What should liquid seaweed extract look like?

[ridethespiral]

I bought a bottle of General Hydroponics Bio-Weed seaweed extract a couple of weeks ago. I've been doing some more reading into seaweed extract when I saw that the colour of it should be a dark green, almost black colour.. The stuff I got is a rather bright green.. It looks like a vegetable smoothie, but smells like a pond.

Is this stuff no good?

[Bud]

I got 'Maxicrop' seaweed online and it is muddy black with a slight fishy scent in fact its like the smell of the seawater when I take the Staten Island Ferry in the summertime.

[tucker85]

It all depends on how much the product has been refined. Maxicrop, like Bud said, is almost black. Other seaweed products are a lighter color or almost even clear with a little green or brown tint.

[Silje]

I use Kelpak and its also quite bright green, a bit muddy perhaps, but definitely not towards black. It smells pond, but not very strong. I can't speak for your brand, but Kelpak certainly works despite being a thinner and less stinky liquid than many other seaweed extracts.

[Island Girl]

Yea, there's different types... I have one that is blackish brown, smells like standing at the docks by the fish house down here! Lol it's Neptune's Harvest fish & seaweed... But my other one, is a bright green, clearish liquid that doesn't have a smell I've noticed (haven't stuck my nose in there, tho) it's KelpMax.

For root growth, the KelpMax works better, the other is just kind of a fert I use for my deflasked seedlings (but it sits out in the warmth by my back door, so even if it did have the hormones to promote root growth, they are probably long gone by now)

[kindrag23]

Mine is Gro-better seaweed extract, it is thickish black/brown color with a slight smell, especially on a really warm day. Whew!! I use it weakly weekly, and have not had any issues thus far. My chids seem to be happier with it. Especially my paph. It has two root nubs coming in.

[ridethespiral]

Originally Posted by Silje

I use Kelpak and its also quite bright green, a bit muddy perhaps, but definitely not towards black. It smells pond, but not very strong. I can't speak for your brand, but Kelpak certainly works despite being a thinner and less stinky liquid than many other seaweed extracts.

This definitely sounds like Kelpak. It is an opaque bright green, and muddy looking mixture. Since I started using it, one of my orchids has been giving out new roots from existing roots but neither of my orchids has started giving out new roots. Must be patient... :P

[Nexogen]

Yes, General Hydroponics Bio-Weed seaweed, is bright green, don’t worry.

[ridethespiral]

Thanks

It seems to do wonderful things for cuttings and germinating seeds. I took a hoya carnosa cutting from my larger plant and stuck it in semi-hydro culture and it shot out roots in two days! I also germinated some chive and thyme seeds, also in semi-hydro, and the thyme only took two days to germinate, and a week for the chives. When tried before using dirt, the chives took around two weeks and thyme just over a week.

[Ray]

Bio-Weed and Kelpak are made from different seaweed species.