The Benefits of Cold Pressed Seaweed and Foliar Feeds

The Benefits of Cold Pressed Seaweed and Foliar Feeds

Cold pressed liquid seaweed - header image

As you know, the Quickcrop research team never sleeps. We work tirelessly night and day to improve our product range and bring the best possible products to our shop and, hopefully, to your garden. 

I had been looking for an organic root boosting feed for use in our nursery (we want to turbo charge our seedlings to make them root quicker when planted out) when I came across Ollie Greene at 'Better Plants'. 

 

There are any number of seaweed feeds on the market, but what makes Ollie's different is that he uses a 'cold pressing' technique to extract the nutrient-rich liquid. Most other seaweed feed manufacturers use either high heat or a strong alkali solution to break down the seaweed cell walls, but cold pressing uses only water and pressure. 

The result is a fresh-smelling olive green liquid rather than the usual coffee brown. It is higher in nutrients, and retains more of the plant growth hormones and immune-boosting sugars than more processed products. 

Cold pressed seaweed is also made fresh, meaning it is harvested, screened and pressed in a short time-frame; whereas most other liquid feeds are made from a dried seaweed meal which may have been stored for some time.

After seeing impressive results in the nursery from the Better Plants range, we are now stocking the general seaweed feed, the tomato feed, potato feed and rose feed. We are also carrying the root booster product (which we have found to be particularly good), a mister spray for houseplants and the seaweed meal (which Charles Dowding has been impressed by as an addition to potting compost). 

Apart from the seaweed meal, the Better Plants products are generally used as foliar feeds, meaning they are watered onto the foliage and taken in through the leaves. 

Foliar feeding is significantly quicker in terms of giving a plant a boost (up to 10 times quicker); it is also very good for potted plants (which tend to have more restricted root systems) as nutrients are being taken in by both the leaves and the roots. 

Ollie Greene from Better Plants

We have found that foliar feeding of tomatoes with Better Plants Tomato Feed resulted in dark and glossy leaves, with a marked difference from untreated plants. Vigorous, dark green leaves contain plenty of chlorophyll, which process the sun's energy into sugars: so the feed is therefore benefiting the whole plant rather than just the leaves. 

All the Better Plants feeds are certified organic and and are produced in Ireland, so that's another couple of boxes ticked for us - and a new product range on the shelves.