The benefits of liquid seaweed fertilizer

[Guest StonerCol]

I came across this article and thought it might be useful. It doesn't talk about weed but nevertheless it still gives good applicable info IMO.

Source: dengarden.com

The Benefits of Liquid Seaweed Fertilizer

Updated on April 4, 2016

One of the best fertilizers you can use on your plants is liquid seaweed, yet this is probably the last fertilizer people think of buying when they go to their local garden centre or shop online. liquid seaweed fertilizer is not only organic, but comes from a sustainable source and can be harvested without damaging the environment.

Most seaweed based fertilizers are made from Kelp, a variety of seaweed which can grow to lengths of over 50 metres.Trace elements found in seaweed organic fertilizers include magnesium, potassium, zinc, iron, and nitrogen -- all of which are beneficial to plants. Nitrogen, for instance, is essential to the production of nitrate, a key component needed by plants during photosynthesis.

In the Channel Islands, such seaweed fertiliser is known as vraicin their dialects of Norman, a word that has also entered Channel Island English, the activity of collecting vraic being termed vraicking. In Scotland, it is used as fertiliser in lazybeds or feannagan.

Falkland Islanders have also been nicknamed "Kelpers" from time to time, from collecting seaweed partly for this purpose.

One benefit of using a liquid seaweed fertilizer is that you can vary the concentrations according to what you are using the fertilizer for, so for instance, on a lawn you would probably use a more diluted mixture, but for a houseplant you would tend to use a stronger concentration. One thing I have noticed is that a little of this product goes a very long way with some pretty impressive results. Personally one of my favourite uses for liquid seaweed fertilizer is to give my exhibition vegetables a boost during the growing season in the hope I will stand a better chance of securing a few prizes once the Summer show comes around each August.

Foliar application is no doubt the most efficient and effective method of administering liquid seaweed to your plants . Kelp extracts are 8 to 20 times more effective when applied to the leaves then when broadcast on the soil. Spray as a fine mist until it drips off the plants’ surfaces and the plants will immediately absorb the fertilizer and begin to benefit from it by the second day.

Liquid seaweed fertilizer is used by many of the English and Scottish Football Premiership Grounds, as well as numerous UK Championship Golf Courses. In fact the high number of quality top sporting venues that use liquid seaweed extract as a fertilizer prove that it is extremely effective as a plant food.

Benefits:

1) It promotes additional buds when applied as the plants are beginning to bud.

2) It extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables if applied 10 days before harvesting

3) It lengthens the life of cut flowers if they are sprayed with Liquid Seaweed a day or two before cutting.

4) Treating seeds or seed pieces with Liquid Seaweed prior to planting will improve seed germination, root growth, and early seedling

vigor.

5) Liquid Seaweed also can be used as a rooting solution. Place cuttings in a solution of Liquid Seaweed and water until roots develop, then plant. When planting, water in with Liquid Seaweed solution.

6) Liquid Seaweed applied to pasture crops increases the nutrient uptake, the protein content, and overall quality of the crop.

7) Seaweed organic fertilizers can be used as a soil treatment to grow healthier, stronger, and more disease-resistant plants.

8) A wide range of beneficial effects have been reported from the use of liquid seaweed extracts including increased crop yields, resistance of plants to frost, increased uptake of inorganic constituents from the soil, more resistance to stress conditions and reductions in storage losses of fruit.

9) Promotes vigorous growth and helps deter pests and diseases on fruit, flowers, vegetables, lawns etc.

10) Seaweed has more than 70 minerals, vitamins, and enzymes.

11) Seaweed fertilizers are especially useful in organic gardening. They contain almost every micro-nutrient in a fully chelated (immediately available) form. They deliver a healthy dose of natural plant hormones. Seaweed is full of carbohydrates, which the plants use as a building block and which large populations of beneficial micro-organisms use as a food source.

12) Alginates, (sponge-like starches found in seaweed), hold water droplets near the plant roots, making moisture available to them without drowning them; they also help enrich the soil by feeding myriad beneficial microorganisms such as bacteria and tiny fungi necessary to composting.

13) Research at major universities has shown that seeds soaked in seaweed extract germinate more rapidly, have larger root mass, stronger plant growth and higher survival rate. Soaking plant roots in seaweed extract reduces transplant shock and speeds root growth.

14) Several university studies have shown that seaweed can produce dramatic results in plants: geraniums produced more flowers per plant; grapes were sweeter; gladiolus corms grew larger; and cucumber yields increased 40 percent and the fruits suffered less often from softening and rotting. Improved yields after seaweed treatments were measured in potatoes, sweet corn, peppers, tomatoes, apples, strawberries, okra, and oranges. Better frost tolerance, increased seed germination, and greater capacity to absorb trace elements were other documented benefits for plants.

15) Seaweed fertilizers have many benefits. They provide natural hormones and many nutrients not found in other forms of fertilizer. Since most plants absorb their nutrients through the leaves, applying this with a foliar method will benefit the plant even more. Foliar simply means placing the fertilizer on the leaf itself. As the plant absorbs the sunlight it needs, it will also be absorbing the nutrients found in the fertilizer.

16) Another major component in liquid seaweed fertilizers are the hormones. The main hormones in seaweed are auxins, gibbelerins, cytokinins and betaines. The roles of these hormones are essential to plant health. Most of these are only required in very small proportions. There are many different auxins and they all have their specific roles. Their main functions are the balanced control of speed of growth. They have both growth stimulating as well as delaying functions. They stimulate root-growth, prevent bud-forming or opening at the wrong times.

17) Seaweed can play an important role in the production of the plant's own auxins, because the enzymes formed with the help of trace elements from the liquid seaweed fertilizer play an important role in the formation of these auxins.

