Seaweed and your Garden

[opabinia51]

I already know that adding seaweed to you garden increases the Nitrogen content in the soil but, does anyone know what other nutrients seaweed adds? Specifically pertaining to Red Algae (Rodophyta), Brown Algae (Phaeophyta) and Green Algae (Chlorophyta).

[Newt]

Hi Opabinia,
These seaweeds are calcareous alagaes and contain calcium compounds.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/redalgae.htm
http://www.cutlervillecs.org/links/ocea ... alcare.htm
http://www.paleo.geol.vt.edu/geos3604/l ... plant.html

Newt

[Guest]

Thanks Newt,
The pages were/are very useful. Do you know of any pages/articles that describe the internal marcro.micromolecules of the Chloro, Rodo and Phaeophyta?
I don't know where you are from but, if you are ever on Vancouver Island, BC Canada, some spectacular examples of Calcareous Rodophytes exist at Botanical Beach near Port Renfrew.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Kelp is the seaweed of choice for most gardeners (although I doubt there are bad ones) While this article was focused on human health there was a good listing of trace elements (more important to plants than us...)

http://www.viable-herbal.com/herbdesc2/1kelp.htm

Scott

[Newt]

Hi Opabinia,

You are very welcome! Glad you found that useful. It was enjoyable doing the search.

Do you know of any pages/articles that describe the internal marcro.micromolecules of the Chloro, Rodo and Phaeophyta?

I think one of the links I gave you had some info on that, but I could be wrong. Maybe it was another site I had found. I'm trying to remember how I searched. Sorry, but I'm not feeling well and am not up to doing any searching at the moment.

I live in Maryland and have never been to B.C., but it's on my list! Lately I've been traveling to South America and they have some interesting fossils there as well! I noticed your name.

Regards,
Newt

[opabinia51]

Cool, I'm surprised that you recognized my name. Most people have no clue what Opabinia is, or that it was found in the Burgess Shale (another place you should put on list of places to visit). I've yet to make it there but, I will someday.
We have a lot of great fossil sites here on Vancouver Island (and on the mainland as well.) There are cambrian Rocks on the Island but, they are all volcanics. There are some great plant fossils out of Nanaimo.

[Newt]

I have to admit that I didn't recognize your name but it sounded like something I need to look up. I thought that it was interesting.

Newt

[Guest]

Oh, I see. Opabinia was one of the "wierd wonders" that came out of the Cambrian Explosion (when all modern phyla originated 543 million years ago). It had three eyes and a sort of tubular shapep body with spicules protruding from it.

[The Helpful Gardener]

NICE choice for a name, Opa! I'm glad there weasn't anything wierder for you to pick from...

Scott

[opabinia51]

Thanks Scott, actually the Burgess has several wierd wonders that I had toyed with such as Bomalocha, wiwaxia. And also some neat taxa that gave rise to phyla that are still around today such as Anamoloceras and so on.

[opabinia51]

I have found that seaweed also contain significant amounts of potash.


Okay, here is the question; What is potash and what does it do for your garden?

[The Helpful Gardener]

Potassium is sort of a hardiness and fruiting thang; with it you have strong healthy growth and without you get weak funky growth...

http://www.loudzen.com/garden/soil/potassium.html

Opa this is general info and I doubt that will work well for you; I'd suggest further googling and we'd be happy to hear the results...

Scott

[opabinia51]

Alright, that's Potassium. What about potash?



Yeah, I'll do more than just googling, I'll look up in some Journal's "the effect of Potassium on plant physiology and development" and see what I can find. I'll also look up potash. Though, I am still confused as to what it is.

[opabinia51]

Just found this information on a chart that I've had lying around for about a week:

Kelp is a dynamic accumulator that adds: Sodium, Iodine, Nitrogen, Calcium, Magnesium and Iron to your garden. Kelp and other seeweeds also contain significant amounts of Pot Ash also known as K2O4 or something the like. The short of the long about potash is that it is a Potassium compound that once broken down; adds Potassium to your soil!
Thanks Scott for the info on Potassium!!!

Another great Dynamic Accumulator is coltsfood; adding Boron, Magnesium and Calcium to your soil.

Flaxseed apparently adds Calcium to your soil. I think the best bet would be to grind the seeds up into a flour and spread that on your tomatoe beds but, I use it in my Breads (like the Roti that I made tonight!).

