| I used epsom salts for years on acid-loving plants like gardenias, and on jasmines each spring. Something about wintering indoors caused them to yellow a little, not look "just right", and the epsom salts greened them up almost immediately. Also seemed to harden the leaves, as Ron said above.
Because of the leaf-hardening effect, l use it occasionally on orchids to toughen up leaves that seem to be a little too delicate (when I know the roots are not the problem). I usually just put a pinch right in the pot to be watered in next time I water.
I don't know about "cleansing". Might have some effect on the medium? But I have read that some growers use it in fall either to promote blooms or to harden the leaves for the indoor endurance test each winter. Don't know if it promotes blooms. Certainly seems to me to toughen up leaves.
No question that it's a miracle tonic for jasmines and the like after a long hard winter of watering with hard Missouri water. |