I'm going to the beach!

[Ms. Jitomate]

I am going to the beach--Seal Beach, California. I'm thinking of bringing home a bucket of seaweed for my compost pile. How should I prepare it, other than rinsing it, before it goes into my compost pile?

[madddawg]

I have never seen a beach nor sea weed, but if I was you take a day off work and life and go enjoy your day. I know it don't answer your question but at least you got a reply.... Have some fun for me!

[amideutch]

Seal Beach, been there once or twice when I was growing up in Whittier. Seaweed, throw it on the pile and let nature do the rest.

Ami

[raindrops27]

Originally Posted by madddawg

I have never seen a beach nor sea weed, but if I was you take a day off work and life and go enjoy your day. I know it don't answer your question but at least you got a reply.... Have some fun for me!

Wow, your statement struck me..As I take for granted living 5 minutes away from the beach but some have never even seen one. Shows me, don't take anything for granted. Be grateful for everything.

[livinonfaith]

Don't know how far away you are from the beach, but you probably want to seal it up in plastic, really tight.

Even if you rinse it, the seaweed often has little living things in it. (at least the stuff on the East coast does) And once you get them out of the water, they smell. Not an odor that you want in your car, trust me!

[jennifer28]

I live near the Sound like you do, Raindrops. I love it here.

[jennifer28]

I use seaweed. Now, I'm not even motivated to do much to it. This is because I wait until the end of the season as I'm prepping the beds for winter. I gather it up in a large contractor bag. Then I dump it in my beds and till it in along with manure. Usually cow manure. Then I leave it for the winter. Sometimes I cover my beds to make a little garder snake farm, LOL

[bower]

Seaweed is a really important resource for me. I use it as a layer in my compost, like Ami said, just toss it on without rinse or any fuss. Fresh seaweed makes a great top layer for the compost, because it turns black on the dry upper side and that helps to heat up the pile if you want it to sit for awhile undisturbed. The smelly action is just absorbed into the pile that way.

Dry kelp that's been lying on the beach and completely dried can be used the same way, or crumble it into a powder and bag it to use as a dry fertilizer - not smelly.

It's the partly rotted kelp that is smelly and full of critters - especially flies. It's fine for the compost but you don't want it indoors.. or in your car for long! And best to cover it in the compost pile - if not, hose the pile down really well until the smell subsides.

I use fresh kelp - just out of the water - to chop up as an amendment for my container soils in the greenhouse. Even better I like to get kelp for that in the winter, when there are no flies around to quickly lay any eggs! This year I had a gap in the supply of fresh and had to use some not so fresh stuff. Believe me the plants did not care about the freshness deficit, but I ended up spending hours with the soaper, shooting little beach flies off the glazing. I knew better... oh well.

[Ms. Jitomate]

I did it! I picked up about 25 pounds and I double bagged it (following Livinonfaith's advice) to prevent any smells. That helped. I left it overnight outside because I was too tired to deal with it and discovered flies flying inside the second bag, so I just pressed them while still in the bag. Later that day I dumped the whole bag onto my compost pile, without washing it, and covered it with dry leaves and then watered it. Not washing it made me nervous because I kept thinking I was adding salt to my pile but I didn't want to waste water, so I followed Bower's advice. I will continue to water it and keep adding more dry leaves to the pile if I smell anything. I am now looking forward to a better quality growing season! Thanks!

[efisakov]

We were in San Diego about a month ago. One of the beaches was covered with at least a ton of dead kelp. I did not even thought of it as a possible compost material. It is rich with many micronutrients, like cytokinin and more. Cytokinin is extremely helpful in plant growth: "promote cell division in plant roots and shoots". Wow, it is great supplement right at your disposal.