Seaweed Extract: A Natural, Organic Fertilizer

Many companies now tout the benefits of seaweed extract for your hair and body. These uses are excellent, but there are other ways to use the nourishing characteristics of seaweed. When used as a fertilizers, seaweed extract and ground seaweed create larger, healthier fruits and vegetables in your garden. They also produce stronger, showier flowers and potted plants.

Add seaweed extract and seaweed meal to your garden soil and starter pots to produce fantastic growth and health. The alginic acid in seaweed increases soil's water retention, meaning that you water less often. Seaweed also helps to improve the structure and stability of the soil. As the organic components of seaweed meal break down, they provide nutrients for plants and increase the nitrogen content of the soil.

Use seaweed and its extract as natural fertilizers to avoid chemicals that may help your plant but hurt your body. Seaweed provides B vitamins, like B1 and B12, as well as E, K, and folic acid, which are taken up by plants grown in such enhanced soils. Trace elements, especially iron and calcium, exist in seaweed extract in their chelated forms, which plants can absorb more readily than from plain dirt.

Adding seaweed extract increases the amount of chlorophyll in the leaves of plants. Seaweed also contains plant hormones that encourage the growth of foliage. The various compounds absorbed replace some of the water in plant cells making them more resistant to drought and frost damage as well as increasing the shelf life of produce after it has been picked.

Plants treated with seaweed extract are more resistant to pests like spider mites and aphids. The extract and meal provide some resistance to diseases like scab, mildew, and fungus as well. Enriching the soil with the seaweed strengthens the native bacteria and fungi that provide some of this protection. Using seaweed extract as a natural pesticide reduces or eliminates the need for chemical pesticides that can be absorbed into your produce and leach into the groundwater or run off into lakes and streams or into storm drains.