Has anyone made dried kelp meal?

We're going to the coast tomorrow where there should be some washed-up seaweed. If we can legally collect it, I would like to try to make a small bag worth of kelp meal. Has anyone dried and ground sea weed/kelp for the garden?

I know nothing about drying for kelp meal, but it makes a great addition to a compost pile.

Kay

sanderson wrote:We're going to the coast tomorrow where there should be some washed-up seaweed.  
If we can legally collect it, I would like to try to make a small bag worth of kelp meal.  Has anyone dried and ground sea weed/kelp for the garden?

Hi there,
the coast in California? - what about the (hidden) Japanese Nuclear radiation, & other chemical & human waste contamination, are you concerned?
if not: http://www.ehow.com/how_5954633_dry-seaweed.html

LittleGardener wrote:

sanderson wrote:We're going to the coast tomorrow where there should be some washed-up seaweed.  
If we can legally collect it, I would like to try to make a small bag worth of kelp meal.  Has anyone dried and ground sea weed/kelp for the garden?

Hi there,
the coast in California? - what about the (hidden) Japanese Nuclear radiation, & other chemical & human waste contamination, are you concerned?  
if not: http://www.ehow.com/how_5954633_dry-seaweed.html

Do you have any founded proof of radiation contaminated seaweed off the California coast Littlegardener?
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=8614165

Hi rooster,
a woman I know who lives SE/close to LA reported that Yes, there was sustained...Japan Nuclear radiation contamination in their waters first, which as it traveled up north in the stream became more diluted, yet even in Oregon it was reported by people doing such measurements. I had that article for some months before I deleted it. It made us not eat any seafood for awhile, only sardines & herring from safe places.

That's scientific proof?  I stand corrected...

I harvest it all the time, but I use it juiced up in a blender. I add a few tablespoons in a watering can, give the plants a leaves a douse as I drench the soil and the plants have responded with vigor. I was up in Sitka, Alaska last September and the native Tlingets grind it with hand powered meat grinders, dry it, and use it as a food source in the winter. As far as Radiation goes, the level of radiation emitted is far less than the radiation emitted by the concrete slabs in buildings, lower than the background radiation in Colorado, and far less than the rads received on a cross country flight from SFO to Laguardia.

Thank you to all who replied. This is just another experiment I want to try this year. It's hard to find an area that doesn't have some kind of "hazard" whether man made or naturally occurring. In the Valley, DPCP, EDB and nitrates from agriculture are found in ground water in some areas. Up the mountains from where I live, there is naturally occurring uranium in the water in some areas. There are garden farms that get runoff from dairies or other animal situations.

Yardslave, hi, just noticed you posted. thanks for the info. I recently bought a vintage meat grinder/veg slicer on eBay. I was think of grinding it in the meat grinder. Coarse or fine? While wet or mostly dried?

This is what I will do if I am allowed to take kelp from the beach. I will wash it, spread to dry, grind at some point and bake the final product (that solar oven I have been wanting to construct?) I just wanted the trace minerals most of all.

If you are collecting kelp, I don't think you will have any problems. Technically, Cal.Fish and Game says you need a fishing license, but I've never been hassled about collecting. When you go, bring a large ice chest with handles and just rinse the sand off the kelp(green stuff, brown stuff, everything but the sea fans-they will all do.) Keep them cool in the container for the long trip home, as they tend to get a snot-like slime that will make handling them challenging. Rinse them off to remove any sand that came along for the ride, but you don't have to be too thorough, there's not enough salt adhering to the kelp to effect your plants. The tribe I saw processing kelp ran it through a meat grinder on a rough chop, then spread them out on plywood sheets in the sun to dry. The stuff stinks pretty bad dried, that's why I juice it and keep it in sealed bottles to use as I need it. The dried kelp stores well, and you can add it to compost or put some in wet or dry in the MM to supplement the mineral needs and, overall, it is a pretty good fertilizer, and it's free.

Yardslave,
Thanks for this info. (I guess that woman was again wrong? figured because she often quotes scientifiic sources while also living there, it was right); but perhaps not.) Thank you for stating your own experiences.

