Put Salt on Tomato Plants?

The foliage on my tomato plants is turning yellow. The plant is still producing blooms and fruit. I heard somewhere that if a plant was turning yellow that you could sprinkle some kosher or rock salt on the ground or in the pot and that would help green it up. Is this a myth? Would it hurt?

I originally thought maybe I was over watering. However, I check the soil every day before I water and it is always dry.

Any suggestions would really be appreciated. Thanks!

I use epsom salts.

Ok. I have some of that. I will try it this evening.

Salt was used as an effective herbicide before chemical replacements came in the 40s and 50s. Don't take the risk. Try to find out what is wrong with your plant first. Yellow leaves are a symptom of several problems. It could be a disease, overwatering, nutrient deficiency or fertilizer burn.

Can you give more details about your situation?

Here in Texas, I water my plants every day. But my soil is mostly sand. And sand does not retain moisture.

Have you been feeding them? I you're watering often you may be washing out whatever nutrients are in the soil, so you'd need to supplement.
I would not use salt, as dlbailey said, it's an efficient herbicide.

Epsom salts in small quanties won't hurt your plants. All the greenhouses I know of use it in their mist sprayer to make the foliage green. My wife uses it a couple of times a year in her potted plants and I have used it sparingly on tomatoes. Regular salt will kill plants.

I don't believe there is any disease or pests involved. I don't see any evidence of that. This is our first garden. We have really thick sticky red clay, so we created a raised bed. #1: I don't think we added enough topsoil and other organic matter. #2: I think we went a little nuts on the miracle grow early on. #3: We may have also overwatered in the beginning.

My mother brought me some ironite last weekend, and I sprinkled some of that on the plants. They seem to be greening up.

I'm in NE TX and have been watering my plants every day as well.

I think we went a little nuts with the miracle grown early on (about a month ago). What type of supplement do you recommend?

My mother brought me some ironite last weekend and it seems to be helping...or maybe it's just the power of suggestion. I will keep an eye on it. Thanks for the info.

Ironite is a good product for greening up plants. I have never used it in the garden but my wife uses it on her potted plants and I have used it on azaleas and camelias.

I think yellowing leaves could also mean nitrogen is low.

It appears that the ironite is doing it's job. However, we went out of town over the weekend and didn't get back yesterday in time to water in the morning. Once it was cool enough yesterday evening everything looked pretty pathetic. Looks like I'm bound and determined to kill these plants one way or another!

could yellowing leaves also mean a lack of sunlight? I know my tomato and broccoli plants have yellowing leaves near the ground where the sun no longer reaches.

I get plenty of sun....maybe too much. Luckily the really intense west sun is blocked. This is all over yellow though. When my tomato plants get yellow leaves on the bottom, I cut those off.

epson salt has magnesium and allows plants to use available iron in the soil. I sometimes use it. I dilute it with water and water around the plant. careful not to get it on the plants.

I use Ironite on my citrus trees when I fertilize for the first time in the spring. Our soil is very alkaline and low in Iron. It does help a lot.

The yellowing of your leaves could be a number of things everyone has suggested. My guess would be overwatering though if the entire plant is yellowing. You need to check moisture in the soil at least a few inches down to see if it is dry. The surface may be dry, but down where the roots are may be another story.

All my veggies are in raised beds that drain well but also hold moisture as they contain a lot of organic matter. Even in our desert heat I deep water every three days and that seems to be adequate. Deep watering is better, especially when your plants are young. You want them to send down roots deeply so that they can be protected from the summer heat. Watering deeply then will make that moisture available to the roots instead of evaporating and drying out on the surface.

Hope your plants come around and you have a bountiful harvest!

Kelly