Question
QUESTION: I am in the New England area and I am in the process of applying winter fertilizer. I was told that instead of using costly fertilizers to use epsom salts instead. the thinking behind this is that there are no immediate results to this however it will leach slowly into the soil giving a healthy nitrogen feeding for the spring. The best way to apply this is to use a garden sprayer such as a miracle grow which dispenses solids. What's your thoughts on this?

ANSWER: Ah, yes, the old Epsom Salts trick.  MgSO4, aka 'Magnesium Sulfate'.  Can you use it to cure Magnesium deficiency?  Is it good to add for the general health of a plant?

For this answer, we turn to Master Gardener Linda Chalker-Scott, PhD, at the Washington State University Extension Center.  Dr Scott has posted a bold blast entitled 'Horticultural Myths':

http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/M

One of her recent essays addresses the Myth, 'Adding Epsom Salts to gardens is a safe, natural way to increase plant growth'.  Dr Scott looks at a half dozen claims by various 'experts', famous and not-famous alike, and picks apart the pro-Epsom Salts Myth one by one.

To sum up what I think is her most important point, Why would you add ANY Fertilizer unless your Grass or Garden needed it?

Do you have a shortage of Magnesium in your soil?  If so, it would be highly unusual.  Although Magnesium is central to the Chlorophyll molecule, there is hardly a shortage of Magnesium in any of the Soils I know of.  If by chance you DO need a source of Magnesium, this will leach out faster than you can sneeze.

Look over Dr Scott's remarks.  I'd like to know what you think of them.  Because they make perfect sense to me and she pulls no punches.

Thanks for writing.  Any questions, let me know.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So my take on this report seems to indicate that epsom salts added to the lawn in the fall will not produce significant advantages to next year's bloom.So my question is... Should I just use winter fertilizer to accomplish a healthy turf for the 08 spring or are there other recommendations?

Answer
Epsom Salts are BAD for your Soil, in my honest opinion.  But they are WORLDS better than the concoctions sold in bags at the garden center -- the lesser of two evils.  Salts inflict pain and suffering on the microbes underfoot.  Damage at the bottom of the food chain botches the whole chain -- if you'll excuse the expression -- from the ground up.

Although they DO have Magnesium in them, I am trying to point out as loudly as I can here that you almost definitely have PLENTY of Magnesium in your Soil.  Adding Magnesium to Soil with Magnesium in it already is a WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.

This means you will be better of setting fire to a few dollar bills, because they burn faster than it will take you to run around and pour the MgSO4 on the Grass.

In theory, this was an interesting idea.  In practice, you may as well be if your Full Sun Grass would grow better under extra Gro-lamps.

Fill up your Car with Gas, then ask me if you should add more Gas.

Wait until you get really hungry, go out and buy a 3 course meal, then write me and ask me if you should eat more food.

If your Soil has MgSO4 YOU DO NOT NEED TO ADD ANY MORE!

It would be EXTREMELY RARE for your Soil to need this.  Not impossible, but unusual.  Since you have not gotten your Soil tested (people who ask this question never do that first) you don't know if you have one of those rare plots of land, so we will assume that you don't.

There's another point I think I should make here now.

We've all seen those Miracle Gro ads in the magazines where they have these incredible Tomatoes the size of a small car.  The 'magic' Tomato was fertilized with Miracle Gro, we're told.  I have no doubt this is true.

Bus-sized Watermelons win Blue Ribbons at the County Fair thanks to Miracle Gro.  Big, beautiful blooms on all your flowers are assured if you fertilize with Miracle Gro.  Which today is owned by Scotts.

Not that this makes any difference.

Because those Miracle Gro ads have been running since I was a kid, and believe me that's a very long time.  After a lifetime of reading those ads, though, you sort of get the impression that whatever you grow, Miracle Gro will feed it so effectively it will grow bigger.

Not true!

NO plant will ever perform beyond the limits of its own DNA.

If your Grass has to be a certain length and color, it will never improve beyond that ceiling.  That doesn't stop breeders from looking for a distant, dormant gene to bring to the front.  But adding more Nitrogen, or more Phosphorous, or more Magnesium will not make the roots better than they already are under optimal conditions.

What are those optimal conditions?

You find this out with a Soil test.  If you would like to send your zipcode, I'll tell you where to get that -- next year.  It's getting late in the year to be doing one of those.

To 'winterize' your Grass, do nothing.

That's right.

'Winterizing' is an ingenious marketing gimmick they dreamed up in the Scotts sales dept.  Figuring it's Guys who work on the family Lawn, they used car-talk to sell you more Scotts products.  Adam and Eve never needed to Winterize the Garden of Eden.  Winterizing is pure marketing myth.  The best thing you can do for your Lawn is give it rich soil to grow in.

If you want to take good care of your Cool Season Grass and prepare it for Winter, cut it shorter than usual the last
runthrough.  Don't do any more fertilizing; it's too cold.

Raking is nice, but truth is, it's better to leave the leaves -- if you have not used concentrated fertilizers OR Epsom Salts, you won't have to worry about Fungus like your chemically dependent neighbors if you grow your Grass the right way.  Chemicals mess up the soil structure and the microbes that make dirt good.  Imbalances lead to all kinds of Fungus and bacteria eruptions.  Not a pretty sight.  Nothing to worry about, though, if you have not set up your Grass for an attack.  Leaves are excellent fertilizer sources.  Your Earthworms will turn them into rich soil before next Spring.

If you do rake, save those leaves in a compost pile.  You can use it next year, if only to make yourself some delicious Compost Tea.

Remember: Toward Winter, lower your mower.  It's the best Winterizing you can give you Grass.  No Fertilizer -- but next Spring, a blanket of Corn Meal Gluten to wipe out Weeds will decompose all Summer into Nitrogen-rich slow-release fertilizer your Grass will LOVE.  The Scientific Method.  It works.