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You've probably already heard that Epson Salt is good for your orchids, but exactly how
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Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you for watching this video at Orcadaria
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If you're watching this video, then you've probably already heard that Epsom salt is beneficial to your orchid
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And Epsom salt is this fine white. It looks like coarse cooking salt is what you, it looks like that salt that we use on ground beef, on steak when you put it on the barbecue
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Mmm, delicious. But that's not anything compared to what Epson salt really is
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There are four things that Epson salt will do for your orchid. Four
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Epson salt aids in the. construction of chlorophyll. It aids in cell construction. It will help flush out your orchid
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which is to reduce the salt build up and aid in proper hydration. So if you have a dehydrated orchid
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Epsen salt is perfect. Epsen salt is not salt. And that's what got me confused for the longest
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time, because I was thought, why am I going to put Epson salt on my orchid if salt just kills orchids
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Well, salt, like the table salt we use, is in ACL. It's sodium chloride
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Epsom salt in fact is a Epsonite which are three elements put together which are magnesium sulfur and oxygen It has nothing to do with table salt So you can use this and should use this when you fertilize
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Let's look at the first element in how Epsom salt aids your orchid. So magnesium will travel through the entire orchid, not like other
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elements, for example, calcium. So there will be magnesium at the root tips. There will be magnesium
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on the aerial roots. There will be magnesium in the inflorescence, which is the flower spike
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The entire orchid will have magnesium. If there is a magnesium deficiency, what's going to happen
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is the orchid will try to save the newer roots. Since the orchid has magnesium everywhere
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it will try to save the newer leaves. So when you have a magnesium deficiency, you'll start to see it at the end of older leaves
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And to see this, the older leaves will start to have purple dots
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That's why it's important to not think that all orchids are going purple because the light's too high
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Now, if you want to know nine other reasons for orchids, look at this card up here
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And that will take you to nine reasons the purple. The orchid leaf will turn purple
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But these purple spots or blatches, it turns purple because the chlorophyll is actually dying
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And a way to fix this magnesium deficiency is with Epsom salt because Epson salt the first ingredient is magnesium sulfide Will you want to use Epson salt every time you water Absolutely not Do not do this
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Next question, can I only use Epson salt and just forget about all this fertilization? It's just too much
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Please don't. That's like telling you from now on you have to eat green beans and broccoli
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No mashed potatoes, no steak, no fried shrimp or whatever, just green beans and broccoli
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You're not too happy. Your orchids not too happy. So don't eliminate the nutrients that your orchid should have to grow healthy
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You should always be providing more. You can trade that out through tea bags, which you can see up here, or through eggshells, which you can also see
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up here and all other kinds of fertilization that the orchid would get if it was in nature
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And the last question is if you are watering your orchid with tap water. Notice that tap water will
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already have calcium and magnesium in the water supply. And my water supply here in Kansas is extremely
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high in pH because they just throw all that chemical addition in the water supply
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into the water and it's not that beneficial for my orchids. In fact, the first time when I started
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watering my orchids with tap water the leaves started turning yellow the entire leaf And then I noticed the blossom would quickly wilt and fall off And my potting media I mean you could smell it It just
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decomposed so quickly because the pH was up there about 8.5. So, yeah, the orchid roots died
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If you have tap water and you are using your tap water and it is a pH that the orchid likes
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that's okay. You probably will not need to add Epsom salt. You can add a little for the other elements like the iron, but you probably won't need to
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And remember, check your tap water. You can always check your tap water with a little instrument
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You can buy them in aquarium stores or any other kind of store that works with pH
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If this video did provide any helpful content in terms of Epsom salt, please hit that like button
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or comment down below because I love to interact with other orchid enthusiasts and know what
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you are doing to fertilize your orchids. If you want to know if you can use the leftover water that has Epson salt in it, watch this video
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appear about using leftover orchid fertilizer to water your orchids and also in this bigger longer
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video down here i talk about five different methods to fertilize sometimes we only think of dissolving
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in water thank you so much for watching and happy cultivating
