Understanding Seasol

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treeman
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Re: Understanding Seasol

Post by treeman »

Jdceng wrote:Hi

Just in case I stuffed up the link in the last post.

http://ofbonsai.org/the-last-page/edito ... -of-bonsai
This article is obviously written by someone without much experience with bonsai.
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Re: Understanding Seasol

Post by treeman »

Regarding the efficacy of seaweed solutions:

Many years ago when I had a retail nursery we used to stock fully grown mature flowering cherries. Trunks up to 7 inches in diameter. One summer, one particular tree looked decidedly poor compared to the others. It put out a set of small leaves but there was no stem extension at all. It was in a large grow bag about 1 metre across. I decided to treat it with a strong solution of seasol. I did this by filling the container with water until just before it came out over the sides of the bag. Possibly 40 litres of water. Before the water drained, I added about a glass full of the seaweed and mixed it in the water then let it drain. One week later there was some new growth appearing but by the end of a month there were new shoots extending some up to 30cm long with thick large succulent dark green leaves. In other words It had completely revived from that single treatment. After that, I need no further proof (although there is plenty of it) that seaweed can have near miraculous effects on stressed trees. On already healthy trees the effects will obviously be much less noticeable. So when all is considered, a monthly application can do nothing but good to your trees.

Regarding the efficacy of wound sealants.

There is already so much evidence out there that sealing wounds on bonsai leads to faster callusing and ultimately, covering of wounds with tissue which is the very reason we do it, however leaving quince or cherry wounds (for 2 examples)uncovered is inviting disaster. Most of the arguments concerning compartmentalisation may be valid - for some species, but has little to do with bonsai culture and can pretty much be disregarded. Also in my experience there are some mature garden trees which seem to suffer attacks from borers if the wound is not sealed. It's the first place of attack.


Regarding the efficacy of foliar nutrient sprays.

It is true that a tree fed well through it's roots will get little to no benefit from foliar feeding, but there are some instances were it is called for. For example many citrus trees are incapable of extracting some nutrients from soil in sufficient quantities so foliar feed has become a routine in some places. Especially with trace elements. The quickest way to get nitrogen into a starving tree is to spray it with Urea. Even more so if the roots are less than perfect. Foliar feeding can bypass pH problems in soil. It is just another tool to have if we need to use it.

Regarding B1

From what I have read b1 needs to be used in conjunction with auxins to have an affect in many cases. Experiments have shown that the addition of b1 together with auxins far out performed either alone.
I do use hormone treatment when de-flasking orchid seedlings and the formulation is IBA + b1 because it works. There is certainly no harm and probably a benefit in using a plant starter containing both auxin and b1 together for transplants etc.
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Re: Understanding Seasol

Post by Joe.sab »

Very helpful information , keep the good work up,
Thanks for sharing
Cheers
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Re: Understanding Seasol

Post by The Munt »

Ray,

Your posts continue to enlighten the noob!

Thanks for this, I have seen many references to seasol when fertiliser was not appropriate and wondered what the difference is. Cheers. :cool:
Last edited by The Munt on March 30th, 2018, 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Understanding Seasol

Post by melbrackstone »

As an aside, my cat loves it when I mix up a tub of seasol, because she drinks it! She hasn't grown any....
Treeman said - I've ordered a lt of natrakelp to trial it. It's not cheap though.
Do you have anything to report on natrakelp Mike?
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Re: Understanding Seasol

Post by treeman »

melbrackstone wrote:As an aside, my cat loves it when I mix up a tub of seasol, because she drinks it! She hasn't grown any....
Treeman said - I've ordered a lt of natrakelp to trial it. It's not cheap though.
Do you have anything to report on natrakelp Mike?
Yes. At $70 odd per 5lt it's a bit too expensive for me to use on general bonsai. I use it for orchids and perhaps acid loving things like azalea and gardenia and other delicate things.....if they get lucky. It is a good product. To compare it with highly alkaline seasol and maxicrop I would have to do side by side trials which I'm not going to do. There's no question that it is much higher in alginate which is the active ingredient in seaweed. If you want nothing but the best for your trees, use it!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alginic_acid
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Re: Understanding Seasol

Post by melbrackstone »

I only bought a 1litre bottle. :)

I also haven't done any side by side reporting, but am using it instead of seasol...(When I remember to...)

Thanks
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