On 30/11/05 14:35, in article
, "La puce"
wrote:


Sacha wrote:
Seaweed was the fertiliser of choice for farmers in Jersey growing Jersey
Royals, time past. Some are returning to using it now, thank goodness. All
they did was chuck it on and let weather and nature do the rest.

cough Seaweeds are very effective absorbers of marine pollutants, and
concerns over environmental pollution have considerable implications
for the commercial harvesting of Scottish wild plants for food, fodder
and medicinal purposes, as well as for mulches and fertilisers. There
is some concern about the contamination of seaweeds on the West coast
of Scotland (at least in the southern part of the country) with
radioactive isotopes from the Sellafield power station. For example,
several seaweed species act as bioaccumulators of heavy metals, and
Fucus vesiculosus (bladder wrack) growing off Islay has been found to
be contaminated with Technetium 99. As to the damage to the ecosystem,
perhaps that's another conversation. Bon appetit )


Oh dear, how depressing. And the CIs are pretty close to Cap de la Hague.
On that theme, I went with a group to visit the Nuclear Fuel plant there and
we were given a marvellous lunch. While we were commenting on how delicious
the trout were, someone remarked in a gravelly voice "they were the size of
goldfish this morning". It wasn't easy to explain that to our French hosts,
under the circumstances!
If, in terms of damage to the ecosystem you're thinking of harvesting the
seaweed, as far as I know they way that's done now is simply to pick up
what's been washed up by the autumn storms. I don't *think* anyone goes
down at very low water to cut it as they did once.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)