Magnesium Citrate

Okay I know everyone's gunna say use Epsom salt, but I was just wondering can this be used instead in conjunction with my regular feedings for a magnesium additive. I understand if you can't I won't but if I can I will. Regardless I was just wondering if it won't work I will just go out and get Epsom salt. I don't have a deficiency or anything just wondering so I can absorb the knowledge. I googled it in a few different variations to try and find an answer but none was provided. Please and thank you and I love everyone here.

I dont see why not just be carefull of extra ingredents such as binders

I would imagine epsome salt is usualy used becouse of it's cheap price , is sold 99.8% pure, and is avaible most everywear , and also has sulfur in it

If you aren't showing deficiencies, why are you thinking about adding an unknown product to your grow? Magnesium is rarely considered a macronutrient. Even if you add Mg citrate (C6H6MgO7, by the way, a very complex molecule for microbes to be breaking down), you likely won't see a noticeable difference. Especially considering the fact that Mg is needed in such small amounts, your soil likely already has the sufficient amount present. It is very unlikely that it will harm your plant. It is very likely, however, that you won't have a clue of the difference it makes.

I'd mostly be using it for my little party cup grows because I know theres not near enough Mg in the amount of soil in that cup to keep it going. Thank you and + rep for the answer man. I just wanted to see if it "could" be used doesn't necessarily mean I will ya know? I currently don't have Epsom salt but I have a clear liquid bottle of magnesium citrate (constipation meds lol) just wanted to see if I did develop a deficiency I wouldn't have to go out and buy Epsom salt. But I guess I will hafta.

The clear liquid bottles are usualy lemmon flavored , with sweetners and stabilizers

Skunkybud said:

I'd mostly be using it for my little party cup grows because I know theres not near enough Mg in the amount of soil in that cup to keep it going. Thank you and + rep for the answer man. I just wanted to see if it "could" be used doesn't necessarily mean I will ya know? I currently don't have Epsom salt but I have a clear liquid bottle of magnesium citrate (constipation meds lol) just wanted to see if I did develop a deficiency I wouldn't have to go out and buy Epsom salt. But I guess I will hafta.

Click to expand...

You are completing a grow with 20 oz. party cups??? I would be worried about a lot more than a Mg deficiency if I were trying to finish a plant in a pot that size. I can't even get through the seedling stage with that much space.

The more space you give below, the more production you will get above. It is a general rule that your roots need nearly as much space as the plant they support. If you confine your roots to a limited space below, you are also confining growth above.

Also, I asked one of my professors if magnesium citrate is capable of being absorbed by plants. Your plants will struggle to absorb this form of Magnesium. The human body has VERY VERY strong acids in the stomach (mostly HCl), which enables us to break down nearly any substance that enters our body, even steel and iron believe it or not. Plants don't have an organ full of hydrochloric acid that readily eats up and converts available nutrients to those that are needed. In other words, plants need simple forms of nutrients. They can't make wine out of water like we can . Microbes do the work, symbiotically, with nutrients for plants. They feed on nutrients, breaking them down into more simple forms for the plant to absorb. Plants have very little capacity to process nutrients in the way that humans do.

Calcium, sulfur and magnesium actually can be considered secondary macro-nutrients, yes (after nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium which would of course be the primary macro-nutrients).

Also, and while those liquid flavored magnesium citrate products aren't for plants, theoretically yes the magnesium in magnesium citrate would be plant available. Magnesium citrate itself is a salt of magnesium and citric acid. What happens to water-soluble salts once they dissolve in water? They dissociate. There is an Mg2+ ion, which plants can certainly absorb. The other component is the citrate ion (an anion) which will exist in solution as hydrogen citrate or dihydrogen citrate. Citrate is the conjugate base of citric acid, which is not only a mild chelating agent, but also a part of the citric acid or Krebs cycle that occurs in all aerobic metabolism.