[Donnay]

I'm not sure, I have just noticed when reading some posts that other members use seaweed fertiliser and being new to growing I wondered if I need to get some. What do people use it for?

[arugula]

What are you planning to grow?

Sorry if it seems like an awkward question, but if it isn't appropriate to the crops you plan to grow then you don't need to use it.

[Donnay]

Everything, I think I'm running before I can walk being my first year. I'm planning to grow:

Potatoes
Parsnips
Turnips
Swede
Beetroot
Onions
Garlic
Lettuce
Rocket
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Sprouts
Soft fruit
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Peppers

[Yorkie]

I use liquid seaweed extract for a general purpose boost if a plant needs a quick lift.

I occasionally use tomato feed on tomato plants after the first truss has set and other flowering / fruiting plants once they are at that stage in their development.  However I prefer to use sulphate of potash as it's cheaper from my lotty shop!

Donnay, I'd only add liquid feed to the last 3 on your list - and that's the tomato food.

Lettuce and rocket don't need much fertiliser.

The others will do better with slow-release fertiliser.

[Donnay]

Cheers so much to learn!!

[sunshineband]

I'm sur eit would cause no harm, but if t'were me I would use Blood fish and bone raked in.

Poultry pellets high in nitrogen for leafy growth) for anything, well leafy, like cabbages

Tomato fertiliser for peppers and tomatoes once they have opened their first flowers

and anyhting that looks like it needs a boost ie leaves pale or not gorwing, a squirt or two of liquid food such as seaweed

Hope that helps  

[Yorkie]

I agree 

[Donnay]

Sorry to keep harping on, would it be a good idea to dig in some chicken pellets in my brassica bed before I plant anything?

[shokkyy]

I occasionally use tomato feed on tomato plants after the first truss has set and other flowering / fruiting plants once they are at that stage in their development.  However I prefer to use sulphate of potash as it's cheaper from my lotty shop!

That had never occurred to me before, but when I look at the label of my Vitax Organic Tomato, Chilli & Pepper fertiliser, it does say it's made from poultry manure enriched with a high potash fertiliser. Given that I already put chicken manure on my beds, putting more on in a tomato fertiliser does seem a bit of overkill. I might give sulphate of potash a go for my tomatoes this year. Tomato fertiliser is expensive and a bottle doesn't last very long when you've got quite a few tomatoes and peppers to feed.

[sunshineband]

Sorry to keep harping on, would it be a good idea to dig in some chicken pellets in my brassica bed before I plant anything?

Rake them into the top layer of the soil, they don't need actual digging in 

[muckshifter]

It may be unrelated to my use of seaweed extract on my Swedes,Beetroots and Parsnips,but Dear Wifey has complained    that they all took hours to cook,were very dense and not as flavoursome as in years past.
They all looked splendid, even took a first at a show with the beetroots, as seaweed extract is said to stimulate root growth did I over do it ? Fed them on a weekly basis with it last season but never used it on them at all in years past.

[Yorkie]

It's possible that you may have overfed them, but last year's weather was so odd that I'd have thought it was the more likely culprit re woodiness etc - perhaps too dry.

[JayG]

Seaweed extracts are often claimed to have almost magical properties which go way beyond the basic NPK analysis (and the fact they do contain trace elements.)

This website was chosen at random (honestly - the first one I looked at!) and makes all sorts of wondrous (but also rather vague!) claims about what it will do for just about everything!

None of it it backed up by any sort of analysis or scientific trials, and reading the testimonials I can only see the possibility that it might help reduce the effects of clubroot.

Best to regard is a source of potassium which makes it good for tomatoes and other flowering plants, but I just can't see how it can be equally good for leafy veg and root crops.

[sunshineband]

Trace elements are probably good for anything and although plants usually get these from soil without any problem, a boost as a foliar feed might help from time to time I suppose

(I ony use seaweed feed as foliar... I realise others might just water it in)

[Dopey113]

makes all sorts of wondrous (but also rather vague!) claims about what it will do for just about everything!

Will it make my hair grow though??