Calcified Seaweed

by Christopher Brookes
(Bainbridge Island, WA 98110)

MaxSea seaweed fertilizer

I see English Chrysanthemum growers are adding small amounts of Calcified Seaweed to their growing mix. However, I'm not finding this product in my local nurseries. Is it perhaps sold under a different descriptive name in the USA or is it simply not approved for sale in the USA

Answer:

Christopher: Personally, I have never heard of any fertilizer by that particular name....most flowering plants require extra Calcium, so I believe this is probably a marketing angle to sell more of an already popular additive (seaweed). Here in Ohio, I have a friend who owns a garden shop....on my request, he began stocking a seaweed based product called MaxSea. With the addition of a little Epsom salt I used it for a couple of years as a complete, inexpensive, organic-hydroponic fertilizer (MaxSea 3-20-20).

Apparently, professional rose gardeners began coming to his store every week for the stuff! The fertilizer has plenty of Calcium, Phosphorus, micro-nutrients, and plant hormones to grow those prize winning blooms.

You could also add plain kelp meal to your soil, than water in the extra Calcium with a supplement like Cal-Mag. This strategy would not provide much Phosphorus to your plants, unless you were to include a little high-Phosphorus bat guano or super-Phosphate in the soil mix.

Another option would be to add a little bone meal to the soil, in addition to regular kelp meal. Bone meal is an excellent source of Calcium and Phosphorus. Just make sure to take proper precautions if you decide to use it....bone meal is a slaughterhouse byproduct and inhaling the dust can make you very sick! I hope this helps!