Yardslave, thank you for mentioning ice. We bought a bag of ice to put on top of the bucket for the drive home. Now that we are home, I'm dreading to open the garbage bag for fear of the "snot-like slime!!"

I will post the process, for better or for worse.

Update on the kelp I collected at Pismo 6-20-13

6-22-13 - Rinsed and spread on a litter I made from free garden fencing, PVC poles and zip ties




6-23-13 AM - almost dry at 16 hours!


Now I have to see if I can grind it

Hi,

After grinding them, what will you do?  I am very curious as I have never done it.

Motto

Motto,  I'm curious, also!  Never done this before.  I just like to experiment.

Note to self, kelp stinks!

I tried grinding the dried kelp in my hand-powered meat grinder.  It's tough and I had to keep backing up and then going forward.  Nice little flakes, though.  Then I poured hot water over some of the dried kelp to soften them, and they went through a lot better.

Note to self, re-hydrated kelp stinks!

The ground, wet material is outside drying.  I poured the stinky water around some of my plants as an experiment.

I plan to add this to my compost pile for trace minerals.  I read that the help will not break down completely in compost, that you can still recognize the kelp after composting.  So I am making itty bitty kelp for composting, or garden tea if I see a difference in the plants I watered.

Yardslave, snot-like slime is a very accurate description!  Like an elephant sneezed!

Does hot composting count as fermenting? I would be run out of the neighborhood if I fermented it!

I'm re-posting my reply here since thins is the Kelp thread.

I'm sorry, I was referring to your last name and I thought you might have connections in Japan.

I believe you that kelp/sea weed is hard to digest completely. I'm having a heck of a time with grinding it. I didn't bother keeping the "bulbs and stalks" of the sea weed. Re-thinking, maybe they would have been less fibrous to grind???

Hot composting may at least help fermentation, but, to be honest, I am not sure.  It may take sometime anyway as it is said "good things take time".

Motto

Were we supposed to grind it before drying it? It would probably go thru so much easier, like meat.

My seaweed on the east coast is totally different than kelp. It comes with shells attached. I throw it into my compost pile.


I used to also use it as mulch but it attracted night time critters...probably raccoons.

But I may try grinding then drying some just for fun.

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:Were we supposed to grind it before drying it?  It would probably go thru so much easier, like meat.  CC

That's what I was thinking when I read where someone dried it, then had to partially rehydrate it to grind it. Makes sense to me to do it first, but having never done it...

GG

I think it depends on thickness. The one you picked seems to be rather thing, because it would become slimy if it is not properly kept.

When thin kelp is completely dehydrated, it should become crispy and easy to crush.

If grinding should be too difficult, kelp ash would also be good for fertilizer.

Motto

Side note:  Motto,  It is not necessary to add anything to the Post Title box.  The original poster (I think OP are the initials I keep reading) sets the title and then folks just add comments, making a chain or thread on the topic.

The kelp I am using is from Morro Bay on the Pacific Coast.  It was thick, I thought, and dried to thin, stringy leaves.  Some dried leaves were thin and crumbly; the thicker dried leaves just glared at me, daring me to try to grind them.

I reconstituted some leaves and the grinding was easier.  But, the mush dried in hard little of clumps.  I wouldn't want to step on them barefooted.  So, I used scissors to cut the dried leaves into one inch sections.  If I fed only a few at a time, I generally got through the grind without backing up.  It was HARD WORK.

I consider this experiment a success.  I know that if I had to, I could do it again.  But I won't except under one condition:  if we are at the beach and I know that I will be building a compost pile the day after I return home, I would collect fresh kelp (2 1/2 hours away), rinse, grind while wet, and mix with one of the various material piles on the tarp.  Then get the new raw compost mixture into the cage, lining the sides and top with wood shavings to control the odor, if any.  The current bag of ground material will go into my compost cage in a week or so.  I'm still collecting other materials.

I think in summary, I will buy the nice packed sea kelp meal from an eBay East Coast seller!  Even with shipping, I think it's worth it.  I just had to try something new.

Noted with thanks. Also understood all your thoughts and experiment/experience.

Regards,
Motto