Seaweed / Kelp 101 ( Seaweed in Agriculture and Horticulture)

Seaweed contains all major and minor plant nutrients, and all trace elements; alginic acid; vitamins; auxins; at least two gibberellins; and antibiotics.

Of the seaweed contents listed after nutrients and trace elements, the first, alginic acid, is a soil conditioner; the remainder, if the word may be forgiven in this context, are plant conditioners. All are found in fresh seaweed, dried seaweed meal and liquid seaweed extract -- with the one exception of vitamins: these, while present in both fresh seaweed and dried seaweed meal, are absent from the extract.

It is known that plants treated with seaweed products develop a resistance to pests and diseases, not only to sap-seeking insects such as red spider mite and aphides, but also to scab, mildew and fungi. Such a possibility may seem novel, but it is in keeping with the results of research in related fields. The control of plant disease by compounds which reduce or nullify the effect of a pathogen after it has entered the plant is an accepted technique.

Seaweed, use little and often...

Seaweed, use little and often...

LITTLE AND OFTEN:
Research has shown that to get the best results, Liquid Seaweed needs to be applied in low doses but at regular intervals throughout the periods of active plant growth.

This "Little & Often" application approach keeps the plants and, where possible, immediate soil environment, 'topped-up' with all the beneficial components of our seaweed extracts.

This helps ensure that a suppressive soil is built up around the plants roots. It also strengthens the natural resistance mechanisms of the plants themselves, thereby leading to improved plant health and productivity. Research has shown that plants that are regularly exposed to low levels of seaweed extracts establish bigger and deeper roots and are faster growing.

They also develop bigger and greener shoots that are more resistant to stresses from pests, diseases and adverse weather conditions, thus allowing the plants to realise more of their yield and quality potential.

Soil & Leaf:
To achieve faster crop establishment seaweed extracts must be applied to the soil or young plants around the roots. Hydroponics, or drenching roots every week via a fertigation or some such other system, provides excellent results.

Once plants are well established, regular applications to the foliage should commence. These will improve the plant's natural resistance mechanisms making them better able to fight off foliar diseases...and to combat the negative effects of adverse weather.

Applications to the foliage and roots will also enable plants to protect and maintain their photosynthetic apparatus during periods of stress allowing for better light utilisation and so providing greater energy for growth and productivity.

Maxicrop liquid seawwwd product benefits links

Kelp Forests


The Best "Kelp" Secret of the Sea

Every farmer & gardener should be using kelp in conjunction with a regular fertilizing program. Research & field trials have confirmed the role of kelp in increasing crop yields, drought resistance, frost protection, and stress recovery. Although kelp extracts do contain small amounts of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, & Potassium, their value is not as a fertilizer but as a growth stimulant. They contain potent concentrations of trace minerals, micronutrients, amino acids & vitamins essential to plant growth ? but most important, kelp contains many growth hormones, including cytokinins, auxins & gibberellins, which stimulate cell division and larger root systems. Kelp extracts can be applied as a foliar spray or as a soil soak & are excellent as a root dip for reducing transplant shock. It is important to use recommended rates because these extracts are so potent. Kelp extracts are concentrates which are created quickly with heat, but which can affect the quality of the end product. Cold-processing preserves much higher levels of proteins & growth hormones. Enzymatically digested kelps are even better because their nutrients are in a more readily available form that have not been damaged by heating.

Peaceful Valley Farm Supply has a nice selection of Kelp Products

thanks guys you rock

thanks guys you rock

Thanks IMB,

Well I made a decision yesterday, to renew my Internet
Service for one more year. I really can't afford it, but
one deciding factor, was the MJ forums, and a thread
like this by IMB makes it all worthwhile, and confirms
I made the correct choice.

I use Maxicrop and I love it. I found it by accident,
when my other Seaweed bottle ran out, and got
turned on to MaxiCrop. I will never be without

This thread and a whole bunch more make the weed world go round.

-greenhit

Seaweed and Plant Growth (Long, FYI) Part One

Seaweed and Plant Growth (Long, FYI) Part One

Seaweed contains all major and minor plant nutrients, and all trace elements; alginic acid; vitamins; auxins; at least two gibberellins; and antibiotics.

Of the seaweed contents listed after nutrients and trace elements, the first, alginic acid, is a soil conditioner; the remainder, if the word may be forgiven in this context, are plant conditioners. All are found in fresh seaweed, dried seaweed meal and liquid seaweed extract -- with the one exception of vitamins: these, while present in both fresh seaweed and dried seaweed meal, are absent from the extract.

