SEAWEED FOR ROSES

Reprint from April 1993 American Rose Magazine.

By Judith Mayo

For several years I have been working towards rose growing the organic way.  After eliminating insecticides from my garden, I turned my attention to fertilizers.  Based upon much reading and studying, I decided that the age-old debate between "chemical" and "organic" was solved for me.

I have chosen the organic approach and have been working toward fertilizing with nothing but organic materials.Liquid seaweed was one of the first things I decided to try, after some folks from nearby Baton Rouge suggested it as a foliar food supplement. I was told it would make my roses "smile" and that it would also help with insect problems. 

I was able to find a source, and began applying it to my foliage; indeed, the roses did seem to smile, and the plants appeared to have less insect damage.In trying to do more research on seaweed, I found few sources. One very good one was Brenda Petris' article "Seaweed for Rose Horticulture" in the 1988 American Rose Annual, which got me started using liquid seaweed directly on the soil rather than just on the foliage.  

The first time I used it I noticed a distinct difference in the stems; never before had my plants produced such long, straight stems that were also strong and firm.  

Seaweed is high in potassium, but I had used extra potash before and had never gotten stems like this. I think that the other properties of seaweed and the fact that it is organic made the difference.Seaweed contains a broad array of vitamins, minerals and soil-conditioner elements; it has all three major nutrients, all the minor nutrients and virtually all the trace elements.

Alginic acid is also part of its make-up and will act as a soil conditioner by, according to Rondale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, helping enrich the microbiological soil flora.Seaweed also contains hormones that affect plant growth.

A substance called mannitol in seaweed is a carbohydrate that acts as a chelating compound. This makes some of the micronutrients already in the soil available to the plants in a chleated form. This property also keeps the micronutrients in the seaweed readily available to the plant. I use liquid seaweed about every month during the growing season.

Directions for its application can be found on the container.  I can enthusiastically recommend the use of liquid seaweed in your rose garden as a soil or a foliar fertilizer.