Root Stimulator

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Great information, Ray. Thanks.

cheers,
BD

[SaraLorraine]

I know this is an older post but I thought I'd try anyway. I want to start using the liquid seaweed but I also fertilize, which I will be kicking up to every 2-3 weeks pretty soon. Should I replace every other fertilizer application with the seaweed? Can I add a bit of liquid seaweed to my fertilizer? I want to get the best results without overdoing it on my orchids. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!! Thanks!

[chemist]

Yes you can add seaweed extract to fertilizer. Its recommended to fertilize weekly weakly (1/4 of what label says).

[SaraLorraine]

Yes you can add seaweed extract to fertilizer. Its recommended to fertilize weekly weakly (1/4 of what label says).

Thank you! I keep hearing the "weekly weakly" rule of thumb, but I am afraid to over-do it. I am going to give it a try though because I trust the members here!

[ksriramkumar]

Just to chime. I would rotate seaweed extract with NPK as alternate weeks. I remember reading that seaweed extracts have some amount of plant hormones and weekly usage could stress them some way and better give a sufficient gap (>2 weeks minimum) to recover. I could be wrong in my statement, pls feel free to correct

[raybark]

Based upon your feeding "every 2-3 weeks" regimen, I'd suggest that you select the fertilizer you prefer, then divide 10 by the %N on the label. The result is the teaspoons to use per gallon for 125 ppm N, which is a good level for that feeding frequency.

I recommend that you use a kelp extract, NOT a kelp-containing formulation that is also a nutrient. Sure, all kelp products have some nutritional value, but it's usually not enough to have a major impact on your feeding. Based upon my experience with KelpMax, which I add to my fertilizer solution, a once-a-month addition at a tablespoon pr gallon is just fine. Using more, or more often, can actually be detrimental to your plants.

[sciencegal]

I feel much more comfortable using the ppm N as Ray recommends only I use about 25 ppm every watering for the winter. I will probably increase it a bit spring and summer. I just decided to do that so I don't have to remember if I fed the last time I watered or not. Now and then maybe once every 4 waterings I flush with rain or tap water, no fertilizer. Weekly, weakly or quarter strength was confusing since it would vary depending on what kind of fertilizer I used so I never really knew how much N they were getting. I even asked one company who suggests weakly, weekly on the bottle if their recommended amount per gallon was weak or normal. I am still not sure I understood their answer.

I was using kelp extract much more frequently - like every watering, but went down to once a month or when I repot. I have not used it much this winter. I will increase use in the spring and summer when it will be much easier to water.

I used kelp last year on my garden seedlings with mixed results. Using it every watering flat out killed the cucumber and squash seedlings. The tomatoes and Brassicas exploded with growth. It was obvious it was doing something. I think this year I will use it only once when the seedling have a second set of leave, not every watering like I did last year. They outgrew the seedling pots too fast and I could not transplant them early enough.