We will deal first with alginic acid as a soil conditioner. It is a matter of common experience that seaweed, and seaweed products, improve the water-holding characteristics of soil and help the formation of crumb structure. They do this because the alginic acid in the seaweed combines with metallic radicals in the soil to form a polymer with greatly increased molecular weight, of the type known as cross-linked. One might describe the process more simply, if less accurately, by saying that the salts formed by alginic acid with soil metals swell when wet and retain moisture tenaciously, so helping the soil to form a crumb structure.

These brief notes cover two examples: one of the way in which seaweed helps to produce a crumb structure in the soil, another of the way in which it helps soil to retain moisture.

...a market gardener customer... tells us that before he used seaweed meal, heavy rain used to run down his sloping plots and carry all his seedlings and fertilizers into the ditch. Since his introduction of seaweed, the structure of his silty, sandy soil has so improved that soil, seedlings and nutrients are no longer of being washed away, even in the heaviest rain.

As to water-retaining characteristics,... the Nova Scotia Research Foundation told members:
'In the spring of 1956 I was greatly impressed with fields in the island of Jersey. This was not in any way a scientific experiment, but the results were most obvious. The year 1955 had been exceedingly dry. The only fields suitable for a second crop of hay were those which had been fertilized with seaweed. All the others had dried out, and had to be ploughed up for other crops.'

Research confirms this observation: two workers at the Agricultural Research Council's unit of soil metabolism (now disbanded) reported in 1947 that 0.1 of a gram of sodium alginate added to 100 grams of soil increased its water-holding power by 11 per cent. This is the first way in which seaweed and seaweed products condition the soil: by increasing its water-holding capacity, and encouraging its crumb structure. This in turn leads to better aeration and capillary action, and these stimulate the root systems of plants to further growth, and so stimulate the soil bacteria to greater activity.

As far as soil-conditioning is concerned -- and that is all we are to consider for the moment -- bacterial activity in the presence of seaweed has two results: first the secretion of substances which further help to condition the soil; and second, an effect on the nitrogen content of the soil. We will deal with these in turn.

The substances secreted by soil bacteria in the presence of seaweed include organic chemicals known as polyuronides. Polyuronides are chemically similar to the soil conditioner alginic acid, whose direct effect on the soil we have already noticed, and themselves have soil-stabilizing properties. This means that to the soil-conditioning agent which the soil derives from undecomposed seaweed -- alginic acid -- other conditioning agents are later added: the polyuronides, which result from the decomposition of seaweed.

Seaweed and Plant Growth (Part Two)

Seaweed and Plant Growth (Part Two)

The Latent Period:

The second effect of adding seaweed or seaweed meal, to a soil well populated with bacteria, has already been mentioned briefly. It is a more complex matter, and requires consideration in some detail. Basically, the addition of seaweed leads to a temporary diminution of nitrogen available for crops, then a considerable augmentation of the nitrogen total.

When seaweed, or indeed any undecomposed organic matter, is put into the soil, it is attacked by bacteria which break the material down into simpler units -- in a word, decompose it. To do this effectively the bacteria need nitrogen, and this they take from the first available source, the soil.
This means that after seaweed has been added to the soil, there is a period during which the amount of soil nitrogen available to plants is reduced. During this period seed germination, and the feeding and growth of plants, can be inhibited to greater or lesser degree.

[liquid seaweed extract is not subject to this latent period but lacks the vitamins of the fresh & dried seaweed. IMB]

This temporary nitrogen deficiency is brought about when any
undecomposed vegetable matter is added to the soil.

In the case of straw, for example, which is ploughed in after harvest, bacteria use up soil nitrogen in breaking down its cellulose, so that a 'latent' period follows. Farmers burn stubble after harvest to avoid this latent period, and the short-term loss of available nitrogen which causes it. But such stubble-burning is done at the cost of soil structure, soil fertility, and long-term supplies of nitrogen which ultimately would have been released from the decomposed straw.

...during this "Latent period" there is a temporary shortage of available nitrogen, while the total nitrogen in the soil is actually being increased.

This increase makes itself felt after the seaweed is completely broken down. Total nitrogen then becomes available to the plant, and there is a corresponding upsurge in plant growth.

It is therefore clear that while seaweed, in common with all organic matter, is beneficial to soil and plant, it has to be broken down, or decomposed, before its benefits are available.

