Harvesting And Processing Kelp

[tromak]

What can I say, I live in a place with a variety of natural resources. Is it realistic to harvest my own kelp and process it as an organic soil amendment? Like many people who live close to the ocean I could get truck loads of it at low tide. What would the process be?

 

[tromak]

I was thinking of just feeding it to my worms, but I'm not sure if the worms can eat it or if they do if the macro nutrients would come through in the castings.

 

[Snake Oil]

You could dry it out and break it up into a kelp meal would be easiest or you could try to make a kelp liquid supplement by freezing it then crashing it over a screen then collect the liquid thats left over, do you know what kind of kelp it is?

 

[Seamaiden]

I agree, let it dry first. However, after that I would soak it and test that fresh water to be sure it's not carrying a bit of salt with it. If so, you'll need to soak or something to help reduce the amount of NaCl. Much of the rest of what's found in sea salt is actually very good for plants, but a little dab'll do ya on that.

 

[Calixylon]

So crazy i literally almost posted about asking how to do this, then i decided not to because i thought no one would respond. Im in South East Maine and am looking for a natural seaweed kelp harvest and processing procedure s well, hopefully someone can help us out.

 

[tromak]

It's bull kelp (nereocystis leutkeana) from the gulf of alaska. I would think that even plants found in the ocean will die from to much salt. I would think that kelp has a way of expelling salt. Not sure though at all. I like the idea of freezing it and then collecting the liquid when it thaws. With all that is written about how amazing kelp is for plants you would think more people have thought of this. I mean you can find kelp on the beaches in long beach. North of LA has massive kelp forests. Someone has to of tried it. The salt issue is what concerns me. I'm going to try and desalinate some and feed it to my worms. We'll see if they like it.

 

[Calixylon]

Its definetly been known to folks for a long time, certain places restrict you from harvesting kelp nd seweed in certain amounts daily.

 

[tromak]

Ok so there's lots of info about this on youtube. People are basically mixing the seaweed or kelp with water and letting the kelp break down in the water. I'm a little hesitant about this but I'm going to try it out. The whole salt issue is concerning me. I guess if you only add a tablespoon or 2 per gallon of fresh watewater then your not going to over do it. Looks like it would be a great supplement to prevent any deficiencies and for overall plant health.

 

[Myco]

I also live near the beach and could nab truckloads of kelp if I wanted to... I was curious and looked into it, and some people say you won't be able to effectively remove the salt content...

Other people say just rinse the living shit out of it, let it dry in the hot summer sun or dehydrate it, then grind it up, and bam, kelp meal.

Worms won't touch fresh kelp, from what I understand, though dried kelp meal is a different story.

I think if you were to collect fresh kelp off the beach, just find the best looking specimens, give it a good rinse, and throw it in the compost pile for some kelp-rich compost.

I just buy kelp meal in bulk for about $1.50/lb, fuck it.

 

[tromak]

That's pretty cheap. I'm trying to do this with as much local materials as I can but for a buck fifty a pound I might drop 5 or 6 bucks and spend time with something else