More on seaweed

I've heard over the years that seaweed and kelp have many properties of
which we know only little. One story I hear is that it helps plants protect
themselves from extremes of heat and cold.  Last winter a friend was
starting some seedlings here in the SF Bay Area. She fertilized one flat
with a commercial seaweed fertilizer, got interrupted, and forgot to
fertilize the second. We had a really big freeze a few days later and the
unfertilized seedlings died but the fertilized one didn't. Anybody else
have any similar stories?

Second, I was doing some research for a book project and came across
reference to an ingredient found in seaweed called mannitol, a compound
that enhances absorption of nutrients already in the soil, as well as
various hormones that stimulate plant growth. Comments?

Finally, there's been some local experimentation in our area applying
liquid seaweed fertilizers via foliage to control peach leaf curl. It does
seem to work, but has to be applied just as the new leaves are coming out
and reapplied frequently until they all emerge. Seems like a great idea if
one forgets to do dormant spraying in January or just can't find enough
rain free days to apply dormant oil. Plus I hate to have to wear all the
gear required for spraying with lime sulfur so the foliar application of
seaweed strikes me as a more appealing solution. Anybody else try this?

I've switched to a couple of different seaweed fertilizer brands (MaxSea at
16-16-16 and Growmore Seaweed Extract at .1-.1-1.5; the first is a complete
fertilizer with added kelp extracts and the second is just the kelp) for my
garden and am planning a couple of trips to the nearby Pacific Ocean this
fall to gather seaweed/kelp for fall mulching.  I was thinking about the
salt issue (we've got heavy clay here) and my idea was to bring the whole
thing home to my nice, suburban cement driveway and hose it down to get rid
of the salt. My neighbors already think I'm nuts, this will just confirm it.

Carol
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index