Seaweed Extract Foliar Spray

[Tropicdude]

I was able to buy a couple of commercial products at a great price, but I am having a problem in calculating how to dilute it in small batches.

both seem to be seaweed based but with added elements.  and the recommended dosage is between 1-3L per HA. depending on crop, but there is no mention of how much water to mix it with for that area.

here is the composition of one product Luxagrow-Algas

Seaweed Extract 35%
N                           2%
p                           9%
K                          12%
Magnesium           40ppm
Calcium                 80ppm
Iron                     110ppm
Zinc                       20ppm
Boron                    10ppm
Alginic acid            3%
Phytohormones   500ppm

Looking around at other similar products it has become apparent that this is highly concentrated, other products seem to have dilution ratios from 1:750  to 1:2000  but was wondering if someone knew from experience, or had some kind of simple formula.

at 1:1000  would mean that 1 liter of water to 1Ml of extract.  one gallon sprayer = 3.8 L so that is approximately 4ml of extract.   One teaspoon = 5ml

Another product  has seaweed, but seems to have additional hormones added.

Cytokinins      3000ppm
IBA                   300ppm
GA3                  200ppm
Seaweed Ext     18%
N                        3%
P                        7%
K                        4%
Amino Acids       1%
sulfur                 56ppm
boron                10ppm

both products have the micro minerals from the seaweed and all that but not individually listed on the label.

Anyone know how much water is used in foliar spraying 1 Ha of crops?

each bottle has 250ML so thats over 250 liters of prepared product ( at 1: 1000 )  or 65 Gallons.

also the recommended application rates for these is to spray every 2 weeks starting from time of flowering for the seaweed product.

the hormones are used in 3 applications, during flowering, fruit set, and fruit formation.

although I have seen a lot of variation between similar products.  also varies depending on crop.

[siafu]

If the product doesn't have foliar instructions, you can still usually apply it in a foliar application, but apply the product at a rate of 10 to 15% of the maximum root application instructions (especially if the product has any respectable N-P-K, like "grow" or "bloom" nutrients- again, if you're not sure, please ask us).

from http://www.4hydroponics.com/FAQfoliar.htm

Less than 1:1000 seems a bit risky...

I'd use 1:2000 for the first few aplications to be on the safe side...

[CTMIAMI]

Where are these products coming from? I Google the first and nothing came up. I dont think they could be made in DR.  The second product has a lot of stuff in i,t what would you use it for?
Feliz Navidad












gogle the first one and nothing came up. I'm sure there are not made in DR?

[Tropicdude]

Yes a high dilution rate i believe would be the safe route, I do not have any deficiencies at the moment just want a maintenance dose, also seaweed is helpful for insects.  the idea is to have just a tonic dose.

@carlos
The ones I got are bottled here, but the product is manufactured overseas.

these would fall under the category of bio stimulants  here is a link to a Mexican distributor that has like a zillion products listed.

http://www.dasur.com.mx/plm/fscommand/src/indgral/b.htm

here you can get an idea of what and when they should be used for different crops.

Cytokinins is a growth stimulator and depending on when its used can stimulate flower growth. an agronomist friend of mine highly recommended I use phytohormones and amino acids on my mangosteen. plus I think they may be useful in stimulating flowering on my mangoes.

for example below is a product he uses and recommended, but I have not found this is small bottles and is expensive as heck for a backyard grower. but the formulation is similar to the Luxagrow-Hormonas
these products go a long way because they are super concentrated.

http://www.dasur.com.mx/plm/fscommand/src/prods/sagal/sagal03.htm

these bio stimulants or regulators are used depending on what your trying to accomplish, for example some natural hormones, like zeatin cytokinins, will delay ripening of the fruit, so if you have a late season variety, and you want to delay the harvest even more, you apply these sprays, it will also increase the size and quality of the fruit.

Auxins I believe delay flowering and leaf growth in favor of roots.  so each crop and outcome desired needs to be looked into before using specific bio regulators.

the cytokines are used to break apical dominance, they work like "tipping" because tipping removes the apical dominance, auxin are produced in the tips and young leaves, cytokines, will give you more branching.  the seaweeds have all these hormones naturally in them, besides all the other goodies.

Also I have found Moringa is being used as a foliar spray, I mentioned this in another thread. no surprise its being used for this purpose because it is high in Zeatin cytokinins, among minerals etc. similar to seaweed.

[CTMIAMI]

William, Please ask your friend when you get a chance if the has experience accelerating flowering in avocados? Even by 10 days is significant.

[Tropicdude]

William, Please ask your friend when you get a chance if the has experience accelerating flowering in avocados? Even by 10 days is significant.

I will ask him.

by the way, curious as I am, I found this article you may want to look at.

http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/42/2/257.full

[fruitlovers]

Try contacting the manufacturer of the product. If it's bonafide then they should have an exact analysis of what is in it and perhaps even recommendations of spray rates for different crops. Probably won't have rare fruits listed but you can guesstimate from similar crops. Then i would make trial spraying and adjust from that thru trial and error.