TRANSFORM Your TOMATOES With THIS Household Ingredient!

There is a secret ingredient that you may already have in your medicine cabinet that will increase your tomato production, increase the nutrient value of the fruit, increase the quality of the fruit, and increase the disease resistance of the plant. And it's not Epsom salts. Hey, I'm Brian with Next Level Gardening, and if you're looking to join an online garden community that offers tips, tricks, and support to help take your garden to the next level, you're in the right place. Get started now by clicking subscribe and hit the bell so you never miss anything. Now let's get growing. Two years ago, my how to grow tomato video took the world by storm and quickly became and still is the number one video on YouTube for how to grow tomatoes. In fact, I would bet that a good majority of you are here today because of that video. Let me know down in the comments if that's the case. At the very end of that video, I introduced an ingredient that would do everything we just talked about. Increase the fruit production, the quality of the fruit, the nutrient value of the fruit, and increase the disease resistance of the plant. Now a lot of you may not have made it to the end of that 22-minute video to even know what I'm talking about, so I am going to go over it in more detail and more directly in this shorter video. So in the thousands of comments of that video, there were a lot of people who said I thought it was going to be Epsom salts. So first, let me go through why I rarely use Epsom salts in the garden, and then I'll get to the miracle ingredient. Epsom salts is touted as a cure-all for everything in the garden on a lot of websites out there, especially Pinterest. Now, Epsom salts is magnesium sulfate, and it's actually a very minor nutrient that plants need. They do need it, but most native soils have plenty of magnesium in them already. One of the big claims for Epsom salts and tomatoes is that it cures blossom end rot. Now, blossom end rot occurs when there is a calcium deficiency in the tissues of the plant, not a calcium deficiency in the soil. And magnesium isn't calcium anyway, so I'm not even sure how this whole thing came about. Usually, blossom end rot is not a lack of calcium in the soil, it's just the inability for the plant to pull that calcium up into the plant out of the soil, and usually that's because of improper watering or uneven watering. When the soil is dry, the plant has a hard time bringing calcium into the soil, so usually it's a watering issue. Adding Epsom salts is only going to actually make the problem worse because magnesium and calcium ions compete with each other to be taken up into the plant, so you're just making it harder for calcium to be taken up into the plant. So, it's definitely not a cure for blossom end rot. I only use Epsom salts in the garden in two ways. Number one, when my seedlings, or even older plants, have some purpling to them because of a nutrient deficiency, and I did a video last week that I'll link below on that very subject. The other way I use it is when I'm planting in containers, especially tomatoes, in containers, and I've done videos on this as well. And I put that in there because most native soils have plenty of magnesium, some potting mixes may or may not, so it's a little guarantee, it's a little insurance policy, but I do make sure that I balance it out with plenty of calcium in the form of gypsum. And if you go to any of my tomato container videos, you'll see that. So, those are the only good uses for Epsom salts that I have come across and that I use. Now, this is a huge controversial subject in the garden, so if you have your views, definitely put them down below. You're more than welcome to do that. So, what is this miracle ingredient that does all of these amazing things? Well, it's aspirin. When tomatoes are under attack by pests and disease, they produce a hormone that is similar to the salicylic acid in aspirin. This hormone actually pumps the plant's immune system into high gear, so it can ward off any attack. So, by spraying an aspirin solution on your tomato plants, it makes the plants think they're under attack, pushes their immune system into high gear before any pests and disease have a chance to attack it. So, if they do, the plant is ready. To mix this solution, take 600 milligrams of aspirin and blend it up with a cup of water to help it dissolve. Then, you want to pour that solution into a gallon of water. Now, keep in mind, this is not a disease cure, this is a prevention. So, it will need to be sprayed every two weeks, especially before wet weather. Now, this is a great time also to add an organic liquid fertilizer as a foliar feed. So, I always include my tomato and veg from Neptune's Harvest. I'll link that down below as well. And just so you know, this technique, the aspirin solution, works on any plant in the nightshade family. So, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes. Also, I use uncoated aspirin. And the only reason for that is sometimes the outer coating of a coated aspirin will clog your sprayer. And uncoated aspirin is apparently difficult to find. And so, I will include a link down below to that as well. All of these links are available at the link below which goes to the Products I Love page on my website, and you'll find all of these there. Over the past year and a half, I've heard from so many of you who have tried this technique with my pruning technique, and you have had unbelievable success. Success you never got before because blight or some other fungal type disease would come and attack your tomatoes. So, I'm so glad that it's working for all of you. Now, some viewers have asked if using aspirin in the garden is still considered organic. Probably not. However, if I had to choose between using aspirin or not being able to grow tomatoes, I'd choose the aspirin. Or if I had to choose between aspirin and a chemical fungicide, I'd choose the aspirin. So, that's up to you. If you are, like, by the book organic, there is a solution. Willow bark has salicylic acid in it, and so you can make willow water or willow tea by soaking the bark in water. There's plenty of recipes online, so just search for that, and then spray it just as you would the aspirin solution. So, I hope this video helped. If it did, if you learned something, please give the video a thumbs up. Consider sharing it with people you know that garden and could use this information. And I hope you're subscribed, but I will see you guys tomorrow.