Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Folks,

I need to add some things to my system as the small cucumbers are showing signs of iron depletion. I've got some chelated iron and have worked out that one teaspoon should be enough for my system (added to the grow beds?)

But am not sure how much seasol to add, do I work on the total water in the system (roughly 600Litres) or the volume of the growbeds?

H.

Good question. We have planted out the beds, and the system hasn't cycled. Obviously plants are struggling, so I added 250ml of seasol. (concentrated commercial stuff) 3 or 4 days later (today) I have added a litre of the stuff. Will report any changes to fish (ie deaths) or plants (ie life)

Yeah the reason I asked is, When adding to plants in an earth garden the plant takes up what it needs and the rest I assume is lost to the surround. Because we have a closed liquid system it becomes a whole new ball game. That is it stays in the system if the plants don't take it up.

But if we don't mix as specified is it too diluted to do any benefit.

I think so.... Acouple of days should see if there is any benefit with the amount I put in, keep in mind total water volume 10000 litres approx.

Cool,

I might try about 250mL in my small system and see how it goes. If your plants are strugling it may pay to add some "charli carp" too, as Seasol isn't a ferterliser as such, more of a tonic.

H.

I'd only put a cap full or two into a 600L system, infact I think 1 capfull would be heaps... I only put in a couple of cap fulls into my large systems when I see deficiencies..

In my old system, I added about 2 teaspoons of chelated iron over the whole life of it, and had magic growth. Just need some "p" and have started to up the feed to the fish. So far, ammonia is under .5 so I wanna get it up a bit.

Does anyone know if seasol would register nitrates? My test said 5 nitrates, thinking it is possibly ther seasol even though the bottle says no nitrogen

Theres a very small amount of nitrogen..

http://www.seasol.com.au/images/assets/ ... 7_2007.pdf

Thanks Joel,

Didn't really like the idea of the system looking like weak tea.

H.

most mature systems get that look by themselves

I will tell you what I would do as well as adding to the system, I would use it as a foliar spray and apply to leaves and allow it to drip down into therootzone, perhaps after the bed has drained or is draining.. The plant will then take in the nutrients through their leaves, followed by their roots and then carried into the rest of the system with the next flood cycle.

I'm with Faye on that one..... it's traditional use is as a "foliar" spray....

Be warned- I discovered the other day that seasol have a foliar spray and it is just not the seasol (seaweed extract) that we know and love it may have other additives. Remember Seasol is the brand name and has a range of products such as lawn food amongst others and the foliar spray took me by surprise. I was taken aback and fotunately read before spraying on my aquaponic veges.

So, do we have an 'Official BYAP Suggested Dosage' for Seasol yet???

Do we have a sticky for suggested doses of everything?

A dollop ............. .......it will work