Seasol question...

[gtarman]

Hey guys.

So it's coming up to that time of year I guess, and up until recently I'd never used ferts before, and still haven't used any on cacti.

Just wondering who uses what and how much/how often...I hear a lot about people fertilizing with Seasol regularly over the growing season.

I'm just wondering which Seasol you mean - there's the original one that doesn't have any NPK value and is just trace minerals nutrients etc from seaweed...then there's the one that's a fish emulsion with lots of nitrogen and stuff, which is the one I have.

Which one do you guys use, and if both how much of each and how regularly?

Peace out

Edited September 7, 2013 by gtarman

[AndyAmine.]

I use seasol once a week or with any feedings.
I add various types of ferts over the season depending on whats handy. Fish emulsion is always good but be careful not to go overboard with it as its pretty strong and high in N. I use it once a month or so.

IME as long as you have good drainage a healthy, happy tricho can be fed and watered as much as any other plant in your garden during spring/summer, its the slow growing cacti you have to be more careful with in regard to feeding, N levels and over watering.

If you are hoping for the cactus to flower the coming season then dont feed too much N and boost your P/K

Edited September 7, 2013 by AndyAmine.

[bogfrog]

Just wondering who uses what and how much/how often...I hear a lot about people fertilizing with Seasol regularly over the growing season.

I'm just wondering which Seasol you mean - there's the original one that doesn't have any NPK value and is just trace minerals nutrients etc from seaweed...then there's the one that's a fish emulsion with lots of nitrogen and stuff, which is the one I have.

During spring/summer i use the original nitrogen-free Seasol once a fortnight for all my cacti, seedlings get a slightly weaker dilution.

I usually water atleast once a week in the growing season, so I use it every 2nd water, and that seems to give me good growth and strong, rot resistant plants.

The other one, is that Powerfeed? Its still the Seasol brand, but with nitrogen-a-plenty.

I mix Powerfeed 50/50 with Seasol for my leafy plants, and use it once a fortnight. Sometimes the cacti will get this mix instead of straight Seasol, although only once every couple of months.

They arent extremely strong, so there is a bit of room for experimenting and alternating. They work well together.

[naja naja]

I use an alternative seaweed solution, but I do use powerfeed and seaweed with gogo juice

[qualia]

i'm giving gogo juice a go for the first time this year, gave a half strength a few weeks ago to help them wake up but we'll see.

last year had ~fortnightly rotations of seaweed fert/nitrosol and got reasonable results

[bullit]

i use seamax by searles[fish and kelp] once a week and liquid potash fornitly on me flowering plants, also use chook poo pellets on all my plants.

[J Smith]

I give half strength nitrogen free seasol one week then half strength fert (Charlie carp or worm juice) the next week for all my cacti, in the ground or in pots. Repeat every week from now until mid April, missing weeks occasionally when away/busy/hungover.

[Justin Credible]

Nice post, of been pondering on this for a while now as my cacti never look as good as the pics posted here.

[Sallubrious]

I used to use a lot of seasol, but I've really come to doubt the benefits of it lately. Used together with the powerfeed made by the same company its analysis contains way too much potassium & nitrogen and SFA phosphorus or calcium.

I used to read how potassium is great for building plants immunity and makes them less likely to get attacked by insects, but whenever I've used that combo my plants have become more succeptable to insect attack as it tends to produce an excess of soft sappy growth.

William albrect would never have used anything with an NPK analysis like the seasol/powerfeed combo, he proved that sort NPK would grow weak plants and if fed to humans or livestock(in the case of vegetables) that food would grow weak humans or animals.

They look good but insects love them. Plants grown from the same batch of seed and grown with rooster booster (N:P:K:Ca 3 :2 :1.7 :7) and then foliar fed or drenched weekly with very dilute seasol always do better. They are tougher and they flower & taste better.

[gtarman]

^^ is that Rooster Booster only available as pellets? I met an older cacti grower who swore by mixing chicken manure into water and then letting it ferment a bit, then using the water as a liquid fert. I just can't see my neighbours letting me have a vat of fermenting chicken manure.

[naja naja]

U can buy conc chicken manure liquid. Have seen the amazing results of it being used for shroom grows also. I use Mateo super growth pellets. I am not sure how it compares to rooster booster though.

[TommyChesnutt]

I pee on all my cacti

...Except for the ones i sell. I, uh, don't pee on those.

...

[Sallubrious]

^^ is that Rooster Booster only available as pellets? I met an older cacti grower who swore by mixing chicken manure into water and then letting it ferment a bit, then using the water as a liquid fert. I just can't see my neighbours letting me have a vat of fermenting chicken manure.

Yeah it's not going to go down well in some areas.

You really don't need to use rooster booster though, I just used that as example because of the more balanced NPK profile. Rooster booster is also high in calcium which seems to be almost ignored in most modern ferts. Calcium is in most cases as important as the big three - NPK. Plants grown with adequate calcium will grow harder & denser & they are more disease and pest resistant across a wide range of PH levels in the soil. Without adequate phosphorus and calcium most plants can't assimilate trace elements or synthesize amino acids properly.

