Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
porting railroad cars full of water was not economically feasible. If you live near the
ocean, you can apply it at one cup per square foot of soil.
Nowadays, there are also very concentrated liquid sea mineral products on the market.
They contain over 80 natural source minerals and active organic substances from ocean
water. Many gallons of seawater are processed to produce a single gallon of these
products. This has become one of my favorite biostimulants, perhaps even more than the
ever-present kelp. The clear color and lack of odor may not be as impressive as the lovely
green of kelp, but the results are incredible.
The price of the brand I use is about $60 for a gallon or $20-$25 for a quart if you can
find it in that smaller size. Some people even take a teaspoon of this every day in some
water or juice as a source of minerals, but of course the horticultural versions of these
products aren't marketed or sold for that purpose as the regulatory agencies would have a
hissy fit. There are food-grade versions available, though.
Now, using concentrated ocean water in the garden is a strange one to most people. The
most common question I get is, “Isn't it too salty?” Interestingly, it's not too salty. The so-
dium is buffered by the other 80+ minerals present in the water. In fact, the mineral
makeup of sea minerals is strikingly close to our blood.
Other questions people have are whether the water from the ocean is polluted, and why
we should pay money for something that is so abundant. The latter question often comes
from people on the coast and it's a good one. All I can say is that over fifty years of re-
search says it would be an excellent idea to pay for ocean water if you want healthy soil
and crops. As for pollution, yes, the ocean is extremely polluted in some places and not so
bad in others. The good products come from relatively pristine waters. You probably
wouldn't want to take water from too close to a major center, although depending on the
circumstances, the minerals might be worth the associated toxins.
The topic,
Fertility from the Ocean Deep
by Charles Walters chronicles the life of
Maynard Murray and discusses many of the hundreds of experiments that were done over
the years. I won't go into those studies here, but the yield and size increases of food plants
are impressive.
There is also improved resistance to plant predators, improved stress tolerance, better
taste and longer storage life. The list goes on and on, and this doesn't apply only to food
crops. A lawn isn't really all that different than a vegetable garden. They're all plants and
all need nutrients. Note that sea minerals and fish fertilizer may be better applied separ-
ately, as there's some evidence that their effectiveness is reduced when they are mixed to-
gether.
