Seaweed makes plants healthier.

Last post 19-04-2008 11:23 PM by Ariadne. 53 replies.

• 07/04/2008 10:18 PM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,470	Reply | Contact I remember when I was younger that my dad used to take calcified seaweed tablets which were supposed to help stop his hair falling out, it didn't work  sue1002

• 07/04/2008 10:21 PM

  In reply to

  Reg Langlois Location: Island of Jersey UK Joined on: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 25

  Reply | Contact I am from a family of outdoor tomato growers in Jersey where we collected seaweed for everything. In fact the whole of the island would have been covered in the stuff. Certainly during the 19th centenary and up and till the early sixties of the 20th, growers would have collected seaweed after the winter storms by horsecart and later by small lorries. The horsecarts and lorries would have been loaded by hand making sure that there was very little sand in it.  There would also be part time seaweed collecters who would collect the seaweed and stack it and leave it out to dry . They would have to turn the heaps every two weeks or so. The growers lost interest when they found that they could find get the same ingredients out of a sack.(or so they thought) Growers are still collecting seaweed, but now they are using mechanical forks on their multi thousand pound tractors followed by multi axle trailers. Looking at the loads coming off the beaches you can tell the the growers did not take as much care as their predecessors in selecting the seaweed sand free. It has taken the last hundred years or so for the Jersey householders with a garden to go and collect the seaweed off beach  Some look on it as a means of keeping fit and with others it has become an obsession.

• 07/04/2008 10:21 PM

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  bogweevil Location: Joined on: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 2,766

  Reply | Contact Calcified seaweed is a kind of  lime that is found on the Cornish seabed.  I thought extraction had ceased but I see it has returned to the shops.  Gardeners used to think its maritime origin would mean that it is full of trace elements.  I don't know whether this is actually so.  Seaweed meal is just that - ground up dried seaweed  for use as fertiliser. I am unaware that either prevent baldness but, being cheap it might be worth asking your doctor if  they are worth a go on the off-chance.  Boggy         Beware the bat-eared bogweevil

• 07/04/2008 11:05 PM	In reply to
  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 5,230	Reply | Contact So am I right to presume that extracting calcified seaweed is damaging the cornish coastline? digger Sage of the fells

• 08/04/2008 09:33 AM

  In reply to

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,470

  Reply | Contact bogweevil: I am unaware that either prevent baldness but, being cheap it might be worth asking your doctor if  they are worth a go on the off-chance.     No chance of my dad going to see a doctor, he is a firm believer in homeopathy and nothing else will suffice.  He doesn't believe what he is told but if it is written in a book then he will and I've often wondered if he read that black was white he would actually believe it. sue1002

• 09/04/2008 09:27 PM

  In reply to

  bogweevil Location: Joined on: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 2,766

  Reply | Contact  Calcified seaweed extraction has been stopped off Cornwall due to potential damage to marine ecosystems (although some might say a few shrimps and sprats are a small price to pay if it saves the nation's menfolk from wearing rugs).  CS then disappeared from the shops.  Some manufacturers have been making a kind of lime 'fortified' with seaweed fertiliser as a substitute, so I assumed that CS was a thing of the past. This 'fortified lime' does not, as far as I know, have a published analysis so one must assume it not to be rich in nutrients. But then supplies re-appeared.  It seems that CS is dredged in other places, including Brittany, and now the supplies are imported. Gardeners concerned to garden in a sustainable manner might want to know how environmentally friendly CS is - I don't know, but the Soil Association has declared its use to be inconsistent with organic standards. Boggy   Beware the bat-eared bogweevil

• 10/04/2008 08:03 AM

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  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 4,547

