 5 15 5 2 cal mag... takes the guessing out of the formula. you get to the point where you start to make things easier for yourself eventually...

posted where you can get the cal mag and 2 people saw it..thanks

[Vanda lover]

That's a good idea, if you can get it. We only have a few kinds of orchid fertilizer available.

[rocio]

Hi!

This is very interesting!! I once added CaliMagic from General Hydroponics to my fert rutine, and I got the symptoms of fert burn... I haven't used it since... I thought it was too much (also I use city water that we know has a lot of elements already...). Could it had been the CaliMagic or it had nothing to do... What do you think? Should I give it another try?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!

[james mickelso]

You can buy calcium as a supplement at any drug store. It is in a form that we can digest and that can be taken up by plants like orchids.

[Polarizeme]

Originally Posted by rocio

Hi!

This is very interesting!! I once added CaliMagic from General Hydroponics to my fert rutine, and I got the symptoms of fert burn... I haven't used it since... I thought it was too much (also I use city water that we know has a lot of elements already...). Could it had been the CaliMagic or it had nothing to do... What do you think? Should I give it another try?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!

I have been told by a grower that if you supplement with anything to do it alone and not with your fertilizer. It had something to do with the PH.
I generally don't supplement, but that's not to imply that anyone shouldn't

[Patricia.420]

I would like a aswer to that qustion?

[Hiester]

My mother never bought any commercial plant fertilizers. She used a combination of Epsom salts, saltpetre (Potassium nitrate, which she asked for at the drugstore), and household ammonia, all dissolved in about a gallon of water. I no longer have her recipe, and she only used it on plants potted in ordinary potting soil. She didn't grow any orchids, though she did have a few Cryptanthus which she grew in ordinary potting soil with additional sponge rock. Her houseplants always thrived.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by shushu45

What would be a good source of Ca??

I use gypsum (the pelletized kind made for lawns), about teaspoon per gallon of water, let it dissolve for a few hours, use the remaining liquid. Gypsum is calcium sulfate, while Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate. Plaster of Paris is another form of gypsum.

You can also use various Cal-mag products (they are fine, just more expensive).

Any kind of crushed oyster shell or clam shell product will also provide Ca, but can increase pH.

[NYCorchidman]

First check your water supply for chemical content as Ray says because Ca and Mg are already plenty in there.

Two, buy balanced fertilizer with trace elements that usually contain Ca and Mg. Simple!

Also, in regard to the very first posting, I doubt wrinkles gone and more flowers formed have anything to do with the application of Epsom salt, but rather coincidental.

Yellowing leaves at the bottom is usually aging, watering or root issues, and lack of potassium.

Magnesium deficiency, which I don't think one will see often, will show up as general yellowing (slight) of leaves (not just one leaf) and yellowing along the veins.

This is a good discussion for Ca and Mg for those interested, though.