Hi everybody, can anyone help me with some info? I am at the seaside for a short holiday and thought I might just as well take some seaweed to make plant fertilizer. Has anyone done this? I'd like to know if one can use any type of seaweed for this and how to use the seaweed? Thanks!!
Hi Ellen, hope all is going well for you. Gather as much seaweed (any type) as you can take home. It can be made into a tea, or can be used as mulch or compost additive. Treat it as "green" in compost if it is still fresh and brown if it is dry. A tea would be the same ratios as a compost tea (about a third of a container with a lid, fill with water and leave with lid on for about 8-12 weeks. Use 1 part to 10 water and water in like you would worm wee. You can then re-fill and use a 2nd or 3rd time. It will smell very bad. This method can also be used with weeds from the garden too. Using as a mulch may attract flies - just a warning. In all cases, be sure to wash the seaweed well before using to remove the salt from the sea.
I don't prewash my sea weed, but apart from that I use the same process as Paula to make sea weed tea. And yes it is 'fragrant'. My theory is that all the nutrients that wash off the land end up in the sea so using it salt and all is just one way to cycle the nutrient back in.
We had a beach house when I was younger, we just took the local sea grass by the wagonload and mulched the garden 6 inches deep in seaweed. Tomatoes seemed to do especially well. Any seaweed will do. Folks in arid climates or pumping groundwater need to be more careful about salt than those in humid climates or irrigating with rainwater.
Thank you all, I'm about 600 km from the see and will definitely load the car when going back! Just didn't know which type to take, but seems that all of them will do. Thanks again ;-)