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Flowers & Ornamental Plants
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Benefit of Epsom Salts
I purchased bare-root roses from a national retailer which were met with marginal success. I was told that epsom salts will increase the number of shoots from the union to replace dead ones I had to cut away to stop disease. Now I thought these roses were grafted onto the unions of other roses and, if so, wouldn't epsom salts then increase production of the unwanted rose from which the bud union was taken?
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Probably. Epsom salts are magnesium sulphate and magnesium is one of the macro nutrients along with nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, and calcium, but too much magnesium will interfere with calcium uptake as will too much calcium interfere with magnesium uptake so a balance needs to be maintained. Few soils, there are some, are deficient enough in Mg to warrant adding more in any form.
