Making your own seaweed fertiliser

Hi everyone, I posted this question in the organic gardening forum but have had no responses yet. Perhaps someone here can help.

I am interested in learning how to use fresh collected seaweed to benefit my organic vege garden. I have searched through past threads and read about the benefits of using seaweed and fish emulsion, but couldnt find much on using fresh seaweed.

I have heard that you can compost it, use it as mulch, or make it into a tea by soaking it in a barrell of water for some time. And I think you need to rinse it first to remove the salt. Id like to reap the benefits as soon as possible, so Id rather make a liquid fertilizer than wait for it to compost into the soil.

I live near the ocean (Tasman Sea) but have never used self collected seaweed. Does anyone have any experience with this? I would greatly appreciate some input.

Some questions are:

1. Is it best to collect the fresh wet plants, or the dry older stuff?
2. How long does the tea need to be brewed?
3. Can you get more than one brew out of a single barrell of seaweed?
4. How much should it be diluted before applying (by watering can) ?

We are doing a trip to the coast tomorrow, so I will collect as much as my partner will allow me to put in the car!

Thanks in advance for any ideas.
Lena

LenaBean, here's a website I found that talks about collecting fresh seaweed for use in creating fertilizer. The author spends more time discussing methods of collecting seaweed and then composting it, but there is a mention of first soaking out the salt and then making a "tea" with the fresh seaweed "fronds" by soaking in a barrel of water for a few days.
When I make compost tea by soaking a handful of compost for a few days in a 20-gallon barrel, I do not dilute the product. But perhaps someone else on this forum can answer your question about diluting the seaweed tea with more accuracy.


http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/9/7/173327/6647

Thanks for the link, very interesting. I have been doing a bit of my own research too.
A number of different sites reccomend leaving the tea to soak for 3 months, and then heavily diluting it as it will be very strong. And stinky lol. About half a cup to a whole bucket of water.
Most of them also promote rinsing the sand and salt off first. One lady strongly urged people to do the rinsing AT THE BEACH to prevent taking the many insects and mirco-organisms that live in the seaweed home to die a certain death in the garden. And not to take too much from a single area, because it provides habitat to many creatures.
There are differing opinions on whether the fresh or old stuff is better.
One recipee required the seaweed to be BOILED in a pot to soften it and extract the goodies, then let the liquid cool, dilute, and use imediately. Others say that the heating process denatures the growth hormones within the weed. My common sense tells me this would happen too.
While searching, I found some other interesting garden tea recipes too, using comfrey leaves, fish bones/heads, etc. Could post these if anyone is interested.
Our trip to the coast had to be postponed till wednesday, so Ive got some more time to hunt down a few extra sacks! Getting excited about it now, after all that reading.

Lena

Lena

I have composted lots of seaweed. It's great for compost because it heats the pile up fast.

We had an expert from San Diego here a while back and he said that rinsing it removes the potassium. He said if you have worms in your soil you're doing fine. I had lots of worms.

Now I'm told that using EM will make the salts inert so I'm brewing an EM/seaweed tea which should take less than a week to be ready. The EM also cuts the "fragrance."

Seaweed is the best. Get as much as you can.

katiebear

Katiebear, I have a source nearby where I can get salt-marsh "hay"--do you think this would be like putting seaweed in my compost pile?
Thanks!

I don't think so. The seaweed is high carbon and has lots of minerals.

The hay would probably be OK but different. Again, if salt is an issue, check out using EM.

kb

Thanks, katiebear. Do you think I could spray the salt-marsh hay with EM before putting in my compost pile--or would it need to be brewed like compost tea?
As you can probably tell, I am a complete novice at figuring this out. I have finally gotten comfortable with Bokashi but brewing this sort of tea is new to me.

I think you could add it to the compost and then spray with EM.

The tea is good for weeds that you want to be sure are dead.

Don't worry about asking questions. I still read and reread the stuff about EM and bokashi. Luckily, it seems to be very forgiving of us newcomers. Good results even if we don't do it "right."

katiebear

I have a novice question too: What is EM?

Lena

Sorry. EffectiveMicrorganisms. Bokashi is made from it. There are several threads on it here at the Soil and Composting Forum and you can read about it (and order it) at www.emamerica.com.

katiebear

Thanks Katiebear :-)

And we went for a drive to the coast (about 40min away) on wednesday, and there was NO SEAWEED AT ALL on the beach! I was very disapointed. So I gathered some driftwood logs instead, to edge a new lasagna bed Im making. Ill have to wait untill the next storm.

Lena

I finally got some seaweed! 6 big bags full. Its lying spread out on the lawn, rinsing in the rain. I got the idea of running over it with the lawn mower on high setting, after cutting the hard chunky root sections out. Has anyone done this, or know a reason not to?

I thought if it was chopped up it would compost faster.

Lena

Lena...I often run over stuff for the compost pile with the ride on mower...even if they don't get chopped, they do get mangled and they decompose faster.

I was in your gorgeous country last Monday. I visited a friend in Tauranga and there IS an EM (a couple of them) in NZ. I looked it up in something...it is a great addition to my life!!! Between cooking and picking up fruit fall from the trees, we have a lot of organic waste... It was hard leaving NZ...(also quick a long trip!) as it is my second home!-getting too $$$$ to go often!

Carol

Tauranga is lovely isnt it. I lived there for almost 5 years before coming down here in 2005 to study. Will probably move back to the area in a few years. Such lovely climate and fertile soil too. Your climate cant be too terrible either though I imagine? :-)

Im still confused, where do I find this EM?

I like compost, and mulch. But Im not very patient, and never seem to have enough! I run over heaps of garden waste whenever I mow the lawns. My lawnmower doesnt seem to like it much but puts up with it anyway.

Lena

Lena... www.emamerica.com should give you a dealer there. You can also go to Soil and Composting thread and read about Bokashi. There are LOTS of threads and they are very long.... I read all of them, still had questions and the EM people were very helpful. You could probably Google it for NZ.

Well...NZ gives me two weeks a year of great food, no mosquitos and no heavy humidity where my clothes want to smell wet!!! I love it. My friend lives in Welcome Bay...and we walk the beaches at the Mount.

I lived in Welcome Bay for a while, on Osprey Drive. Also lived at the Mount, Papamoa, and Otumoetai. Great place, and Mount beach is one of the best in NZ. Do you get this much wind in Hawaii? Wind is the thing that plagues me here, my garden doesnt like it much either. Its just always there, sometimes more sometimes less. The flies and mosquitos are starting to emerge, you were lucky leaving just on time. It definately is a great place to live though, even with the flies and the wind. I used to live in Germany, so I have something to compare to. Definately works in NZ's favour.
Thanks for the link, Ill have to check it out later, my SO has just begun the big planned sunday clean out of the garage and sheds, and is reminding me that Im supposed to be helping... better go. Great day for it, hot and sunny and low winds.

Lena