# Sea Minerals



## jeff outwest (Sep 13, 2009)

Saw a show on RFD TV about Sea Minerals, has any one used this product, if so what is your results?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

jeff outwest said:


> Saw a show on RFD TV about Sea Minerals, has any one used this product, if so what is your results?


Sounds along the lines of unicorn farts and pixie dust. You know, the same stuff that makes the ACA work.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

mlappin said:


> Sounds along the lines of unicorn farts and pixie dust. You know, the same stuff that makes the ACA work.


Hey....easy, I used unicorn farts one time and the results were amazing, course I also used a 100units of N too....but them unicorn farts work! I ain't real sure about the pixie dust....


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

somedevildawg said:


> Hey....easy, I used unicorn farts one time and the results were amazing, course I also used a 100units of N too....but them unicorn farts work! I ain't real sure about the pixie dust....


sdd,

I hope you are being facetious. One hundred pounds of N/acre covers a lot of sins...

Without using the ufs with no added N, how would one know...


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

If you read the label on this product, you will see that sodium and chloride makes up most of the mix, which is, sea water without the water. This is a good way to stunt your crop or kill everything along your fence rows if you want to spend that much money. The Romans used salt on fields to starve their enemies, and this is the same stuff they used.

The good news about this product is that it is 100% natural. The bad news is: so is Dog Crap and Rattlesnake Venom. Good Luck, and get a professional soil test.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

The good news about this product is that it is 100% natural. The bad news is: so is Dog Crap and Rattlesnake Venom.

Now that's funny.....


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## ForemanTX (May 7, 2012)

I sprayed a couple acres with it, didnt kill anything, grass still growing there this year. I would use the grasshopper over it, nothing beats the real deal but better than nothing. I atleast like to try something new but don't get carried away with it.


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

Most plants (including grass plants, alfalfa plants, trees, etc) can withstand 1500 - 2000 ppm of salts in the soil solution before damage occurs. Some plants can withstand much more. A small amount of sea salt will not harm your field.

Salts are hydroscopic, in other words, salt pulls water, or we can even say, "salt wants water." (the last statement is absurd because we have no proof that chemicals think or have a consciousness, but it makes it easier for some to think about it all)

Plant cells, and in this case we are talking about root cells, pull water from the soil solution. This "pulling" is called osmosis, and this process is basically the cell's membrane passing water from the exterior of the cell to the interior. This water is held in the cell by osmotic pressure.

Enter salt into the soil solution. Now, imagine cells "pulling" water from the soil and holding it inside the cell and salt "wanting" water. If the salt solution becomes concentrated enough, the salt wins. The salt wins when the point is reached where the salt solution in the soil has a greater power to pull water than the root cells' power to told the water inside the cells. Cells collapse and wither - they die. This is called, "exosmosis."

This happens to the smallest roots cells first, the cells with the thinnest and most fragile cell walls. These small roots (root hairs) are responsible for pulling a great deal of water from the soil and supplying the upper portion of the plant's leaves.

Once these cells get damaged, the pumping capacity of the root system is reduced. Hence, the first part of the plant to run out of water is the part furthest from the root system: The tips of the leaves.

Fertilizers contain salts, good salts for plants; sea water contains sodium chloride, a bad salt for plants.

This is what causes tip burn on plants. Toss a big handful of fertilizer (or table salt, or sea salt) on your wife's rose bush, and in a few days the leaves will be burned starting at the tips. Too much fertilizer on your field and you get burn, too much sea salt on your field, you get burn. The question is, why put something on your field that raises the bad salt levels with little benefit? Fertilizer salts benefit the plants, sea salt only competes with the plants roots without any benefit.

I would stay with the science of plant nutrition. Thousands of papers and many, many books have been written on the subject.

If I need to get healthy, I will rely on a doctor that has studied the science, science that can be verified and tested and retested by independent observers. I believe that sea salts are just voodoo, but - they are natural! My take on it...


