Does anyone have any knowledge of producing and using extract of seaweed? I have half filled a large water butt with freshly collected seaweed, & topped it up with water. I understand from snippets found here & there, that I will have extract of seaweed in about 6 weeks, which will have to be diluted at differing strengths depending on its intended use. I believe it is valuable as a foliar feed, root feed, for soil improvement and is especially good for seedlings & young plants. O.K., that exhausts my knowledge of the subject - and I don't guarantee any part of it to be absolutely correct, apart from the content of the water butt! I am seeking the following information.

What will the dilution rates be for the various uses?
How often should it be used?
I assume the seaweed is exhausted during the extraction, but is 6 weeks the correct time, & is there any use for the spent weed after that?

I have also put a 2 inch mulch of seaweed over the beds for the first time, but any benefit from that will be readily apparent during the season and its strength is not wildly variable & so should not burn roots or foliage.
In past years I have included small quantities in the compost heap, but I've no experience of extraction.
If this site had an icon of Stan Laurel scratching his hairline it would be most appropriate & I'd use it!

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

Derek-G

In article , Derek-G
wrote:

Does anyone have any knowledge of producing and using extract of
seaweed? I have half filled a large water butt with freshly collected
seaweed, & topped it up with water. I understand from snippets found
here & there, that I will have extract of seaweed in about 6 weeks,
which will have to be diluted at differing strengths depending on its
intended use. I believe it is valuable as a foliar feed, root feed, for
soil improvement and is especially good for seedlings & young plants.
O.K., that exhausts my knowledge of the subject - and I don't guarantee
any part of it to be absolutely correct, apart from the content of the
water butt! I am seeking the following information.

What will the dilution rates be for the various uses?
How often should it be used?
I assume the seaweed is exhausted during the extraction, but is 6 weeks
the correct time, & is there any use for the spent weed after that?

I have also put a 2 inch mulch of seaweed over the beds for the first
time, but any benefit from that will be readily apparent during the
season and its strength is not wildly variable & so should not burn
roots or foliage.
In past years I have included small quantities in the compost heap, but
I've no experience of extraction.
If this site had an icon of Stan Laurel scratching his hairline it
would be most appropriate & I'd use it!

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

Derek-G

Seaweed is widely regarded as the vegan equivalent of fish fertilizer, but
without the same degree of stench as one gets spraying fish fertilizer all
over everthing. However, collecting ones own seaweed to personally make
the fertilizer could well result in a salty solution harmful to plants.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
visit my temperate gardening website:
http://www.paghat.com
visit my film reviews website:
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com

Thanks for the prompt response. The collected seaweed was shredded and put through a washing process to remove salt before beginning the extraction process. I didn't mention these before to keep the text as brief as possible. Thanks for the thought though.
Derek-G

"Derek-G" wrote in message

Does anyone have any knowledge of producing and using extract of
seaweed? I have half filled a large water butt with freshly collected
seaweed, & topped it up with water. I understand from snippets found
here & there, that I will have extract of seaweed in about 6 weeks,
which will have to be diluted at differing strengths depending on its
intended use. I believe it is valuable as a foliar feed, root feed, for
soil improvement and is especially good for seedlings & young plants.
O.K., that exhausts my knowledge of the subject - and I don't guarantee
any part of it to be absolutely correct, apart from the content of the
water butt! I am seeking the following information.

What will the dilution rates be for the various uses?
How often should it be used?
I assume the seaweed is exhausted during the extraction, but is 6 weeks
the correct time, & is there any use for the spent weed after that?

I have also put a 2 inch mulch of seaweed over the beds for the first
time, but any benefit from that will be readily apparent during the
season and its strength is not wildly variable & so should not burn
roots or foliage.
In past years I have included small quantities in the compost heap, but
I've no experience of extraction.
If this site had an icon of Stan Laurel scratching his hairline it
would be most appropriate & I'd use it!

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

There is a product in Australia called 'Seasol' which seems to be exactly
what you are trying to make. I've been using it for decades diluted to the
colour of weak black tea. It's especially effective for reducing transplant
shock for seedlings and wonderful for anything that is looking 'sad' or not
doing well. I usually just put it into a watering can at the 'weak tea'
dilution.

If I ever want to do a search for things that are related only to the UK, I
use the google UK site and select the option of only searching in the UK.
If you want to know about Seasol, you might like to do a similar search on
http://www.google.com.au/ searching for that item only in Australia.

