tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-301791108611372665.post3283400203707762915..comments2024-01-29T03:04:24.219+11:00Comments on Flinders Family Freer: windlessAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-301791108611372665.post-9233622795633107822010-01-25T13:15:56.116+11:002010-01-25T13:15:56.116+11:00LOL. I am sorry. I get very enthusiastic and earne...LOL. I am sorry. I get very enthusiastic and earnest about this. Australia is such a long coastline and is so varied, that seaweed advice that's good for the Northern territories probably needs to be re-evaluated for Tassie - the dominant types of seaweed (red corallines further North and brown algae further south) I am sure are as different as the terrestrial vegetation. And I probably know less than the TV gardener. Appreciate advice even when I don't listen to it. Actually I could use a local seaweed expert, as I want to make sea-weed jelly (I have done this in SA where I knew the species well) and also I'd like to experiment with 'irish-moss' type marbling sometime.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-301791108611372665.post-69149916749254299832010-01-25T10:17:38.100+11:002010-01-25T10:17:38.100+11:00*smiles*
Thanks for the seaweed lesson, Dave. Very...*smiles*<br />Thanks for the seaweed lesson, Dave. Very interesting.<br />As always,gardening is an experiment and each of our experiments is very different. I'll continue to watch yours with a great deal of interest. I'll just have to remember your background before I start quoting from TV gardening shows!Debhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06929208891358789177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-301791108611372665.post-13055884483491088262010-01-24T21:55:46.567+11:002010-01-24T21:55:46.567+11:00Thank you for that. Um.It's not the salt _in_ ...Thank you for that. Um.It's not the salt _in_ the seaweed that is the issue - it's just seaweed is very often cast up by rough conditions - which means it is always likely to be covered in salt water, and then will dry and accumulate sea-rime (which is again salty). You will (if you a zoologist and peer closely at these things) often see salt crystals on the surface of cast up seaweed. So - unless there is a lot of rain the outside of old seaweed is salty - from mild to extreme. (lick any piece of old seaweed if you doubt this;-)) Secondly, seaweed varies a lot. Species like Porphyra probably do produce jelly-like alginates if allowed to break down in damp conditions (it's the source of agar-agar). Coraline seaweeds on the other hand contain calcium carbonate IIRC - so will break down into alkaline stuff and almost certainly be bad for any form of garden. Seagrass will dry out and make fibrous compost-like stuff if the material I have seen accumulated is anything to judge by... sun-dried Kelp almost seems to fossilize and might last years before breaking down if you put in dry. Besides trace elements, algae fix carbon very effectively, and can be sources of Nitrates, phosphates etc - as they respond to these in the water... iodine is also almost certainly a major byproduct, and this has some antimicrobial effects -which could be either good or bad... so I'm back to 'experiment carefully'. And I'll wash it unless it is raining hard.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-301791108611372665.post-15067025742550736762010-01-24T17:07:38.164+11:002010-01-24T17:07:38.164+11:00Dave, it's not the salt in the seaweed that...Dave, it's not the salt in the seaweed that's a problem, it's the sand. So, you did the right thing rinsing it.<br />From ABC's gardening Australia: (http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s795262.htm)<br />Seaweed itself contains very little salt. It is the sea sand that is enmeshed in it that is quite alkaline and needs to be removed. It can be used around almost any plant except acid loving plants like rhododendrons and azaleas or strawberries. It can be placed around but not near the actual plant, covered by peastraw or mulch, and will gradually convert to a jelly-like substance. Seaweed is not a fertiliser but a soil conditioner that has an amazing beneficial effect on plants. It can make them frost resistant and more resistant to diseases. The trace elements in the seaweed eventually are transferred to the soil and into the plant and its fruit.Debhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06929208891358789177noreply@blogger.com