"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 30 May 2017 16:58:21 +0100, David
wrote:

Going off topic a bit.
In the past you used to be able to get calcified seaweed but this seems
to have gone off the market in the last few years.

I may be thinking of something else, but IIRC there were deposits of
calcified seaweed off Plymouth and off Falmouth, that were extensively
dredged in the not-too-distant past. Whether the deposits have been
exhausted, or whether they've stopped dredging for environmental
reasons, e.g. causing damage to the sea bed flora and fauna, I don't
know, but either might explain why it's not around any more.

Maxicrop extract is the best well known. They sell it at the local Trago
Mills, so must be available at all the big farm shops, DIY outlets etc.

The dilution rate is quite fantastic and IIRC a small bottle lasted me a
whole season :-

http://tinyurl.com/y6ud3gfc

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 30 May 2017 19:30:51 +0100, "Bertie Doe"
wrote:
Maxicrop extract is the best well known. They sell it at the local Trago
Mills, so must be available at all the big farm shops, DIY outlets etc.

The dilution rate is quite fantastic and IIRC a small bottle lasted me a
whole season :-

http://tinyurl.com/y6ud3gfc

Not the same as calcified seaweed, which is granular and superficially
looks a bit like a kiddies breakfast cereal or some sort of novel
spaghetti shapes, http://tinyurl.com/y9oyk5em . Used as a

Yes you're correct, in fact Maxicrop sell it as a liquid extract. Your
calcified mage does look like kiddies cereal. If we can persuade the
minister of school dinners, to add it to their gruel, we could breed a
generation of super heroes :-)

There's an interesting and true story about the real seaweed. As you know,
gales in the western approaches, dumps loads onto the beaches. Looe Council
uses machinery (of some sort) to sweep the stuff back into the sea, thus
keeping Looe beach, pristine for the holiday makers. It's a bigger problem
on the rocky adjoining beach at Hannafore :-
https://prnt.sc/fe7xue
For years, a local farmer has come to the rescue with big tractor,
scoop-bucket and trailer. (No environmental issues, as seaweed is rootless).
Until Looe decided to charge (£30 - £50 IIRC) per trailer-load. The farmer
declined.

Needless to say, the following year, there were numerous complaints about
the pong of rotting seaweed, from local residents. The council went back to
the farmer and invited him to remove the stuff f.o.c. The farmer offered to
remove it for .... £30 - £50 per trailer-load. Not sure of the outcome of
this, assume Stalemate :-)