muriate of potash again

Jim McKenney jamesamckenney@verizon.net
Sat, 30 Mar 2013 11:16:55 PDT
The discussion we had earlier this week about the identity of muriate of potash seemed to provide a simple solution: that muriate of potash was the same thing as potassium chloride. 

Now I've read something which makes me wonder. One source (the T H Everett Encyclopedia of Gardening from the 1960s) makes the claim that muriate of potash is 85% potassium chloride and 15% sodium chloride. 

That was written a half century ago. Can any of our chemists comment on whether that might have been true back then but is/is not true now? 

It seems to me that if muriate of potash contains 15% sodium chloride, then it's not the same thing as potassium chloride - certainly not the same thing as Jim Shields' $100/oz potassium chloride.

Table salt might be good for some plants (I've read that it's good for asparagus), but many plants are sensitive to it - and who wants to pay muriate of potash prices for table salt?

Jim McKenney



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