Australian Produced Seaweed Bio Stimulant of Interest for Flower Growers

Product Review by Chris Smellie

At last year’s conference the NZ representative for Valagro products outlined, in his presentation, where Valagro harvested their seaweed from and the products made from it. Whereas Valagro harvest the seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum from the Norwegian Sea for their products, ‘Natrakelp’ of Australia harvest Bull Kelp from King Island near Tasmania for their products.

Natrakelp puts a convincing case for the technical purity of its product saying the way it is processed into liquid seaweed leaves 85% solids and hence a high percentage of carbohydrates, minerals, trace elements, vitamins and amino acids in the finished product.

Also claimed is that, most importantly the manufacturing process ensures that the most important ingredient of seaweed, Alginic acid or Alginate is retained in the finished product and not siphoned off or destroyed, which occurs in most other seaweed products on the market. The Alginate is the component of the kelp that delivers the sugars directly to the plant cells, thus short circuiting the process of photosynthesis.  Because of this, controlled scientific studies at the University of New England in Armidale New South Wales have shown a 33% increase in the vase life of cut flowers and a 20% in the life of flowers on the bush.  It is claimed that Natrakelp liquid seaweed is a totally organic product with no added chemicals and therefore environmentally safe.

In the link below the Australian CEO talks about Natrakelp and explains the benefits of this product.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whgi_pF2CSU  

It is available in NZ contact Allan Parsons allancathy@xtra.co.nz or telephone 027 296 3193