Make Seaweed Tea Liquid Fertiliser

Seaweed is rich in trace elements and potassium, which makes it ideal to add to compost in its raw state, to work in as a mulch, or to create a liquid fertiliser. This is really easy to do and your plants will be thankful for it; seaweed fertiliser releases about 60 nutrients plants can benefit from.[1]

Steps

  1. Gather the seaweed. Make sure it is lawful to do so and do not pillage your local beach! Look for seaweed that isn't too stinky and is still wet.
  2. Rinse the seaweed to remove some of the excess salt.
  3. Fill a bucket or barrel to three quarters way with water. Add as much seaweed as will fit and leave to soak.
  4. Stir the seaweed mix every two to four days.
  5. Allow to soak for several weeks to several months. The fertiliser grows stronger over time. Make sure to keep the brew somewhere that its odours won't affect your daily household. It is ready for use when it no longer carries a smell of ammonium.[1]
  6. Use as needed. When it is ready, use as a fertiliser on your plants and garden beds (soil). It should be diluted with water at a minimum of three parts to one.[1]

Tips

  • The mixture can be reused. Leave the solids in the bucket or barrel and top up with water. However, after the second use, its goodness is exhausted, so simply toss the old seaweed on the compost.
  • As well as nutrients, seaweed fertiliser provides plants with hormones, vitamins and enzymes that boost flowering, growth, branching and root extension.[1]
  • Powdered kelp can be used as a slow-release, leach-resistant fertiliser.[1] Add the powder to the soil direct or add it to your compost. Worm farms also benefit from a sprinkling, and the vermicompost will be much improved for it.[1]
  • Seaweed types:[2]
    • Sea lettuce - Ulva lactuca (sea lettuce); Enteromorpha intestinalis (gutweed); Caulerpa brownii (sea rimu).
    • Red seaweeds - Porphyra seaweeds; known by Europeans as "laver", by Japanese as "nori", by Maori as "karengo"; easily peeled off rocks.

Things You'll Need

  • Bucket or barrel
  • Seaweed
  • Water

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Tim Marshall, Composting, p. 71, (2008), ISBN 978-0-7333-2416-1
  2. ↑ Daryl Crimp and Norman Holtzhausen, Food from the sea, p. 67 and p. 74, (2007), ISBN 978-1-86950-659-9
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