Today I want to talk about a new and exciting area of research for plant and ultimately human nutrition that is known as sea minerals. There are many new products emerging that show great promise in re-mineralizing our soils. Last December I attended a advanced soil science conference led by researchers from the USDA and several major universities, where one of the focal points was on re-mineralizing our soils. Several books I recently read (Geotherapy, The Soil Will Save Us, etc.) all focused on the re-mineralization of our soils as critical to increase productivity and quality of our foods, and to reduce insect disease and weed problems from agriculture to our flowerbeds and to fight global warming by storing carbon in our soil. 

For years we were taught that all we needed to grow plants were 16 nutrients (elements). As we followed this advice the problems in agriculture and horticulture, animal health on our farms and ranches, to human health exploded and have become exponentially worse. We now know that hundreds of human health problems are caused or aggravated by nutritional deficiencies and similarly in animals. Studies have found that the human body has 90 elements in it in almost the exact ratio as found in seawater. Hence, many researchers started asking how will these nutrients get into our bodies if they are not in our food supply (vegetable or animal sources). Continuing the line of thought, how will these minerals get into our plants (or the animals that eat the plants) unless they are in our soil! I became very interested in this subject over 20 years ago when I had some health issues that the medical approach was expensive surgery. While deciding if I was going to have surgery I met a doctor at a organic farming conference whom convinced me to try a nutritional approach. It worked and only cost a few hundred dollars versus the tens of thousands that surgery would have required. This doctor has a famous lecture available on CD called “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie”, By Joel Wallach, DVM, N.D. It is an excellent lecture on nutrition, trace minerals and health (available at some health food stores or online for only a couple dollars). 

This brings us back to today’s subject of minerals from the sea. Below is a chart showing all the different minerals in seawater (Note: I am using the word minerals to actually describe elements since most readers are more comfortable with that terminology).    

I first started reading research articles from Israel about using sea water for fertilizer over 25 years ago. Many described how they were reclaiming the dessert and successfully growing crops using sea water for fertilization and irrigation. Since then there has been a lot of research from all over the world in this area. A couple of the first books on the subject were Sea Energy Agriculture by Maynard Murray, PhD and Fertility From The Deep Ocean by Charles Walters (both books are available from the ACRES, USA bookstore).    

There are many products in the market that are essentially sea minerals. One of the first types is sometimes called coral calcium. It is mined from ancient coral reefs found in sedimentary rocks. It will have high levels of calcium (Ca) in the form of CaCO3) with some magnesium (Mg) in addition to the other minerals. If your soil is low on calcium this type product might be a good choice. However, if your soil has plenty of calcium then this product can cause problems. 

The next class of sea minerals comes from ancient salt deposits which are mined and sold. One of the benefits of ancient mined deposits is that they are free of modern pollution products. My wife and I use a brand of Sea Salt from the Redmond company that we love as it makes all food taste better and we get these trace elements every time we use it. This same company also has bagged minerals for use in horticulture and agriculture. 

The next group of sea mineral products comes from sea water by evaporating the water and there are many brands in the market. I have read several interesting articles on one brand that removes the sodium before selling it and has had many favorable articles in the literature. It is called SEA-90 and is OMRI certified for use in organic production. 

Most of these products are very easy to use as they can be applied as any granular fertilizer according to the instructions on the bag. Many can also be dissolved in water and the applied as a soil drench or sprayed on as a foliar application. 

SUMMARY: 

Sea Minerals are an exciting new method of improving the fertility of our soils and ultimately improving our health. They are becoming more available and are relatively inexpensive. The biggest issue is that they are relatively new to the market and there is a lack of experience in using them in our area. 

PROS: 

– excellent source of all minerals 

– often used as an ingredient in organic fertilizers 

– unlimited resource 

– many brands available    

– stimulate beneficial microbes 

– sometimes used in animal feed 

– some brands a good source of calcium 

– does not burn plants 

– naturally helps plants be more insect and disease resistant 

– mined products are free from pollution 

– helps plants absorb other nutrients better 

– improves flavor of vegetables and fruits fertilized with them 

– increase production and yields of all crops 

– matures crops faster (less days to harvest) 

– reduces transplant shock 

– increases a plants heat tolerance 

– increases a plants drought tolerance 

– reduces mortality rate in livestock grazed on treated pasture 

– better weight gain in cattle and with better flavor of meat 

CONS: 

– limited availability in some areas 

– large swings in quality of product 

– lack of experience in horticulture industry on proper usage.