Seaweed Fertilizer
The New Ancient Art of Seaweed Fertilizer
Organic gardeners are just now discovering seaweed fertilizer as a great way to naturally help their organic gardens thrive. What many of them may not know is that there is nothing new about this practice. Many sea-based cultures like Norway have discovered how to intermix seaweed with their fertilizing mixes to increase the potency and health of their agricultural yield. In fact, you can even prepare seaweed fertilizer yourself—all you have to have is access to the some seaweed and a little bit of know-how.
What’s so great about seaweed fertilizer?
Seeds Germinate More Healthily With the Aid of Seaweed
When you add seaweed to your regular gardening soil the seaweed’s natural balance of hormones aid in mitosis and support the whole process of germination. This effect, in turn, makes for more verdant, fuller, healthier growths and increases both the number and hardiness of plants, buds, and fruit. In addition, the seaweed fertilizer does all this without adding some unproven industry produced chemicals that will likely have an undisclosed connection to cancer causing agents later. Seaweed has just the opposite associations.
Roots Grow More Fully, Forming Stronger Foundations
Seaweed’s natural properties increase the level of chlorophyll in the roots of your plants, boosting their ability to take in the sun’s rays, thus maximizing photosynthesis. This creates stronger healthier plants with more extensive and stable root systems, healthier, less disease prone stalks and ultimately fuller, juicier fruits and vegetables.
Seaweed Helps Fight Nematodes and Other Pathogens
Seaweed fertilizer, furthermore, increases the level of beneficial microbes in the soil creating a moot of healthy soil around the base of your plant. These microbes help cultivate the area surrounding your plant, but they pull up the drawbridge when harmful pathogens or parasites like nematodes come around.
Fruits and Vegetables get More Nutrients and are Healthier for Humans
Even more importantly, seaweed may transfer some of its health benefits not just to the plant but to us when we consume the plants that seaweed helps produce. Therefore, you might actually get an increased mineral boost from the fruits that you eat that have been raised in seaweed-fertilized soil. Magnesium, sodium, iron, and calcium levels are likely to be increased in plants grown in this seaweed fertilizer. Vitamins A, B1, C, E, and K may also be increased.
How to Make Your Own Seaweed Fertilizer
Although you can buy seaweed fertilizer, you can also mix your own. Here’s how.
You can either go to the ocean and collect your own seaweed or search for online seaweed producers. Online you can find some seaweed from Norway where the Norse practically invented the practice of using seaweed as part of fertilizer. You will likely be able to find some producers, but it is easiest and less expensive to get your own seaweed. Just plan a little trip to beach in an area you know seaweed abounds and get some.
You should probably get a big plastic bag to carry it in so it doesn’t cause damage or leave odor in your car. On the West Coast you are most likely to come across Wireweed seaweed, while on the East Coast (especially the Northeast); Knotted Wrack is the most common seaweed.
When you get home, rinse your seaweed out thoroughly to try to get rid of as much of the salt that coats it as possible. Place your seaweed in a barrel or a trash bin filled with water and cover it with a lid. Leave it there for two months, stirring it twice a week. When two months have passed, empty the water and mix the seaweed with your gardening soil.