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David Hare-Scott[_2_] · 01-06-2013, 01:33 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible

wrote:

Epsom salt solutions have been sprayed on foliage, resulting in leaf

scorch; inclusion of a wetting agent can relieve this. A teeny bit
of

detergent maybe? Commercial wetting agents look pricy.

As well as all this keep in mind that a foliar spray is a quick fix
not a

long term solution and it doesn't last long. Unless you want to do
it every

few weeks study your soil and see what needs to be done to provide a
long

term balance of minerals.

D

Everything is fertilized with 10 10 10. The peppers (bell) do not
have very thick walls and I thought I had read that this would help.
There is a lot of irrigation to the garden, so am I wasting my time
and effort? The burning issue concerns me too. Would early morning be
enough to combat that?
MJ

I am assuming you have good reason to think your soil is deficient in
magnesium. If this is just a guess on your part it might be easier to do
some testing before springing into action. If the only indicator you have
is the thickness of the walls of your peppers then consider that this may be
the cultivar you have not the environment. For example the 'bulls horn'
capsicum (sweet pepper) has much thinner walls than the short square kind.

First check the pH of your soil, if it is too low instead of raising it with
garden lime try dolomite instead which contains magnesium as well as
calcium. This form of magnesium is nowhere near as soluble as epsom salts
and so it will last longer.

Keeping the magnesium in the soil also depends on the presence of colloids
such as those in clay or compost (look up cation exchange capacity).
Retentive soil will always be easier to maintain minerals compared to very
sandy soil. This does not apply just to magnesium but all minerals. So the
long term solution would include the steps: getting the pH right, get the
exchange capacity up and add a source of magnesium if required.

D