( that liquid seaweed extract is not subject to this latent period.
The nutrients and other substances it contains are available to the plant at once.)

"The Chilcott Method":
This period of decomposition -- or composting, as gardeners know it -- usually extends over months. It can, however, be reduced by the use of dried blood and loam according to the technique created by a Mr. L. C. Chilcott
Only fourteen days of heating up are required before the mixture is used, and no latent period follows.

Brown seaweeds,
which are the ones used in agriculture and horticulture, not only contain vitamins common to land plants, but also vitamins which may owe their origin to bacteria which attach themselves to sea plants, in particular vitamin B12. There is still some doubt about this -- B12 may be contained in the seaweed, although in some cases it is in associated bacteria.

Vitamins known to be present in the brown seaweeds include vitamin C (ascorbic acid), which appears in as high a proportion as in alfalfa.
Vitamin A is not present, but its precursor, beta-carotene, is, as well as fucoxanthin, which may also be the precursor of Vitamin A.
B group vitamins present are B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B12, as well as pantothenic acid, folic acid and folinic acid.

Also found in brown seaweeds are vitamin E (tocopherol), vitamin K, and other growth-promoting substances. The unusual nature of the vitamin E in seaweed should be stressed. It has valuable characteristics (put technically, a complete set of isomers) found only in such seed oils as wheat germ oil.

Auxins in seaweed include indolyl-acetic acid, discovered in seaweed in 1933 for the first time. Two new auxins, as yet unidentified, but unlike any of the known indolyl-acetic acid types, were also discovered in 1958 in the Laminaria and Ascophyllum seaweeds used for processing into dried seaweed meal and liquid extract.

These auxins have been found to encourage the growth of more cells -- in which they differ from more familiar types of auxin which simply enlarge the cells without increasing their number.

One of the auxins also stimulates growth in both stems and roots of plants, and in this differs from indolyl-acetic acid and its derivatives, which cause cells to elongate but not to divide.
The balanced action of this seaweed auxin has not been found in any other auxin...

...At least two gibberellins (hormones which simply encourage growth, and have not, like auxins, growth-controlling properties too) have been identified in seaweed. They behave like those gibberellins which research workers have numbered A3 and A7 -- although they may in fact be vitamins A1 and A4.

Seaweed and Plant Growth ( Part Three)... TRACE ELEMENTS...

Seaweed and Plant Growth ( Part Three)... TRACE ELEMENTS...

We now come to Trace Elements some of the most important and most complex of all seaweed constituents.

We have seen that seaweed contains all known trace elements.
This is important. But it is also important that these elements are present in a form acceptable to plants. We have seen that trace elements can be made available to plants by chelating -- that is, by combining the mineral atom with organic molecules. This overcomes the difficulty that many trace elements, and iron in particular, cannot be absorbed by plants and animals in their commonest forms. This is because they are thrown out of solution by the calcium carbonate in limy soils, so that fruit trees growing in these soils can suffer from a form of iron deficiency known as chlorosis. It is for this reason that plants such as rhododendrons and azaleas, which are particularly sensitive to iron deficiency, can grow only in acid soils. In these soils, iron does not combine with other elements to form insoluble salts which the plant cannot absorb, and it is therefore more freely available.

It is true that an iron salt such as iron sulphate can be dissolved in water and the solution poured on the soil, injected into an animal, or put into its feed. But iron has such a tendency to become bound up with other elements that it is not available to plants or animals when introduced in this way.
If, on the other hand, iron in the form of iron oxide is dissolved in an organic compound, there will be no fusion with other chemicals in the soil, and it will be available to the plants which need it. This is the technique of chelating which makes possible the absorption of iron by living matter.



Such chelating properties are possessed by the starches, sugars and carbohydrates in seaweed and seaweed products. As a result, these constituents are in natural combination with the iron, cobalt, copper, manganese, zinc and other trace elements found naturally in seaweed. That is why these trace elements in seaweed and seaweed products do not settle out, even in alkaline soils, but remain available to plants which need them.




Hydrolized seaweed extract also 'carries' trace elements in this way, in spite of the fact that the liquid is alkaline, having a pH of nine -- in the ordinary way so alkaline a solution would automatically precipitate trace elements. This precipitation does not take place in seaweed extract because the trace elements already form part of stronger, organic, associations.

