Subject: Re: Cytokinin-Commercial Use

From: [email-masked] (BRateaver)
Date: 30 Apr 1996 07:00:16 -0400

Certainly there can be nothing better than the use of seaweed. It has all
the known growth regulators, and since it is itself a plant, it has
everything in correct proportion for a plant.

The literature on this is great and very enlightening.
First, read the top book: Seaweed in Agriculture and Horticulture, by W.
A. Stephenson, which is only $20.  This is a very well written book and
covers all aspects. This man initiated the sale of soluble seaweed powder,
Maxicrop, which is a stable, conscientious company, the first in the
field, and the only one which has paid for extensive research on seaweed.

Next read the newer book by Dr. T. Senn, who used Maxicrop for the
research he carried on, and he wrote: Seaweed and Plant Growth, which is
loaded with data on the growth regulators included cytokinin.  It is $12.

These are the 2 really good books, and data originate from careful
researchers, not the sloppy Joe types--or those who just rewrite the
Stephenson book info.

B. Rateaver

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 16:54:28 -0700

Depending upon which classification scheme that you believe, "seaweed" 
(which could be almost any marine alga) MIGHT NOT be a plant.  Even if 
the organism that you are calling "seaweed" is in fact a plant, that does 
not make it the perfect soil amendment for every situation. Following 
the argument that all plants are perfectly suited as a soil ammendment 
for every other plant, why not just grab any old plant and plow it into 
the ground?  
 Clearly, not all plants are chemically similar; they do not all have the 
same nutritional demands, nor do very different plant species contain the same
proportions of elements in their tissues.  Why would seaweed, for instance, be
a good fertilizer for oranges?  Given the very different environments that the 
plants encounter in their lives, why should their elemental compositions 
be similar or complementary?  I suppose an advantage of seaweed that it 
decomposes readily (since it is not woody); releasing the nutrients that 
it does have quickly.  But quick degredation may be the best quality in a 
soil ammendment. If the organic matter is gone in a flash, why bother?  
It won't do much to improve soil moisture, decrease soil temperature, or 
provide a long term food source for beneficial soil organisms. 
Why not use a less exotic mulch (unless seaweed is very inexpensive)?

As for growth regulators, it is not only the presence of regulators, but 
the dosage and method of application that contribute to a growth 
response.  The proportion of regulators to each other also influences 
th overall effect on a plant; and again, why would seaweed contain the 
perfect proportion of regulators for every plant and every soil?

Matthew F.

On 30 Apr