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

By our trying these types of products, we only prolong the viability of shyster companies and their trained but ignorant sales personnel, even if we only use a small amount on a test strip. Do the trial for more than one year because your soil may contain sufficient levels of plant nutrients to maintain adequate crop yields for a year of so, and that can make the shyster product look good even if it does nothing for yield. If you really want to try one of these untested products that come highly touted by 'satisfied customers' but with no supporting data, here is what you can do:

Tell the salesman that you are willing to try the product by itself with no additional fertilizer on a small strip, that you control, for three years. You provide the land and time and he provides the product for free. If it increases yield and quality, and continues to do so into the third year, you will pay him for the product. But be sure that you obtain written and signed instructions on his company letterhead for how to apply the product, and then follow these instructions exactly.

With that said, we know that sea salt is mainly sodium chloride. There are research reports and refereed journal articles that show some crops respond to chloride largely due to disease suppression, and a few plants need a little sodium. Potash is potassium chloride (KCl, another form of salt), and it contains a small amount of sodium, so application of potash provides adequate chloride and a minute amount of sodium for most plant growth. No need to try sodium chloride, particularly if your fertilizer blend contains potash..


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

Another thing to consider about applying sea salts to land is the effect of soil binding. Sodium can effect clay particles in a process known as "deflocculation." When that happens, sodium molecules get between clay particles and cause them to disperse. This makes for a slick sticky soil when wet and very hard soil when dry. In bad cases, the soil is known as being "sodic." Many millions of dollars are spent every year to flocculate soils by applying gypsum. The calcium in gypsum will combine with the sodium and negate the effect.

Another problem is the killing of earthworms and other beneficial microbes. Find a worm and sprinkle a little sea minerals on him. He will die for the same reasons that I explained in the earlier post.

As far as chlorides, plants do need a small amount, but sea salts are a poor, dangerous and expensive way to supply that nutrient. Potassium chloride or muriate of potash is a common way of getting it. If your baby needs a drink of water, you wouldn't toss him in a river.

The most important thing, in my opinion, is to get a soil test done by a top lab. I have had very poor experience with county agents and government people as they sometimes have the knowledge but they are "not for profit," which is just another way of saying, "they have no motive."

I use this lab, http://www.stukenholtz.com. I do not work for them or have any skin in it at all. In fact, I have never been there or even remember the name of the lady I talk to on the phone. I found this lab by talking to one of the top guys at one of the largest fertilizer companies in the world. This is the lab they use.

It costs $49 for a complete soil test. When you send in the sample, tell them what you are going to grow, and they will tell you how many pounds per acre of NPK, lime, gypsum, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, sulfates, zinc, boron, etc. to apply to get the best results. Give this info to your fertilizer company and have them make a blend for you.

I dig several holes, scattered around the field, with a post hole digger. I remove the top inch or so and sample the next 2-6 inches of soil and put about a cup of that in a very clean bucket. I mix all of these samples and send about 2 cups of this soil in a NEW and clean zip lock bag by priority mail to the lab. I enclose my email and credit card number or check. About 48 hours after they get the sample, I get an email with the results, in a few days I get a the results by mail as well.

If you have never done a complete soil test from a top lab, you will be amazed at the results you can get with proper nutrition. It is totally possible to get a10-50% increase (or much more) in production. Without a soil test, you are driving without a map - in effect, you are blind.

When you hay, you are cutting hay (which contains calcium, potassium, iron, zinc etc.) bailing it up and sending it, along with all of these nutrients, down the highway. You must get these nutrients back into the soil in a balanced way so that the next crop is a good crop. Without a soil test you will not know what to do.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Good responses, I think I'll try that lab myself, I've always felt the county uses inferior methods or inferior workers, as mine is always very, very close to the same every year. Thanks for the link Hugh......


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## askinner (Nov 15, 2010)

Probably great if you're growing seaweed and coral, but I only grow alfalfa..... Think I'll stick to my P & K.


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