With liquid extract, this ability to chelate can be taken a stage further than happens naturally with seaweed and seaweed meal. Chelation can also be used, artificially, to cause extract to carry more trace elements than are found in fresh seaweed, in seaweed meal, or in ordinary hydrolized extract.
...

It will be remembered that liquid seaweed extract differs from seaweed meal in that it can be used directly on the plant in the form of a spray. We know that the minerals in seaweed spray are absorbed through the skin of the leaf into the sap of the plant -- and not only minerals, but the other plant nutrients, auxins and so on, listed earlier. Experience further suggests that plants' needs for trace elements can be satisfied at lower concentrations if those elements are offered to the leaves in the form of a spray, rather than being offered through the soil to the roots.

It is also possible that seaweed sprays stimulate metabolic processes in the leaf and so help the plant to exploit leaf-locked nutrients -- for it is known that trace elements won from the soil, and delivered by the plant to the leaf tissue, can become immobilized there.

And if, as has been suggested by E. I. Rabinowitch in a standard work on photosynthesis, a 'considerable proportion' of photosynthesis is carried out by bacteria at the leaf surface, spraying with seaweed extract at this point may feed and stimulate them, and thus increase the rate of photosynthesis.


We now come to the debatable matter of antibiotics in seaweed -- debatable, not because there is any doubt that seaweed contains therapeutic substances, but because the precise nature of those substances is unknown. We call them antibiotics for convenience.

It is known that plants treated with seaweed products develop a resistance to pests and diseases, not only to sap-seeking insects such as red spider mite and aphides, but also to scab, mildew and fungi.
Such a possibility may seem novel, but it is in keeping with the results of research in related fields.

The control of plant disease by compounds which reduce or nullify the effect of a pathogen after it has entered the plant is an accepted technique....

...The reason why seaweed and seaweed products should exert some form of biological control over a number of common plant diseases is unknown. Soil fungi and bacteria are known to produce natural antibiotics which hold down the population of plant pathogens, and when these antibiotics are produced in sufficient quantities they enter the plant and help it to resist disease. The production of such antibiotics is increased in soil high in organic matter, and it may be that seaweed still further encourages this process.

JourneyToForever.org/farm_library/seaweed.html

i love Nitrozime. the stuff works wonders.


do you have any experience with nitrozime?
any other seaweed nutes you recommend?

i've recently been trying different things and last night i came to the conclusion that my best harvests have been when i used nitrozime. i don't use it as directed, it say's to use 1-2tsp per quart i use it at 1 tsp per gallon.
just started a new crop and the nute & additive regime will be...
1. GH flora Nova bloom 4ml per gal
2. Dark Energy 2ml per gal
3. Fulmag 1tsp per gal
4. Nitrozime 1tsp per gal
starting at week 5 i'll add
5. Koolbloom 1/4tsp per gal
6. for the 1st 2-3 weeks foliar feed nitrozime and fulmag alternating sprays every 2 days(sunday nitrozime, tuesday fulmag, thursday nitrozime etc)
with my crappy water this still keeps the PPM under 1300

peace,
OS

super nova

super nova

any feedback of this stuff?
SuperNova contains high concentrations of cytokines extracted from the sea plant, Ascophyllum Nodosum. Cytokines increase cell division, which promotes vigorous plant and root growth. SuperNova also contains growth precursors, vitamins, and amino acids.

SuperNova is high in concentration, requiring minimum product to obtain the maximum positive results.

Hydroponic Use- 1/2 tsp per gallon of water
Soil Use- 1/2 tsp per gallon of water
Foliar Spray- 1/4 tsp per quart of water


regards,
OS

Dosage ofkelp meal to soil/tea?

Dosage ofkelp meal to soil/tea?

IMB....you got a clue maybe?

great info...rebump realizing recently how great this stuff is :smile:

all I use in veg is growmore seaweed extract. Thinking about goin to pure blend grow.

seaweed extract

seaweed extract

So far, all I have used is Age Old Organics brand. I haven't really compared it to anything else, but I have used it on seedlings at 2 weeks old and never obtained a nute burn.

I love my fish/kelp emulsions




its "all" I've been using for the last couple yrs

5-1-1 during Veg

2-5-1 or
2-4.5-0.5
during flowering

my plants seem to like it (see my gallery)

and I perfer the taste it gives my buds
imo: it seems to give...a richer, smoother, overall more pungent taste to the smoke


fyi: I've been growing for over 15yrs and have tried all kinds of fertz, chem and organic....and perfer the overall performance/taste the fish emulsions give

this is kinda an old thread...but BUMP for anyone who hasn't read this already.

any one used the kelp sushi wrap " nori" as a soil additive i have a couple packs in the fridge and am wondering if i should shred them up to add to my media any one used 'sea rich' from gardens alive ?

wow good info ill post a few up that i have in my notes. i love to use kelp and my plants love it too.