I don't know if there has been any legislation to restrict phosphorus in Aussie fertilisers but they all seem to be very low in phosphorus these days. Farmers and golf courses using double and triple super phosphate are responsible for nutrient runoff that causes the algal blooms, but home gardeners have been shafted.

Low phosphate levels are good for natives sure, but almost anything else needs adequate amounts to drive the ATP -ADP cycles and produce healthy disease resistant tissue.

Edited September 8, 2013 by SallyD

[whoami]

t^[he pgosp. in

Edited September 9, 2013 by whoami

[Bert&Ernie]

Isnt seasol for soil and root development?

I wouldn't use it as a fertilizer.

[whoami]

fucking mobile. always in my pocket taking pictures of crumbs and dirt and leaving incomprehensible comments and posts

Edited September 9, 2013 by whoami

[TommyChesnutt]

t^[he pgosp. in

So for those "in the know",

this is actually a very complex and secret nutrition ratio...

shame on you whoami for releasing this into the public... see, now everyone knows...

[gtarman]

Isnt seasol for soil and root development?

I wouldn't use it as a fertilizer.

If your definition of fertilizer is "contains Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium", then no, it isn't one technically. But personally I consider anything that aids plant growth and improves the "fertility" of the soil to be a fertile-izer

Edited September 9, 2013 by gtarman

[gtarman]

Yeah it's not going to go down well in some areas.

You really don't need to use rooster booster though, I just used that as example because of the more balanced NPK profile. Rooster booster is also high in calcium which seems to be almost ignored in most modern ferts. Calcium is in most cases as important as the big three - NPK. Plants grown with adequate calcium will grow harder & denser & they are more disease and pest resistant across a wide range of PH levels in the soil. Without adequate phosphorus and calcium most plants can't assimilate trace elements or synthesize amino acids properly.

I don't know if there has been any legislation to restrict phosphorus in Aussie fertilisers but they all seem to be very low in phosphorus these days. Farmers and golf courses using double and triple super phosphate are responsible for nutrient runoff that causes the algal blooms, but home gardeners have been shafted.

Low phosphate levels are good for natives sure, but almost anything else needs adequate amounts to drive the ATP -ADP cycles and produce healthy disease resistant tissue.

Interesting!

Do you know of any good sources of calcium that can be applied to potted plants without having to dig it in and disturb the soil/roots? I've already potted up most of my garden, but would love to try give them a bit of Ca loving.

[bullit]

we use on the farm liquid calcium to plump the fruit right up and to make them taste sweeter....

[Bert&Ernie]

I think id call it more of a plant tonic or something like that as it doesn't really feed the plant but stops shock helps root development and conditions the soil. Well that's how I see it.

[Sallubrious]

I think id call it more of a plant tonic or something like that as it doesn't really feed the plant but stops shock helps root development and conditions the soil. Well that's how I see it.

Well that's the marketing hype, has anyone ever seen any double blind studies on seasol that prove that it does what it says ?

The shit that dribbles out of my bath tub worm farms does all those things too and it is a fertiliser.

[naja naja]

I have been given a few litres of seaweed with added calcium concentrate to try out. The person who gave it to me develops frets for broad acre farming aswell as home gardeners but distributed trough exclusive stores for certain products. He also gets all competition lab tested to ensure he makes a better product than his competitors. He has found many home gardn formulations make marvelous claims but in reality don't have enough of the ingredient in them when used at recommended ratios. His are diff and I will Tess out this seaweed with calcium on the cacti this season.

[Rum and Monkeys]

Has anyone used this before? Or similar '5 in 1's'?

http://www.searles.com.au/fertilisers.html

[Sallubrious]

Interesting!

Do you know of any good sources of calcium that can be applied to potted plants without having to dig it in and disturb the soil/roots? I've already potted up most of my garden, but would love to try give them a bit of Ca loving.

I use a micronised/liquid suspension form of lime called eco-flo. It has some added seaweed too. It doesn't have much seaweed though, the msds says less than 1% seaweed & less than 25% calcium carbonate and more than 70% inerts - no idea what the inerts are.

http://www.ecoorganicgarden.com.au/eco_flo_lime_p/fl.htm

I normally make my own fertiliser by throwing a few handfuls of rock dust & river sand into a bucket and then I mix the eco-flo calcium in and then fill the bucket with water and stir it up. Then I pour the muddy looking brew over my worm farm and catch the runoff and pour that back through the worm farm a few times. I also use a lot of chicken manure in my worm farms to get the phosphorus levels up. Then I dilute it about 8 to 1 and put it on everything.

Everything I use it on grows really well and is very disease & pest resistant. I started using a yates brand organic liquid concoction(uplift) a few months back when I'd injured myself and couldn't manage the worm farm. Everything got sick and over run with pests. I believe it was because of the restricted phosphorus and woeful calcium levels in the commercial fertiliser.

I'd be interested to see how that stuff Naja mentioned goes.

Edited September 9, 2013 by SallyD