Magnesium chloride application in agriculture: crops and vegetables not recommended for use

1. Crops not recommended for magnesium chloride

Vegetables:

· melons: cucumber, watermelon, muskmelon, zucchini

· legumes: kidney bean, cowpea, pea, broad bean

· solanaceous seedlings: tomato, pepper, eggplant (highly sensitive at seedling stage)

· leafy vegetables: lettuce, celery

· root vegetables: onion, carrot, potato, sweet potato, taro

· strawberry

Fruits & berries:

· citrus (orange, pomelo, lemon, kumquat)

· grape (especially table grape; sensitivity varies with rootstock)

· blueberry (extremely sensitive, prefers acidic soil)

· avocado, kiwifruit, pineapple

· young apple trees

Other cash crops:

· tobacco (chlorine impairs combustibility and aroma, strictly chlorine-sensitive)

· tea plant (chlorine-sensitive, acid-loving)

· sugar beet, sugarcane (moderate salt tolerance, yet chlorine reduces sugar content, quality-sensitive)

2. Crops requiring strict dosage control for magnesium chloride

Mature tomato, pepper, eggplant, radish, chinese cabbage, cauliflower. These crops are not completely incompatible with magnesium chloride. If applied, low and split soil application is preferred; foliar spraying of magnesium chloride is not advised. Total chlorine intake, including potassium chloride, ammonium chloride and chlorine in irrigation water, must be calculated together.

3. Relatively chlorine-tolerant crops (magnesium chloride allowed after total chlorine calculation)

· leafy vegetables: spinach, chard, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus

· melons: pumpkin

· grasses: rice, wheat, barley, corn, sorghum

· others: cotton, sunflower

Note: spinach is chlorine-tolerant while lettuce is sensitive. Sensitivity differs greatly even among leafy vegetables.

Yuze magnesium chloride factory reminder: chlorine is an essential micronutrient for plants. No crop is absolutely forbidden from magnesium chloride. “Not recommended” means crops with low chlorine tolerance that easily suffer chlorine damage or quality loss; long-term or heavy magnesium chloride application carries high risks and poor economic returns. Chloride ion is not a toxin; damage accumulates gradually. A tiny single dose plus heavy leaching may cause no harm, but magnesium chloride should not be used as a regular magnesium supplement. Damage builds up year by year, especially in greenhouses with high evaporation and insufficient leaching. For foliar spray, magnesium chloride has a much lower safe concentration limit than magnesium sulfate. Recommended max concentration for magnesium chloride foliar spray ≤0.1%; magnesium sulfate commonly used at 0.2%–0.3%.