I'm going to use Epsom Salts to try to turn my side yard blue (more Studying the science in my yard.

[JacksinPA]

Sprinkling some Epsom salts in a garden shouldn’t be a big chore.

Personally, I’d start with a pound or so, and distribute more on one end and little to none on the other end to see if it actually worked. And I’d do it with a hand spreader.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[ecofarm]

I will let you know next April, or if my grass dies before then

No soil pH test? It costs a couple dollars and takes a few minutes. Salinization is not easily reversible.

 

[Demon]

Neat, I'll take a look at that plant. I've posted before about studying the science in my yard. I have 2 plants whose flowers are blue: Hydrangea & Commelina. From a chemist's POV they are neat because they both use 3-D complexes of plant chemicals & metal ions to absorb the right wavelengths of light to create that color. chemicals & metal ions: Hydrangea uses aluminum & Commelina uses magnesium. But these 2 plants are only distantly related. This type of flower color formation is found in other plants but it is not common. They are called bioaccumulators because they absorb the metals with their roots & store them in the plant. With these 2 & others, the metal ions are used to give the flowers a blue color. There has to be some evolutionary explanation for this because these color-producing metal complexes within their flowers. These plants such as the dayflower are also used to clean up mine spills & the like.

This appears to be what we have. It just showed up one day. There's a little info on it, not just seed prices., lol.

Speedwell Creeping Blue Seeds - Veronica Repens

Speedwell Creeping Blue seeds have to be just slightly pressed into the soil and not covered, because light is needed for germination. Blue Veronica Repens is a very compact, low-growing ground cover plant that only reaches a height of 1 - 2 inches featuring small, shiny green leaves and...

seedterra.com

 

[ecofarm]

For the record, blindly doing random crap to a yard is not science.

 

[KevinKohler]

I'm not a doctor...but I'm pretty sure if you salt your soil...nothing will grow there.

 

[JacksinPA]

A low soil pH could be the problem in the first place.

Magnesium in plants and soil

Magnesium in plants and soil

plantprobs.net

Drop your pH too low (with something like aluminium sulfate) and no amount of magnesium will suffice. I believe you have a pH, not a magnesium, problem.

If it's a plant, it will grow in my yard without much help. I'm into year 3 of a Pachysandra patch under my huge Magnolia tree. The Magnolia foliage cuts off much of the light needed for grass to grow, so we had the sad grass removed & 100 Pachysandra planted. I was looking for a low maint. ground cover that everyone seems to have in neglected abundance. Instead what I paid in both money, time & effort is a plant that requires a lot of time & effort. I even had to call in an expert.

Hydrangea don't need aluminum to exist but it needs it in order to make their flowers blue. And they need an acid pH in order to be happy. Aluminum sulfate takes care of both.

I asked a local yard guy how to make these plants have blue flowers. He said put an iron nail under the plant. Jerk.

 

[KevinKohler]

If it's a plant, it will grow in my yard without much help. I'm into year 3 of a Pachysandra patch under my huge Magnolia tree. The Magnolia foliage cuts off much of the light needed for grass to grow, so we had the sad grass removed & 100 Pachysandra planted. I was looking for a low maint. ground cover that everyone seems to have in neglected abundance. Instead what I paid in both money, time & effort is a plant that requires a lot of time & effort. I even had to call in an expert.

Hydrangea don't need aluminum to exist but it needs it in order to make their flowers blue. And they need an acid pH in order to be happy. Aluminum sulfate takes care of both.

I asked a local yard guy how to make these plants have blue flowers. He said put an iron nail under the plant. Jerk.

Um....blue water?


That is to say, water them with blue food died water. Works on roses.

 

[JacksinPA]

For the record, blindly doing random crap to a yard is not science.

I didn't say it was science. Science explains why I'm expecting the result I am. To me it is an experiment.

BTW, the poster who suggested I check my math because spreading 10 lbs of magnesium sulfate was somehow overkill. If you divide 10 lbs by 400 square ft, it works out to 0.0125 pound of salt per square foot. I think that's perfect for my purposes. If it works it works.

How many experiments have you designed today? Or this year?

 

[JacksinPA]

Um....blue water?


That is to say, water them with blue food died water. Works on roses.

You are not paying attention to the thread. The flowers are blue. I'm using a potential way to having my plants bloom next April by spreading magnesium sulfate over the 400 square feet I can see from my bathroom window. The plants need magnesium to make the blue color. Using colored food dye makes no sense.

 

[Threegoofs]

I didn't say it was science. Science explains why I'm expecting the result I am. To me it is an experiment.

BTW, the poster who suggested I check my math because spreading 10 lbs of magnesium sulfate was somehow overkill. If you divide 10 lbs by 400 square ft, it works out to 0.0125 pound of salt per square foot. I think that's perfect for my purposes. If it works it works.

How many experiments have you designed today? Or this year?

It’s overkill.

Mg is a trace element. There’s no way you’d need to supplement that much.

Magnesium for crop production

Although magnesium (Mg) is an essential element for plant growth, its use in a fertilizer program receives only minor emphasis in Minnesota. For most of the state, this lack of emphasis is justifiable because when management properly, most soils in Minnesota contain sufficient Mg to meet crop...

extension.umn.edu

 

[JacksinPA]

It’s overkill.

Mg is a trace element. There’s no way you’d need to supplement that much.

Magnesium for crop production

Although magnesium (Mg) is an essential element for plant growth, its use in a fertilizer program receives only minor emphasis in Minnesota. For most of the state, this lack of emphasis is justifiable because when management properly, most soils in Minnesota contain sufficient Mg to meet crop...

extension.umn.edu

How many experiments have you designed this year?

 

[JacksinPA]

10 lbs is ridiculous. Check your math.