Apparently, Eastern Bracken (obviously after being mulched) adds: Potassium, Phosphorus, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt to the soil.

The list goes on, and on, and on. If anyone is curious about any sort of plant and what it adds to the soil after decomposition just ask. I'll see if it is here.

[opabinia51]

Here is a good website that has some tables showing nutrient (N, P, K) values for various fertilizeng agents:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/cons ... ables.html


The site also has a wealth of information on trees but, you have to navigate back to the main menu from where this link takes you. It's a great site. May be quite useful for those undertaking bonsai.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Opa, you're a wonder. Thanks for all the hard work...

Scott

[opabinia51]

Thanks Scott. It wasn't any trouble, a guy from the Internet Bonsai Club gave me the link as I was looking for any information on Pruning/caring for Western Red Cedar. When I found the tables, I could think of not a better place to post them.

Cheers

[The Helpful Gardener]

That was yeoman's work, Opa! (Literally!) Thanks for all the great stuff!

Scott

[opabinia51]

Back to seaweeds.... I have done a little research on Red Algaes with respect to what their pigments add to the soil. For anyone who is interested, pigments generally are proteins and the proteins in Red Algae are called Phycobillins. Anyway, one such protein (Phycocyanin) has the chemical formula of: C 165 H 185 N 20 O 30. from which, you can clearly see that Nitrogen and oxygen are added to the soil after the proteins are broken down.
The other red pigment is Phycoerythrin and it's chemical formula is: C4H11NO3 and therefore you can see that this pigment adds Nitrogen to the soil in the form of nitrates.

If anyone has any more information on the ions and other such nutrients that red algaes contribute to the soil, I would appreciate it.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Neat stuff Opa and I hope you get the additional information you're looking for (although I don't know who would have more info than you do... )

Scott

[opabinia51]

I'm sure that there is someone out there that is an avid gardner that also enjoys the biological arts.... at least, that is what I am hoping.

Call for enthusiasts! Call for enthusiasts! If you have information on the Benefits of Chromistans and other Alga to your garden, post it here!!!!

[The Helpful Gardener]

Help a biologist out, y'all...

Scott

[opabinia51]

Don't want to clutter this up but..... THANKs SCOTT!!! You da man.

[opabinia51]

This doesn't have anything to do with Seaweed but, I just discovered this website:

http://www.cyber-north.com/


It is very useful and has vivid description accompanied with neat diagrams to aid the gardner. I personally don't agree with using salt based fertilizer (to any great extent) but, to each their own.

Just tried following that link through and it didn't go where it was supposed to go, I'll see if I can fix that.

[The Helpful Gardener]

All in good time...

[opabinia51]

Couldn't really find a place that this fit into so, I decided that it would best fit here.


Here is a link with NPK ratios for various manures, wastes and what not. I personally don't put animal wastes (other than manure) in my garden (well, maybe the odd jellyfish ) as they tend to attract rats but,

Here is the link (it has manurs too):

http://www.primalseeds.org/kpnref.htm


Oh, and for that matter; the site also has listings for Jellyfish.

[opabinia51]

Here is a link with information and nutrition tables for Kelp meals and Fish Meals.

http://www.noamkelp.com/nutrition.html


By the looks of things, it would be best to put Fish meals into your garden a month or so before planting due to the high Nitrogen content. Anyone have any experrience in using Fish meals?

I used Liquid fish fertilizer last year on my tomatoes and applied it directly with no problems but, I'm a little leary on putting the Fish meal on right before planting. Any information is welcome.

[The Helpful Gardener]

I have actually tasted tomatoes that had a fishy flavor from too much fish emulsion, so while it is an excellent adjunct to the fertilizer pallette, DON'T go crazy with the stuff; use it in conjunction with other organic fertilizers for best results...

[opabinia51]

Since making this last post I have read that due to the high Nitrogen percentage in Fish Meal, it can burn the plants. I've since decided to just add a little of it to my Leaf Mold Tea. Just to boost the Nitrogen levels. I already use a liquid fish fertilizer once a week on my planted tomatoes (at least, I did last year) and had no ill effects. The plants grew really well.

[The Helpful Gardener]

I feel that organic fertilizers are best mixed; a little fish meal a little compost, a little manure (green or the hard stuff)...

All things in moderation...

HG