I put 2 Tb spoon under each tomato plant this year. will do again next yr to look for consistency. I though my plants were greener and grew better. It could have been other factors

I have used it with good results, but I only use it when I feel there is a need, which has not happened in the past several years.

One thing about Epsom Salts that I find interesting is that university research fails to document the results that home gardeners say they see. Logic tells me that if the use of Epsom Salts really produces the results that people say they see, then researchers should be able to get the same results.

Have I used Epsom Salts? A few times. Did it seem to make a difference? Maybe. The plants did green up a bit more, but it was a terrible drought summer when BER was common because it was hard to keep the growing medium in containers evenly moist, and the plants that got Epsom Salts had as much BER as those that did not.

I think that if someone has soil that is marginally deficient in magnesium and sulfur, the Epsom Salts might help offset those deficiencies. However, if is it a really major magnesium deficiency, I doubt that there would be enough magnesium content in the amount of Epsom Salts used to make up for the whole deficiency. A gardener still would have to use some other method to add more magnesium.

Because I didn't feel like I saw a big difference in plants that got Epsom Salts vs. those that didn't, I stopped using it.

My largest challenges with gardening are moisture control, critter control and insect control. Epsom Salt does not seem to help with any of those. Organic matter seems to be my best gardening tool, it seems to go a long way to cover many of my mistakes.

One year I planted San Marzano tomato's and all of them had 'BER'. I had a little in Big Boy tomato's and another variety (can't remember the name). I grow Arkansas Traveler & Bradley Tomato's from seed now and have no problem from (BER) anymore. But it may have just been the year and weather. I have 13 pine trees around the fence line of my garden so have an abundance of pine straw built up under them. After reading an article in Mother Earth News about using pine straw for mulch and letting it rot and add organic material to the soil I started using it on my vegetable garden several years ago. It has helped make my soil better and it holds moisture better. My garden soil is Alluvial Fine Sand. When I first started gardening on it about 38 years ago it was like trying to plant on a sandy beach, The sand was light tan or sandy color and would not hold moisture but for a very short time. I had to water every thing to grow anything. Now days it will hold for long periods of time without having to water. Now the sand is a darker color and anything I plant grows well. I have not had any trouble with any acidity, a soil test showed it was about at 5.6 ph when I first started gardening on it. I have not had a new soil test since but do not feel the need as it is so much better than it used to be. I use oak wood to heat my home and sprinkle the ashes over the garden. My particular case may be different than other people's and they may not get the same results.