I did: 10 pounds divided by 400 square feet = 0.025 pounds/square foot. I think that will be enough for several years.

The magnesium that makes the flowers blue is lost when the flower dies after one day. As each flower contains a relatively large amount of magnesium, I've watched my lawn's soil become depleted after only a few years. No magnesium, no blue flowers. In fact, no flowers at all because magnesium is an essential growth element for this species.

 

[JacksinPA]

It’s overkill.

Mg is a trace element. There’s no way you’d need to supplement that much.

Magnesium for crop production

Although magnesium (Mg) is an essential element for plant growth, its use in a fertilizer program receives only minor emphasis in Minnesota. For most of the state, this lack of emphasis is justifiable because when management properly, most soils in Minnesota contain sufficient Mg to meet crop...

extension.umn.edu

Each flower uses a lot of magnesium & last one day. They drop off & don't have most of the magnesium leach back into the soil. It gets vacuumed up by my lawn care crew. If it doesn't get replenished, no flowers.

The 3-D complex around the magnesium uses 4 magnesium ions. I'd call the cells in the flower that contain the color-forming chemicals chromophores. And each flower would have millions of these chromophores, so it's easy to see how these plants could deplete the traces of magnesium to be found in a suburban yard's soil. The mat I saw contained thousands of these flowers forming a mat 20 feet wide & 30 feet long.

 

[JacksinPA]

Sprinkling some Epsom salts in a garden shouldn’t be a big chore.

Personally, I’d start with a pound or so, and distribute more on one end and little to none on the other end to see if it actually worked. And I’d do it with a hand spreader.

Ten pounds spread over 400 square feet = 0.025 pounds/square foot, which sounds fine to me. That's a trace.

 

[Threegoofs]

Ten pounds spread over 400 square feet = 0.025 pounds/square foot, which sounds fine to me. That's a trace.

Well, the guys in MN recommend 100 lbs per ACRE, which is about 43k SF, meaning .002 pounds per acre. And that’s the extreme amount, so your are 10x more than the highest amount. Of course, Epsom salts are not pure Mg, but some type of mgso4 hydrate (hexahydrate, maybe?) , so the weight of Mg is less than the weight of the salt.

The dose makes the poison.

You’d better check pH, too, sounds like it’s pretty critical with Mg.

 

[KevinKohler]

You are not paying attention to the thread. The flowers are blue. I'm using a potential way to having my plants bloom next April by spreading magnesium sulfate over the 400 square feet I can see from my bathroom window. The plants need magnesium to make the blue color. Using colored food dye makes no sense.

Seeds? If you want that specific plant, then sow that specific seed.


Or, are you saying the plants grow, but don't bloom?

 

[JacksinPA]

Seeds? If you want that specific plant, then sow that specific seed.


Or, are you saying the plants grow, but don't bloom?

I have no idea. This is a species that just appeared in my area 4 years ago. The mat of beautiful blue flowers was very enjoyable. I've looked at the biology here & I feel the answer to the floral decline is they have depleted the little magnesium you would expect in a suburban lawn's soil. The entire experiment can be judged by flowers next April. The fact that it only blooms in that month I felt was very interesting.

 

[KevinKohler]

I have no idea. This is a species that just appeared in my area 4 years ago. The mat of beautiful blue flowers was very enjoyable. I've looked at the biology here & I feel the answer to the floral decline is they have depleted the little magnesium you would expect in a suburban lawn's soil. The entire experiment can be judged by flowers next April. The fact that it only blooms in that month I felt was very interesting.

Fair enough to the experiment. Lord knows, I've done similar things...just because. I just hope you don't increase the salinity of your soil...that can't be undone. Not easily, anyway.

I hypothesize that the magnesium content in the dirt has nothing to do with it. Something got those seeds into that spot last time around. Something took a dump there, wind blew them there, maybe even bees. Problem is, you can't go to the store and buy wild flower seeds.

 

[JacksinPA]

Well, the guys in MN recommend 100 lbs per ACRE, which is about 43k SF, meaning .002 pounds per acre. And that’s the extreme amount, so your are 10x more than the highest amount. Of course, Epsom salts are not pure Mg, but some type of mgso4 hydrate (hexahydrate, maybe?) , so the weight of Mg is less than the weight of the salt.

The dose makes the poison.

You’d better check pH, too, sounds like it’s pretty critical with Mg.

It grew into my yard because our soil is acidic.

 

[Chomsky]

Sprinkling some Epsom salts in a garden shouldn’t be a big chore.

Personally, I’d start with a pound or so, and distribute more on one end and little to none on the other end to see if it actually worked. And I’d do it with a hand spreader.

This is far too logical.

 

[JacksinPA]

This is far too logical.

This plant burns through magnesium, which gets discarded when the flowers die. Millions of magnesium ions get stripped from the soil each day. That process doesn't take long to need 0.025 pound per square foot I only estimate.

Calculating the weight of millions of any element is pretty simple. Twenty-four grams of magnesium is 6.023x10^23 atoms.

 

[KevinKohler]

It grew into my yard because our soil is acidic.

Thats 1/2 the reason.

The other half is, seeds were left there TO grow.

 

[Threegoofs]

This is far too logical.

I’ve been cursed with that trait.

 

[Chomsky]

I’ve been cursed with that trait.

Hah!

 

[Deuce]

This plant burns through magnesium, which gets discarded when the flowers die. Millions of magnesium ions get stripped from the soil each day. That process doesn't take long to need 0.025 pound per square foot I only estimate.

Calculating the weight of millions of any element is pretty simple. Twenty-four grams of magnesium is 6.023x10^23 atoms.

Based on your... "estimate" of "burning" magnesium "ions," how many days would it take to go through your .025 pounds per square foot. Show the math.