Re: Further Seaweed Theories

I would demur on several points:
1.  That there are no 'organic' remedies for black spot and rust of rose.
I could spend a couple paragraphs on the ambiguous definitions of 'organic'
and, even, 'remedy' but. leaving that aside I'd only say that there are a
jillion organic remedies for these maladies including: neem oil; baking
soda and superior oil; sulfur; anti-transpirants; water{i.e. washing off
the spores}; micro-climate modification{increased air-movement, mostly).
That's all I can think of presently but I know there are others.

2.  increased health=increased resistance to disease.  Again I could
nit-pick(What is 'health' as applied to non-sentient beings?) but lets skip
that, again.  There are some cases where avoiding stress on the plant
system seems to decrease the chances of disease but there are plenty of
other examples of optimum health leading to *increases* in pest
problems(the classic being homopteran insects like scale and aphis).

3.  The whole seaweed mystique seems to be based on the cytokinin reaction
that someone else alluded to.  It's doubtful that there is any significant
nutrient absorption from a spraying of Maxicrop or any kelp product. Both
powdery mildew and rose rust are endomorphic fungi which invade the plant
very superficially and are, therefore, highly susceptible to any
coating(neem oil, anti-transpirants, seaweed muscilage) that blocks access
to the leaf.  I'd wager that if you took ten plants and sprayed half with
Maxicrop and half with dilute soybean oil that you'd get virtually
identical results with both.

Jerry Heverly, Oakland, CA




At 10:18 AM 8/8/99, Tim Longville wrote:
>I read a piece recently by a UK pundit who suggested that spraying
>with seaweed solution might also have at least indirect benefits in
>relation to rust and blackspot, for which, said he, there are
>currently no organic remedies. The theory was that the seaweed spray
>might help simply by being a sort of plant vitamin pill - increased
>health = increased resistance to disease. (This was supported by a
>biologist working for Maxicrop - but, since they make seaweed
>solutions, they WOULD say that, wouldn't they...)
>
>Any comments anyone? (a) on the lack of organic remedies for rust and
>blackspot, (b) on the proposed benefits of seaweed spray in that
>situation.
>Tim Longville
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