KELP ON THE BEACH - Who has used it & seen the benefit?

[TheMadScientist]

Has anyone really used KELP gathered from the beach and used it in their garden? Have you made a "tea" from it? What is that recipe for success?

[Bennz]

I've laid a thick mulch around bananas. While I suspect it must have done something, I admit I didn't notice much. I believe most of the benefit of seaweed comes from the high trace element levels, but as I am close to the coast anyway with high TE levels from salt wind I think the benefit was less than would have been noticed further inland. Beach-collected kelp goes through a 'ripe' stage as a mulch, not great too close to the house. I collected about 10m3. Didn't notice any response around palms either.

[dan.vagnoni]

Used to be a guy down here that would have it brought by backhoe to his house when they clean the beaches. He would let it dry out in the sun until it broke down. You can imagine the smell

[richnorm]

I use kelp and other seaweeds. Not sure if it really helps but makes me feel better. Never noticed a smell. I mix with sheep poo, horse poo and bamboo leaves.

[tropicbreeze]

Kelp is important for some shoreline creatures, in some places it's illegal to remove it due to environmental reasons.

[TheMadScientist]

Here are a few suggestions that I found:

You can apply fresh kelp directly to the soil (some people suggest rinsing it to remove the sea salt, but for the past 20 years I've never found it necessary). Arrange it as a 2 to 4-inch mulch layer or include it in the compost pile. Seaweed decays quickly because it contains little cellulose. What's nice too, is that you don't introduce weed seeds with seaweed mulch.

To make your own liquid kelp, add a couple handfuls of seaweed to a 5-gallon bucket of water. Stir the concoction daily for a few days, then strain and dilute it using the ratio of 1 part kelp liquid to 2 parts water.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I use kelp and other seaweeds. Not sure if it really helps but makes me feel better. Never noticed a smell. I mix with sheep poo, horse poo and bamboo leaves.

I would have expected nothing less from you New Zealanders. Eat, live, wear and breathe sheep...

[Bennz]

I use kelp and other seaweeds. Not sure if it really helps but makes me feel better. Never noticed a smell. I mix with sheep poo, horse poo and bamboo leaves.

I would have expected nothing less from you New Zealanders. Eat, live, wear and breathe sheep...

we're trying to find a way to make houses out of them too.

Seriously though, the sheep industry is in serious decline. Number have halved since 20 years ago, and basically most sheep farmers who have land capable of doing anything else are exiting the industry.