Using kelp meal in organic gardening

[Hayron1088]

I see that there is a thread about using bone meal and the frequency of amending but I don’t see anything about how often you can use kelp meal. As an organic gardener I have been wanting to give it a try. I ordered some from DrE and top dressed about a week ago as per the back of the bag. How often can I’d add it? Is it a less is more type of amendment? I’m following DrE dry organic amendments but for some reason they don’t have it on there. Anyone know recommended amounts? How often? Best method of applying it? I’m starting to learn more and more organic gardening and I’m finding that I love it.

Also, I make my own worm castings and top dress that once a month. I only do a banana and worm castings tea maybe twice a cycle. Figured.i would let you know what I’m using just in case it effects the kelp meal application. Thank you everyone in advance for checking me out.

 

[Stunger]

I see that there is a thread about using bone meal and the frequency of amending but I don’t see anything about how often you can use kelp meal. As an organic gardener I have been wanting to give it a try. I ordered some from DrE and top dressed about a week ago as per the back of the bag. How often can I’d add it? Is it a less is more type of amendment? I’m following DrE dry organic amendments but for some reason they don’t have it on there. Anyone know recommended amounts? How often? Best method of applying it? I’m starting to learn more and more organic gardening and I’m finding that I love it.

Also, I make my own worm castings and top dress that once a month. I only do a banana and worm castings tea maybe twice a cycle. Figured.i would let you know what I’m using just in case it effects the kelp meal application. Thank you everyone in advance for checking me out.

Hi Hayron, Just my 2 cents! I use kelp meal pellets as one of my amendments. During my growing off season (as I'm an outdoor grower) I added 2/3 cup to my 30L (8 gallon) pots, and 1 cup to my 50L (13 gallon) pot. I also added 2 or 3 tablespoons to each pot as a top dressing recently. With the plants growing in the pots I would only put a handful of kelp meal in, but the larger amounts were given in the off season when there was several months available for the soil to cook/settle. So far these amounts don't seem to be causing any issues, and hopefully they're actually helping the grow! About once a month or whenever I remember it, I also add some kelp concentrate (Seasol brand) to their waterings.

 

[Vegan4life]

Hello, I use "Clackamas Coot's recipe", kelp is one of the amendments. You should read up on his recipe/methods. @bobrown14 uses it and he is also very informative. Also @Nunyabiz does awesome job with his LOS.

 

[Hayron1088]

Hi Hayron, Just my 2 cents! I use kelp meal pellets as one of my amendments. During my growing off season (as I'm an outdoor grower) I added 2/3 cup to my 30L (8 gallon) pots, and 1 cup to my 50L (13 gallon) pot. I also added 2 or 3 tablespoons to each pot as a top dressing recently. With the plants growing in the pots I would only put a handful of kelp meal in, but the larger amounts were given in the off season when there was several months available for the soil to cook/settle. So far these amounts don't seem to be causing any issues, and hopefully they're actually helping the grow! About once a month or whenever I remember it, I also add some kelp concentrate (Seasol brand) to their waterings.

Thank you for the info, once a month seems legit. I know I probably won’t see “noticeable gains” but I can only hope right? It’s a fairly cheap product so if it works I’ll be very happy.

 

[SmokingWings]

I don’t see anything about how often you can use kelp meal. As an organic gardener I have been wanting to give it a try.

There was a thread about a year ago that discussed making a Kelp Meal tea for plants using dry Kelp. I will grind it up smaller and keep it in a jar. When I am ready to use it I will put approx 2 tablespoons in a gallon of water and let it sit for a day, sometimes two. Every now and then shake it up. Then when ready water as usual with the Kelp Meal Tea.

Kelp is good for supplying a fair amount of Potassium and as we see in most fertilizing schedules the Potassium is very highly recommended for the flowering stage, even more so for the final 4-5 weeks.

In soil you could use it as often as once a week if it is a weak solution. I will use a Kelp Meal tea or a Kelp extract tea about every 2 or 3 weeks

 

[Hayron1088]

There was a thread about a year ago that discussed making a Kelp Meal tea for plants using dry Kelp. I will grind it up smaller and keep it in a jar. When I am ready to use it I will put approx 2 tablespoons in a gallon of water and let it sit for a day, sometimes two. Every now and then shake it up. Then when ready water as usual with the Kelp Meal Tea.

Kelp is good for supplying a fair amount of Potassium and as we see in most fertilizing schedules the Potassium is very highly recommended for the flowering stage, even more so for the final 4-5 weeks.

In soil you could use it as often as once a week if it is a weak solution. I will use a Kelp Meal tea or a Kelp extract tea about every 2 or 3 weeks

Now that sounds more up my alley thank you. I’m currently having a little bit of yellowing on the lower part of the plant in week four of flower. I added bloom nutes and kelp meal roughly one week ago so I hope it helps. I also cal mag every other water so I hope it’s not a bigger problem then N Def or other.

 

[bobrown14]

Hello, I use "Clackamas Coot's recipe", kelp is one of the amendments. You should read up on his recipe/methods. @bobrown14 uses it and he is also very informative. Also @Nunyabiz does awesome job with his LOS.

You can top dress a combo of 1/2 EWC and 1/2 cup kelp meal every week or 2 weeks not going to be an issue at all. I add to my soil mix as mentioned (Coots mix) and also top dress and add it to my hole at up-can all the time never miss using it.

I use several versions - I like to use GeoFlora in VEG as a stand alone top dress, use Dr Earth in my soil, also Coast of Main sells a good version and you can purchase kelp meal in bulk too.

The only species we use is Ascophyllum nodosum

Except no substitutes. Kelp is a water filter in our oceans. It will filter out a lot of bad stuff in addition to good stuff. The species I mentioned is from Norway so very cold clean water there. There's other nutritional values as well.

Kelp can contain heavy metals (remember filters) and they can be taken up by cannabis plants and why its important to use the proper species.

 

[greenjeans]

I have been feeding my composting worms Pondweed (coontail) and alfalfa pellets - Do you guys think that is as good as adding kelp and alfalfa meal??

 

[bobrown14]

Anything you feed your compost bin is going to help ... sans heavy metals of course.

Certain compost inputs generate different outputs.

For example your Alfalfa input is high in N so will your compost but not as high as just using alfalfa for a lot of reasons. Some N gets lost to air and its also very mobile once its composted.

You can fine tune your compost using specific inputs just like amending your soil and how we do it. I'll add leaf mold, minerals (rock dusts), even kelp meal - not a lot but just boosting whats there already.

Compost is key to a healthy soil.