[shokkyy]

Can anyone tell me what the actual difference is between seaweed meal and calcified seaweed? I understand the difference in how the two are produced, but what I'm after is the difference in use and effects. I've Googled it till I'm blue in the face, but can't really get any clear answer to this.

On one site selling both products, the listed benefits were:

Calcified - promotes vigorous root growth; breaks down heavy soil; neutralises acid soil; extensive trace elements.
Meal - makes humus, creating rich and friable soil; turns clay soil fertile; extensive trace elements.

Those lists look to me like they're saying much the same things, except perhaps the neutralising effect on acid soil. Yet the calcified is quite a lot more expensive than the meal. Can anyone help with this?

[New shoot]

Hi shokkyy

Calcified seaweed is a garden lime alternative but with the extra benefit of plant nutrients and trace elements.  It used to be widely harvested and used but environmental concerns over dredging and marine habitats has meant a lot of places don't produce it now. 

Seaweed meal is the inlanders alternative to the costal gardeners option of laying fresh seaweed on the soil as a fertiliser and soil conditioner.  You could add some garden lime if you needed the pH of your soil lowered 

[Trillium]

I use kelp (seaweed) meal as its readily available to me as well as affordable. Organic nurseries and seed growers in my area also use it regularly.

Since I mix the meal with other beneficials like greensand, manure, BFB and lime, my soil beenefits from a broad spectrum of 'ingredients'.

[shokkyy]

Thanks for that. And just to add to my confusion, some of the ebay sellers are listing it as Calcified Seaweed Meal

I think I'll give the meal a try then. I am also going to try some rock dust. I've read some of the research that's been done on it, and it is quite compelling. If they can be believed, it's not just a means of improving soil/plant health and yield, but also the nutritional value of the actual crop.  And if I can do all that with some chance of also helping the CO2 layer, it has to be worth a try

[New shoot]

There are mixed reviews on rock dust.  It has been used in Australia with dramatic results but they have very different soils over there.

We have had 3 ice ages in the UK which has ground up rock and mixed it into our soils putting a lot of minerals into our land.  Australian soil is much more clay based and lacks this mineral input, so responds well to rock dust. 

I'm not saying rock dust is useless, but it is expensive and you might not reap the benefits the suppliers claim for it   

[sunshineband]

I never knew that difference, New Shoot.

Thank you 

[shokkyy]

I use kelp (seaweed) meal as its readily available to me as well as affordable. Organic nurseries and seed growers in my area also use it regularly.

Since I mix the meal with other beneficials like greensand, manure, BFB and lime, my soil beenefits from a broad spectrum of 'ingredients'.

By the way - do you just use the seaweed meal as a conditioner in autumn/spring, or do you also use it as a top dressing?

It seems as though quite a few farmers are using seaweed now too. It's marketed to them as something to apply once every three years, not just to boost yields but also to save money because it significantly increases the uptake of NPK and hence reduces the use of chemical fertilisers. But that does seem to imply that the slow release benefits can go on for a considerable length of time, though I'm not sure if the seaweed products supplied to farmers are the same kind of strength as the ones available to us.

[Trillium]

I add it in spring, mixed in with other amendments at planting time. The nurseries add it every 3 years, but they add more liberal amounts at that time, while I'm more sparing due to the cost.