| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Graham Hyde |
SeaweedWe normally don't get much seaweed on our beach but after a strong onshore wind we do for several days.Can this go on the exisiting compost heap, do I need to make a new heap for this only or can it go straight on as a mulch? 
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| Cathryn |
It's the concentrated salt that might be the problem isn't it.
Can you grow asparagus? |
| Graham Hyde |
Hi Cathryn.
Yes, salts the issue. I have piled the seaweed into a large heap and today has seen torrential rain so some surface salt will have been rinsed away. It seems such a waste not to use all that goodness. Asparagus: We both love it but can not get hold of seeds over here; does it like a salty environment such as sea kale? I intend to bring back heritage seeds from my trip to the UK and can include asparagus. Regards, Graham |
| dpack |
in cornwall and the scottish isles it is usual to drag it off the beach ,pile it in low heaps and let the rain de salt it a bit (how long depends on how rainy it is )before composting by itself or with all the other compost in a heap or adding it direct to the fields.
some folk ferment it as a liquid feed or burn it and use the ash to add minerals(that seems a bit wasteful especially as it adds organic stuff to thin soils ) |
| Graham Hyde |
Thanks Dpack.
Another couple of weeks of the wet season here so that may reduce the salt levels enough if I spread the heaps out. The soil is very sparse in areas so any extra medium is a great help. I know they extract iodene from seaweed but what nutrients can I expect from composted seaweed? Regards, Graham |
| dpack |
having had a quick google (broadband is useful)it seems all the trace elements a plant could want are in seaweed ,it has a fair bit of nitrogen phosphorus and potassium and the alginates and fibers add water retention to thin soils until they rot down .
ace stuff as a soil improver so long as you dont over salt the fields . i use seaweed extract as a plant food for stuff in tubs |
| gregotyn |
As I understood it 'they' collected it in winter and spread it straight away so as not to concentrate the salt in one place, and allow the salt to be washed out and drain away over winter then turn the seaweed into the soil prior to planting-yum early spuds! It is the way I do it with my earlies-get the seaweed from the shore in Aberdovey; I asked the harbour master who said "help yourself", what a good fellow!! |
| Graham Hyde |
Thanks Gregotyn.
I think I will leave in piles to be washed by the rain, then put some in the existing compost heaps, some in water in the rainwater barrels that are used to water the veg plots and the rest dig into vacant beds in the veg plot. I've not had much luck with spuds having to use ordinary potatoes from the market (no seed potatoes) but do grow good sweet potatoes and cassava. Regards, Graham |
| gregotyn |
If you leave the seaweed in piles the salt may not wash out of it thoroughly and also it may stay concentrated under the pile and ruin anything that can grow on that spot for a season. I would spread it over the ground. If you have piles put them away from anywhere you want to be growing anything that year. |
| Behemoth |
By way of a digression I remember seaweed played a part in the eponymous field in this film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Field_(film) If you read the plot summary you'll see it's not exactly a barrel of laughs. I'm not saying any of this should happen if you were to use it as fertiliser. |
| Mistress Rose |
I think seaweed will contain virtually all trace elements contained in sea water including gold as I remember from our lectures on trace elements from college. The lecturer, a non-smoker, left us with the analysis of cigarette smoke, which included cyanide, at the end of the lecture. It caused some of the smokers to think for at least a minute before lighting up. 
Gregotyn, thanks for that. I knew seaweed was used extensively as fertiliser in some places, but not how it was done. Our neighbour tried it fresh on his runner beans one summer and killed them, but it is good for asparagus, sea kale, and not too bad for other cabbages, although de-salting first is best as you say. |
| gregotyn |
I think, Mistress Rose, that de-salination, and spread out, not in a pile/heap beforehand, is critical! |