Benefits Of Kelp


Kelp is any of a variety of large, brown seaweeds
that grow underwater and on rocky shores. Kelps are
found in cold waters throughout the world.

Kelps vary widely in size and form. One type of kelp,
called giant kelp, may have hundreds of branches, each
of which has hundreds of leaves. Giant kelp may reach
over 200 feet in length and will create entire forests
of kelp. Other kelp consists of only a single branch
and may be less than 3 feet long. But what they all
share is that it is hard to tell the stems from the leaves.

The role of kelp in agriculture dates back thousands of
years, and has been an integral part of coastal farming.
It can be said with honesty that kelp is the most effective
additive next to quality fertilizer.

The kelp that has the most importance for our needs is a
kelp that grows in the cold canadian waters of the Atlantic
Ocean, it is called Ascophyllum Nodosum. There are many kelps
that have great benefits for agriculture but this particular
kelp has the gold medal.

Ascophyllum is harvested by collecting from either the rocky
shores or using a type of dredge or seine to catch it. It is
then washed with fresh water to rid it of excess sea salt and
then it is dried and powdered. It is very important that they
harvest it at just the right time to ensure that the cytokinin
levels are at their peak (cytokinins are growth hormones
responsible for cell division in plants).

Kelp contains many wonderful things such as over 70 minerals
and trace elements, growth hormones, vitamins, enzymes, and proteins.

It has been proven that kelp or what is in kelp can accelerate growth,
increase fruiting and flowering, provide resistance to disease, insects
and frost. There are a couple of things that are important in regards
to the benefits of kelp and how they work. The first one is all of the
trace elements and minerals which are aided by a carbohydrate mannitol
that chelates or makes available certain minerals. One of the problems
of modern farming is enabling the plant to take up all of the nutrients
to complete a healthy life cycle. Chelates are very important in
allowing plants to take up certain essential elements. What researchers
have discovered is that with so many trace elements and minerals as
well as vitamins and enzymes not to mention growth hormones, kelp
aids in building and or supporting the plants natural immune system.
If you can keep a plants immune system high it will have the ability
to resist disease, insects, frost, and drought.

The second important and perhaps the most important aspect of kelp
is the growth hormones. Kelp contains ample quantities of auxins,
gibberellins, and cytokinins. All growth hormones play a part in
how a plant functions, and are more accurately called growth
regulators. Kelp has very high amounts of a particular hormone,
cytokinin. Cytokinins are responsible for cell division, cell
enlargement, differentiation of cells, development of chloroplasts
as well as a delay in aging.

When kelp is used regularly you will notice that the overall health
of the plant will increase and that when applied at certain times
major growth will occur.

There are many ways to use kelp with foliar spraying being the most
effective. You can improve specific growth stages by applying kelp
with a specific response in mind. For example, if your tomatoes or

...The reason why seaweed and seaweed products should exert some form of biological control over a number of common plant diseases is unknown.

Click to expand...

But it sure is a beautiful thing to behold.

"Soil fungi and bacteria are known to produce natural antibiotics which hold down the population of plant pathogens, and when these antibiotics are produced in sufficient quantities they enter the plant and help it to resist disease.
The production of such antibiotics is increased in soil high in organic matter, and it may be that seaweed still further encourages this process."

Click to expand...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
SuperNova
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=39505

My 'kelp head' just got bigger. Definitely an article at large. I must re-read it again!

Great, thankyou IM and jaykush! I just added kelp meal to my mix yesterday, now I know it needs to decompose first.

Peace, Desi!

Excellent info! I use Maxi-Crop Liquid Seaweed and I love the stuff. I'll always keep a bottle for sure. It's cheap and works awesome. It can be used for several different things to such as seed soak, clone soak, and foiler feed. I use it on my mother plant. I'll foiler once every two weeks and water with it once a month. Last time I watered with it I got a nice growth spurt. I'm going to try the seed soak method sometime. I think it would be beneficial for older seeds that might have a hard time germinating.

I love the stuff. My Dream Goddess are soaking in it now. I watered with it last night and I will take clones soon. You can really see the effects when used in a folar spray the best I think.

Good read though.