Here's a couple of sites which may or may not help you:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1574815.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s793557.htm

I'm not close to the sea, but if I was, I'd use as much sea weed as I could
get my hands on as it's got such a great reputaion for soil improvement.

"paghat" wrote in message
...

Seaweed is widely regarded as the vegan equivalent of fish fertilizer, but
without the same degree of stench as one gets spraying fish fertilizer all
over everthing. However, collecting ones own seaweed to personally make
the fertilizer could well result in a salty solution harmful to plants.


I grew up on an island in Puget Sound and we collected seaweed, actually it
was kelp, every fall to put on our big vegetable garden. There were huge
beds of 'bullwhip kelp' in front of the house that would wash up on the
beach during the first fall storms. My brother and I had the chore of
spending two weekends of each year in the fall hauling wheelbarrow loads of
this up to our vegetable garden and spreading it around. That was long ago
when kids still did as they were told. By the time we were done it was about
a foot thick all over. It would sit there to rot all winter and in the early
spring my dad would till it in. It was about the only fertilizer that garden
ever got. Maybe because of our rainy winters the salt wasn't a problem, I
really don't know but we always had a spectacular, productive garden. Now
that I think about it the compost pile was never used in the veggie garden,
that was always put in mother's flower beds. My folks were by no means
"organic gardeners". The kelp and compost was just a source of free
fertilizer for them. My dad was big on weed & feed for his prized half acre
of lawn and I can still remember the stench of insecticides used at the
first sign of a bug on anything. It's a wonder all of us kids, or our
children, didn't grow up with extra thumbs!

Val

Thanks for your interest and in particular for the websites, both of which I have run off for future refence. If I ever had any doubts as to the value of seaweed, those articles would have dispelled them.
Both however, make reference to the danger of using it too strong, but give no estimation of a reasonable dilution rate, other than a reference to being like weak tea.
Coincidentally, my wife is in Australia at the moment, visiting her sister, so I have sent an e-mail to her to ask if she can get closer to an answer, by contacting the representatives of Peter Cundall and/or Jerry Coleby-Williams via ABC. I hope she will do that for me - I really wish now I had bought her a return ticket!

"Val" wrote in message

Maybe because of our rainy winters the salt wasn't a problem, I really
don't know but we always had a spectacular, productive garden.

The advice I've seen a number of times is that apparently bull kelp doesn't
have salt in it because it's ripped up off the ocean floor but the sea grass
that often collects at the high tide mark does because it's subject to sea
spray which dries and evoporates and continues doing that till it's
collected.

"Derek-G" wrote in message
FarmI;820150 Wrote:

If you want to know about Seasol, you might like to do a similar search
on
http://www.google.com.au/ searching for that item only in Australia.

Here's a couple of sites which may or may not help you:
http://tinyurl.com/6zy6mo
http://tinyurl.com/5tqujx

Thanks for your interest and in particular for the websites, both of
which I have run off for future refence. If I ever had any doubts as to
the value of seaweed, those articles would have dispelled them.
Both however, make reference to the danger of using it too strong, but
give no estimation of a reasonable dilution rate, other than a
reference to being like weak tea.

I wouldn't worry about it overly much if I was you. You are probalby a
reasonably experienced gardener if you are going to the effort of brewing up
seaweed, so I doubt whether, when you come to use it, you will overdo it.
You wouldn't do the same thing if you were using a chemical based liquid so
I'm sure you won't do it wiht a natural one. You could always plant a
couple of sacrificial plants to experiement on and water then with different
dilution rates.

I'm not too fussy about what my "weak tea" dilution rates look like -
sometimes it's a very stewed tea and sometimes it's as I do drink tea (wave
a tea bag over the water and call it perfect). I've not yet managed to kill
anything.

Coincidentally, my wife is in Australia at the moment, visiting her
sister, so I have sent an e-mail to her to ask if she can get closer to
an answer, by contacting the representatives of Peter Cundall and/or
Jerry Coleby-Williams via ABC. I

Peter Cundall has just recently retired. He thought that at over 80, it was
time he got back to his garden and gave up all the effort of being a TV
anchorman. "Gardening Australia" is our equivalent to whatever the top UK
TV gardening show is.

Found some more info on the show's gardening forum:
http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/M...s=20&dm=1&pd=3

hope she will do that for me - I
really wish now I had bought her a return ticket!