  Reply | Contact I only use seaweed collected from the beach ( loose bits, nothing still growing) that shouldn't be enviromentally damaging? I hadn't thought how the seaweed in fertilisers would be collected - if it's by any method other than hand collection (which it almost certainly will be) then that could potentially be very harmfull to the area it's collected from. Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 10/04/2008 08:25 AM	In reply to
  Anemone Location: County Down, Northern Ireland Joined on: 08 Feb 2008 Posts: 575	Reply | Contact Seaweed is also supposed to be very good for the skin.  There's a place near me where you can go for a seaweed bath treatment. http://www.soakseaweedbaths.co.uk/  I haven't tried it though it does look very relaxing. Anemone

• 10/04/2008 09:19 AM

  In reply to

  Reg Langlois Location: Island of Jersey UK Joined on: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 25

  Reply | Contact All seaweed collected in Jersey is picked up from the beaches and between deep gullies of rocks. The seaweed is broken away from places that was attached too, and in some places you will find it anything up to 8 to 10 feet deep.in the gullies. I would like to empathize that No seaweed is ever cut from it's roots. You must remember that Jersey farmers relied on the seaweed to fertilize our land. Farmers years ago and now know more about enviromentally damaging than you and I will ever know. The enviromental thing is nothing new, it has been practiced for years. Many folk think that it is something new and exciting .  During  WW2 Jersey was occupied for four years in which time there was a shortage of many things including gelatine that my grand mother would have used for making jellies and things. A certain type of seaweed was collected from rocks (only a very small amount) by a fisherman for my grand mother. He would have had pemission/permit to go on the beach.Mybe you know what type of seaweed that she would have used.

• 10/04/2008 09:31 AM	In reply to
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 4,547	Reply | Contact Eight foot deep! I'm jealous. Here I pick up scraggly little bits that are more than eight foot apart! I don't know which variety that would have been. Some seaweed is coated in a layer of jelly stuff, so I can see how it could be useful - is that where vegetarian gelatine comes from? Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 10/04/2008 09:42 AM	In reply to
  Reg Langlois Location: Island of Jersey UK Joined on: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 25	Reply | Contact I think that the seaweed was a kind of long moss. I am in my 70 ies ...I will have to ask the old ones.

• 10/04/2008 09:46 AM

  In reply to

  Reg Langlois Location: Island of Jersey UK Joined on: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 25

  Reply | Contact Found it! Carrageen (or Carragheen) Also known as Irish Moss, this dense, reddish purple seaweed grows in the temperate North Atlantic coastal waters around the West of Ireland, France and off North America's coastline. It is harvested and sun-dried which bleaches it to a yellowish brown colour. Rich in iodine and vitamin A, it produces a softer gel than agar agar. Carrageen requires thorough rinsing before use. It needs to be soaked and then well cooked with the liquid to be set and does not dissolve completely. Carrageen Mould is a traditional Irish pudding made by soaking 1/2 z/10-15 gm carrageen in water, draining and adding it to 1 pint/600 ml of milk, bringing it slowly to the boil and simmering it for 20-30 minutes, straining it and allowing the strained mixture, which can be sweetened, to set on cooling. Carrageenan (E407) is a by-product of carrageen and is used extensively as an emulsifying, thickening and gelling additive in ice creams, jellies, biscuits, milk shakes and frozen desserts, even in some cosmetics and medicines!

• 10/04/2008 04:25 PM	In reply to
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 4,547	Reply | Contact Now you mention it, I had heard that seaweed was used to make is cream and other desserts. Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 10/04/2008 08:55 PM	In reply to
  Ariadne Location: Contemplating on the compost heap Joined on: 05 Apr 2008 Posts: 75	Reply | Contact Are there no laws governing the taking of seaweeds from the shore? If lots of people did so, would it still be sustainable? Not cribbing.............just asking!  Sitting, spinning threads of stories & weaving the colourful strands of life.

• 10/04/2008 08:57 PM	In reply to
  Ariadne Location: Contemplating on the compost heap Joined on: 05 Apr 2008 Posts: 75	Reply | Contact Isn't Agar agar a gelling agent made from seaweed, Phots? That would be the answer to gelatine for vegetarians.  Sitting, spinning threads of stories & weaving the colourful strands of life.