DIY Kelp Meal Tea

DIY Kelp Meal Tea contains NPK and over 60 micronutrients that help increase yields, improve soil structure, reduce plant stress and increase frost tolerance.

Garden fertilizers are all rated by their NPK ratio — which indicates the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.

Aside from the NPK ration, we also have a hidden world of macronutrients (trace elements). Those trace elements basically make up the rest of the minerals in organic fertilizer. Kelp meal is a great nutrient that can be added to soil and to help constitute the rest of the minerals that can be used as a balanced fertilizer blend.

What is Kelp Meal?

Kelp meal is made from dried ocean seaweed. It can be processed into a meal, powder or liquid.  The liquid can be applied as a foliar spray to maturing plants.

Kelp meal contains NPK along with over 60 micronutrients including magnesium, sulfur, sodium and vanadium. It takes several weeks to several months to release its nutrients into the soil. It’s a must have for any garden and probably one of the best teas you could make and give to your plants/soil.

Your goal in growing any garden is to build a complex soil system to support crops year after year. Kelp Meal can do that. The micronutrients in kelp can help your crops better absorb water and make use of the macronutrients.

Kelp Meal works best as a balanced fertilizer blend and liquid kelp can be applied as a foliar spray and a root feeding to the soil through the season.

• Follow the planting guidelines on the label to provide Kelp Meal on new vegetable crops each season.
• Use Kelp Meal to make liquid kelp meal and provide a supplemental feeding to tomatoes and squash throughout the summer and early fall in the form of kelp meal tea. 
• Liquid Kelp Meal can be used as a foliar feed every other week. Apply during morning feedings to help the plant absorb nutrients better than if applied middle to late day.

How to Make Hydrated Kelp Meal (Kelp Meal Tea)

Kelp Meal Tea is one of the best DIY plant teas you can make and use in your garden. Kelp contains over 60 micronutrients along with NPK, and is made by solar drying the kelp, which takes a period of several weeks.

Once dry, the kelp is cut in machinery using long blades. It’s important that the kelp is harvested in deep, cold waters off the North Atlantic. There are less pollutants than kelp harvested from kelp from the west coast.

Kelp absorbs the minerals into its branches and leaves from the seawater. Kelp will absorb pollutants to allow the best seawater imaginable for growing.

Learn how to make your own water soluble calcium/phosphate as a foliar feed for your garden.

Have you ever made or used Kelp Meal Tea in your organic garden? And if so, did you see noticeable results in the health of the soil and plants?