:-)) No doubt she'll find her way back anyway.

I gave a response to this yesterday, but it does not appear on the site, so I guess I must have pushed the wrong button & it's still drifting around in space somewhere! My apologies for that Val, & thanks for your interest.
That kelp you hauled up every year was not just free fertilizer, for I am told it's the BEST fertilizer you can get AND it's free! If that is not true now, it almost certainly was then. There are records of many small seaweed businesses around the U.K., although mainly in Scotland & the Islands, less than 100 years ago, and of villages battling with neighbouring villages as to who had the right to collect seaweed from the shore. Now, the cottage industries have all but disappeared and seaweed is in the domaine of big(ger) business. All of which brings me no nearer to learning what my dilution rates should be, but it's interesting nevertheless.
Derek

"Derek-G" wrote in message
Val;820155 Wrote:

I grew up on an island in Puget Sound and we collected seaweed,
actually it
was kelp, every fall to put on our big vegetable garden. There were
huge
beds of 'bullwhip kelp' in front of the house that would wash up on the

beach during the first fall storms. My brother and I had the chore of
spending two weekends of each year in the fall hauling wheelbarrow
loads of
this up to our vegetable garden and spreading it around. That was long
ago
when kids still did as they were told. By the time we were done it was
about
a foot thick all over. It would sit there to rot all winter and in the
early
spring my dad would till it in. It was about the only fertilizer that
garden
ever got. Maybe because of our rainy winters the salt wasn't a problem,
I
really don't know but we always had a spectacular, productive garden.
Now
that I think about it the compost pile was never used in the veggie
garden,
that was always put in mother's flower beds. My folks were by no means

"organic gardeners". The kelp and compost was just a source of free
fertilizer for them. My dad was big on weed & feed for his prized half
acre
of lawn and I can still remember the stench of insecticides used at the

first sign of a bug on anything. It's a wonder all of us kids, or our
children, didn't grow up with extra thumbs!

That kelp you hauled up every year was not just free fertilizer, for I
am told it's the BEST fertilizer you can get AND it's free! If that is
not true now, it almost certainly was then. There are records of many
small seaweed businesses around the U.K., although mainly in Scotland &
the Islands, less than 100 years ago, and of villages battling with
neighbouring villages as to who had the right to collect seaweed from
the shore. Now, the cottage industries have all but disappeared and
seaweed is in the domaine of big(ger) business. All of which brings me
no nearer to learning what my dilution rates should be, but it's
interesting nevertheless.

And who can forget the Irish potato beds that used seaweed.

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"Derek-G" wrote in message
Val;820155 Wrote:

I grew up on an island in Puget Sound and we collected seaweed,
actually it
was kelp, every fall to put on our big vegetable garden. There were
huge
beds of 'bullwhip kelp' in front of the house that would wash up on the

beach during the first fall storms. My brother and I had the chore of
spending two weekends of each year in the fall hauling wheelbarrow
loads of
this up to our vegetable garden and spreading it around. That was long
ago
when kids still did as they were told. By the time we were done it was
about
a foot thick all over. It would sit there to rot all winter and in the
early
spring my dad would till it in. It was about the only fertilizer that
garden
ever got. Maybe because of our rainy winters the salt wasn't a problem,
I
really don't know but we always had a spectacular, productive garden.
Now
that I think about it the compost pile was never used in the veggie
garden,
that was always put in mother's flower beds. My folks were by no means

"organic gardeners". The kelp and compost was just a source of free
fertilizer for them. My dad was big on weed & feed for his prized half
acre
of lawn and I can still remember the stench of insecticides used at the

first sign of a bug on anything. It's a wonder all of us kids, or our
children, didn't grow up with extra thumbs!

That kelp you hauled up every year was not just free fertilizer, for I
am told it's the BEST fertilizer you can get AND it's free! If that is
not true now, it almost certainly was then. There are records of many
small seaweed businesses around the U.K., although mainly in Scotland &
the Islands, less than 100 years ago, and of villages battling with
neighbouring villages as to who had the right to collect seaweed from
the shore. Now, the cottage industries have all but disappeared and
seaweed is in the domaine of big(ger) business. All of which brings me
no nearer to learning what my dilution rates should be, but it's
interesting nevertheless.

And who can forget the Irish potato beds that used seaweed.

yes, did you hear the one about the irish potato grower who never weeded?

All he did was "see weed".

Groan.

rob