Organics - Seaumic, Serenade
Horticulture Hotline 05/24/10
By Bill Lamson-Scribner

Last week I got a little side tracked writing about the amazing job that Tony Bakker and his team of people at The Charleston Battery have been able to accomplish through “going green.” This week I’m going to concentrate more on some of the newer products available and some of the old favorites for the new readers.

Seaumic has proven itself worthy in the Lowcountry in very short time. Seaumic is a granular organic product that is 45% humates and 10% cold water kelp (seaweed). Rose growers, sports turf field managers, landscapers, vegetable gardeners, home lawns and landscapes, and annual flower beds have all improved with the use of Seaumic.

Seaumic provides humate to the soil. Humate is compressed organic matter over thousands of years that is mined from the Earth. Humates in the soil increase fertilizer efficiency, make nutrients that are in the soil more available to the plant, reduce leaching of nutrients, increase the CEC of the soil, feed microbes in the soil, and encourage root growth. This is a short list of the benefits that this biostimulant can provide for your landscape.

The seaweed in Seaumic, Ascophyllum nodosum, provides a host of plant growth hormones and micronutrients to the plant. Cytokinins, Purines, Indoles, Abscisic Acid, and the plant growth hormones (auxins and gibberellins) just to name a few will get your plants and turf super healthy. Have you heard of human growth hormones?

One of our landscape customers worked at Clemson University for Dr. T.L. Senn while he was developing this product. When the customer found out we were selling the product, he ordered over 100 bags. Enough said!

Serenade is an organic fungicide that can be used on plants, flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables. Serenade is a bacteria strain that controls harmful plant diseases. It controls or suppresses Black Spot, Powdery Mildew, Rust, Gray Mold, Late Blight, Scab, Leaf Spot, Fire Blight and many other diseases.

Black spot on roses, Powdery Mildew on roses and Crepe Myrtles, and Leaf Spot on Indian Hawthorne are always a challenge. Give Serenade a try. As an OMRI rated product for organic gardening, it would be a good product to rotate in with others for a different mode of action to avoid resistance.

Some much to write, so little time. Next week I'll write about more organics.