Plants store energy in the form of oils, sugars, starch, cellulose. Providing soil with magnesia helps crops improve the palatability of fruits, enhances their benefits to the human body. In addition, magnesium fertilizers help plants in winter. This is especially true for cereals, which need feeding as early as the fall – immediately after germination.
Magnesium is part of chlorophyll, and without it, the existence of greenery on the planet would be a moot point. Chlorophyll absorbs the energy of the sun and uses it to turn nutrients into complex organic substances – sugar, starch.
Sulfur is involved in metabolic processes in plants. Its lack is outwardly similar to a lack of nitrogen, but there is a slight difference. Nitrogen deficiency appears first on old leaves, and then goes on to young shoots. A lack of sulfur is immediately noticeable on young leaves, which become pale green.
Composition and properties of fertilizer
At the same time, these two important elements can be found in one fertilizer – magnesium sulfate, or as it is also called – magnesium sulfate. This type of fertilizer helps to absorb calcium and phosphorus, which develops the root system of the plant. The nutritional value of fruits increases, in which, under the influence of magnesium sulfate, the amount of ascorbic acid – the well-known vitamin C.
Best of all, plants absorb sulfur in the form of SO4, not counting the oxidized sulfur SO2, which is in the atmosphere. Therefore, the MgSO4 formula is the lightest nutrition for greens. It acts quickly: in urgent cases, you can water and simultaneously spray the foliage so that the plant does not die. Magnesia for plants contains 16% magnesium and 13% sulfur. Fertilizer with magnesium and sulfur is especially important when growing energy plants for the food industry, which produces sports and baby food, plant-based medicines.
The use of magnesium sulfate fertilizer improves the taste of vegetables – cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes. They especially love magnesia:
- all kinds of cabbage;
- legumes;
- garlic and onions;
- beet;
- pepper and eggplant;
- berry plants;
- cherry and apple tree.
Dolomite flour can also be a source of magnesium nutrition. The use of magnesium sulfate fertilizer in this case must be calculated additionally so that there is no overdose.
Most amateur gardeners believe that the main macroelements are phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen. But professional plant growers know that the macroelement group includes four more elements – magnesium, sulfur, calcium and iron. Therefore, yields differ dramatically in both.
The role of magnesium and sulfur for the full development of plants
Each day, each plant needs about 2 g of magnesia during the period of growth and ripening of the fruits. Magnesium sulfate for plants should be combined with mineral fertilizing, as it helps to absorb the basic nutrients: nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.
Most often, magnesia is mixed:
- with potassium sulfate;
- with dolomite lime;
- with phosphate fertilizers;
- with complex fertilizers containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in equal amounts.
Before applying magnesium fertilizers to the soil, liming should be performed, since with an acid reaction of the soil, magnesia is poorly absorbed by greenery.
Magnesium for plants is an anti-stress factor, as it protects leaves from exposure to sunlight, roots from freezing, fruits from spoilage. A green organism without sufficient supply of magnesia becomes extremely sensitive to external influences.
External signs of micronutrient deficiency in plants
The use of magnesium sulfate is justified with the following signs in plants:
- mezhilkovy chlorosis, when the leaves are covered with a marble pattern, that is, the production of chlorophyll decreased to external manifestations;
- the edges of the leaves change color from green to brown and dry out;
- falling of leaves – a critical lack of magnesium;
- the fruits do not ripen, since the plant cannot absorb the necessary nutrients for this, in particular potassium.
