Kelp Meal: Your Garden's Secret Weapon

If you are into really into gardening practices and growing plants you more than likely have heard about organic kelp meal, ascophyllum nodosum. If you are just getting your footing into gardening and are wondering about which soil amendments to include, look no further than kelp meal. But what is kelp meal anyway? Lets dive in!

What is Kelp Meal?

Kelp or seaweed extract is the name for a massive variety of seaweeds that grow all around the world. It’s found anywhere near shores and in deep water that’s not hotter than 68°F. Seaweed like kelp can grow from small individual plants to humongous underwater forests. When you harvest kelp meal, the varieties can differ as they range in color from brown to green with a huge variation in size and shape. Plus each plant can potentially stretch from just a few feet up to several hundred. Kelp meal is an excellent soil amendment as it has an abundance and natural source of micronutrients, macronutrients, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids, all of which are vital for plant health, plant growth and yield, flower production, and root growth.

As a matter of fact science has shown kelp meal to have a wide range of benefits for plants. Take a look at this chart!

Amino Acids	The building blocks of proteins, and the key component of strong, healthy cells
Chelated Minerals	Minerals that have formed compound bonds with amino acids, so they can be absorbed into plants much easier. You may have heard of chelated iron or calcium, for example
Auxins	A plant hormone that is essential for coordinating growth cycles
Gibberellins	Another hormone that regulates growth processes, more specifically flowering and budding
Cytokinins	A key growth hormone responsible for new cell growth, cell enlargement, and chloroplast development
Trace minerals	Boron, Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum and Zinc

So What Will Kelp Meal Do For My Garden?

First and foremost, your garden will experience an explosion of health growth. The hormones and nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, found within kelp fertilizer, will bring your garden back to life and will aid in a bountiful harvest. Just a quick google search will bring you to studies on how kelp will improve the health, growth, and biomass of plants, like broccoli! To be honest, even before "research" had been done on its effects, it was widely known as an organic fertilizer for soil and a great way to increase production from your favorite plants with a quick nutrient. Some of these benefits are as follows:

Cause seeds to germinate faster

Improve the taking rate of cuttings

Stimulate root growth, especially of difficult plants

​Boost resistance to disease

Increase color of flowers and flavor of fruits and roots

Increase the amount and size of flowers

Help fight off insects and other parasites

Balance the soil and prevent nutrient deficiencies

Kelp Meal applied at springtime before planting can help provide nutrients to your plants for up to 4 months. Lets go into how to apply this awesome stuff now!

How to Apply Kelp Meal

Applying Kelp Meal is fairly easy but there are some things that you need to know before putting this in your soil. Kelp Meal does have a wide range of hormones and nutrients but it takes time to break down and become active for your plants to absorb. Typically, we see kelp meal being broken down at or around 4 months. So it is best to apply in the spring before planting season. Once broken down, it should feed plants for 2 months on average but can feed for up to 4 months in higher concentrations.

One of the most typical application methods is to garden soil and we recommend 1-2 lbs per 100 square feet of garden soil. Lets take a look at another chart that shows how to apply and how much in certain growing methods. This is a dry kelp meal and not a liquid kelp so it is not to be used in foliar sprays or in hydroponic systems.

​Garden Soil	1-2lbs per 100 square feet of soil | Mix thoroughly in the top 3" of soil
Transplants	1-2 teaspoons per hole | mix into soil & water well
Established Plants	Side dress 1-2 tablespoons per plant once a month during the growing season
Soil for Container Grows	Mix 1-2 tablespoons per 1 gallon of soil OR 2.5lbs of kelp mixed with 1 cubic yard of soil
Established Container Plants	​Mix 1-2 teaspoons into the surface of the soil
Row Crops/Acreage	Apply 200-400lbs per acre depending on your plant needs

Summary

We touched on a number of topics regarding kelp meal! What it is, what the benefits to your plants are, and how to apply it. What strikes us is the sheer number not including kelp meal in their amendments that they apply before and during the growing season. With such a wide variety of macro and micro nutrients, along with hormones to regulate growth and structure, its a no-brainer when searching for an amendment to include this year. Feel free to browse over to our shop page to get yourself some kelp meal.