18) Cytokinins are another group of important plant hormones. They initiate and activate basic growth processes. The cytokinins available in liquid seaweed extract stimulate growth with greater vigour, because they mobilise nutrients in the leaves. They also provide protection from marginal frost (to -3 C). Cytokinins also retard the senescence (aging processes) in the plant.

19) Betaines play an essential role in the osmotic processes in plants. They help to increase the water uptake in plants and are extremely helpful in dry conditions. Betaines are particularly helpful to plants under stress.

20) Liquid seaweed fertilizers, (especially the alginates in the seaweed) act as soil conditioners. The alginates react with metals in the soil and form long and cross-linked polymers in the soil. These polymers improve the crumbing in the soil, and swell up when they get wet, and retain moisture for a long period.

Edited September 14, 2016 by StonerCol

[Happy Hippy]

i use sm3 organic seaweed and mine will be due a foliar feed soon...nice article dude...dont need much else imo maybe a bit of fishmix thats it...its all i use anyhow.

peace

[Guest StonerCol]

Thanks mate. I also use fish mix. I bought it and the seaweed from Wilkinsons for about a fiver

Do you not use anything else, even during bloom? I'd like to grow without BioBizz Grow/Bloom if poss but don't want plants to suffer. If they suffer, I suffer come harvest time.

[Happy Hippy]

Thanks mate. I also use fish mix. I bought it and the seaweed from Wilkinsons for about a fiver

Do you not use anything else, even during bloom? I'd like to grow without BioBizz Grow/Bloom if poss but don't want plants to suffer. If they suffer, I suffer come harvest time.

No dude no boosters none of that imo nonsense,,,if well grown and kept fed and happy i dont believe they need anything else...dont get me wrong i tried everything many years ago but always thought hmmm was that really any bigger/better tasting than just the seaweed/fishmix...in the end i felt not and now just dont worry about flushing/flushing products/npk/etc etc....i guess we will see soon enough,into flower in a week or so,which is why i was going to give them a early little boost with the seaweed soon..

take it easy buddy

peace

My smile are in their final 6.5s and have not been fed once yet...just potted up and watered thoroughly..

Edited September 14, 2016 by Happy Hippy

[Guest StonerCol]

Interesting. Think I'm going to go the same route on this grow - seedlings are only 12 days old. They are in a good quality seeding compost plus some good quality soil, with the addition of Mycorrhizal Fungi in the form of RHS rootgrow. Plus the fish, blood and bone mix and the seaweed. Hopefully that will be all I need. Gonna leave out the Grow and Bloom and see where it takes me

Cheers for the info dude!

Col.

[Happy Hippy]

no problems m8,if your going to veg for a long time and top many,many times a little spray of seaweed is good,same as fishmix imo...foliar = seaweed,roots= fishmix is all i do..

peace

[Guest StonerCol]

Plants are actually auto's so they are gonna veg/flower according to their internal 'clock'. Shouldn't make any difference though I think. The fungi is great to use too I think - it seems to really promote root growth and I wouldn't grow without it now.

A quick Q mate....how often do you apply the foliar spray?

Cheers,

Col.

[Happy Hippy]

One thought i have about flushing..bare with me ..

Hydro of course flush,problem is some flush for 2 weeks or so being ever so careful and reducing the feed each week..unless they have been overfed there is no point in reducing,keep feeding till maybe a few days before you want to crop then plain water only no flushing products fk all...but i think it really really helps if you continue to change the water as many times as possible in the res...aggro i know but you dont want em keep being flushed with shitty water thats going round and round your system...

Organics i liken to not feeding my son,15 years of age and still growing and gaining weight,if i dont keep feeding him he will never gain full potential...my son is the plant in this instance ...so at 7 weeks or 8 weeks many using organic nutes stop feeding cos they think the smoke will be rough/fizzy like hydro nutes and only give plain water...i will keep feeding him my son till the very end ....i hope this makes sense..

peace

Edited September 14, 2016 by Happy Hippy

[Happy Hippy]

missed the q dude sorry....errr when i feel they need it tbh...if i feel they seem to have lost their sparkle and nice healthy look and colour...

peace

[Guest StonerCol]

Thanks dude....same as usual then, wait for the plants to 'say' what/when

Cheers,

Col.

[Happy Hippy]

Years ago in my hydro phase i can remember ex mrs hippy asking why i was changing the res water at least 3 times a day in the final few days res was 150 ltrs...i told her its just like a dirty bath you might have pissed in...would you get back in the bath,top it up with plain water then piss in it again...? so why should we expect our plants to like it....i read once and its stayed with me.plants eat shit and breathe just like us...

hope this helps

peace

eta yes dude read what your plants are saying...its so easy...light green,loss of vigour up the feed a little...dark green,clawing,burnt tips lower it

Edited September 14, 2016 by Happy Hippy

[Happy Hippy]

any recirculating system is the same...unless you keep changing that final water flush they just go round and round with dirty water yuk

peace

[Guest Default Attribute]

I used to love using seaweed after transplanting.

[GSZZ]

Seaweed is good stuff to have at hand, great for spraying on plants and watering in just after a pot up to get them going a bit quicker. It's good for all sorts, really. I use Shropshire Seaweed, it's probably the best one you can get, 0.5ml/l anad nice and clean stuff not thick and sludgy at all.

[Guest fulltimer]

Seaweed is good stuff to have at hand, great for spraying on plants and watering in just after a pot up to get them going a bit quicker. It's good for all sorts, really. I use Shropshire Seaweed, it's probably the best one you can get, 0.5ml/l anad nice and clean stuff not thick and sludgy at all.

What effect is spraying it on plants going to have? Just as feed? Tbh ive always been wary of non clear sprays as ive seen stuff stick to the leave and survive multiple rainstorms in the past...