Horticulture Hotline 04/04/22
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
One product you should be using now to bring your turf and plants out of dormancy is:
SeaHume G is a combination of cold-water seaweed from Norway (Ascophyllum nodosum) and humic acid.
SeaHume granular is formulated to enhance root formation, increase vascular strength, promote green color and reduce stress on turf, ornamentals, and vegetable plants. SeaHume G is a natural organic product and is non-toxic to humans, animals, and fish.
Humates do wonders for the soil. A few highlights are that it reduces thatch, increases water holding capacity, makes soil more friable, increases aeration of soil, makes insoluble nutrients in the soil into forms available to plants, acts as organic catalyst, increase viability and germination of seeds, accelerates cell division and root development, contains a lot of micronutrients, and increases photosynthesis. We have had a lettuce grower thank us many times for bringing this product to market because of his increase in seed germination.
Humates contain a high amount of carbon that is used as a food source by microorganisms in the soil. Microorganisms help the soil and in turn the plants and turf. A healthy population of beneficial microorganisms can make it hard for disease causing microorganisms to colonize and attack the plant. Microorganisms aerate the soil and make nutrients in the soil into a form that is available to the plant.
Seaweed is a great natural bio stimulant. The amino acids, carbohydrates, minor nutrients, major nutrients, cytokinins (shoot and root growth), gibberellins, betaines (natural insect repellents) and bio stimulants can really help your turf, flowers, shrubs, trees, and vegetables. The seaweed is processed in a way to preserve the Mannitol, a natural chelating agent.
At one soccer complex that had SeaHume applied in 2011, they used to have to replace 60 pallets of sod at the end of the season. In 2011, they only had to replace 7 pallets in basically the goal mouths. At another complex they went from 5 pallets down to a half a pallet in the goal mouths. The root structure of the grass plants was huge compared to years past on over 65 acres of fields we inspected. They are still getting outstanding results with this product.
Have you applied your preemergent product to your lawn and beds this year? Now is the time!
Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.
