Help - Sea-90 and Sea-Crop and Na sodium chloride (table salt)

John3 · March 20, 2013

Need help on translating the information into something I can understand about Na - sodium chloride (table salt) which one has less in it.
Sea-Crop or Sea-90

Here is Sea-90’s info sheet about what’s in Sea-90
http://www.seaagri.com/docs/4_Fold_SA_AP_12.pdf
In the column ppm it says 35% - I guess that’s 35% of per ppm – what does ppm mean.

Here is Sea-Crop’s information – I could not find anything about Na - sodium chloride (table salt)
I sent an email to them and got back –
“The contained sodium is eight tenths of a percent.” But didn’t say of what.
And I was “I highly recommend that you get the book that is available on our website. It contains that kind of information and a great deal more.”
So I went to Sea-Crop’s site and found the book page and it says this about the book –
“This is the first new book in over three and a half decades written by a primary researcher in the field of seawater induced fertility.
It documents important, groundbreaking, research that helps to establish a new paradigm for increased harvests of more nutrient dense food.
It points to the possibility of lessening dependency on harsh chemical inputs while at the same time increasing yields.
The book has 144 pages including 16 color pages.
It contains information found nowhere else. “
Price - $18.95

JamesL · March 20, 2013

John,
PPM - parts per million
One ppm is equivalent to 1 milligram of something per liter of water (mg/l) or 1 milligram of something per kilogram soil (mg/kg).

Eight tenths of a % - that should be by weight.

I think the Sea-90 sheet is indicating 35% by weight. PPM is not usually expressed as a percentage.

here is an MSDS for Sea Crop.
http://www.gardenerspantry.ca/attach...eacropmsds.pdf

Be careful - Table Salt is NaCl not just Na.
Here is a great primer on different salts aimed at cooking but still might be helpful.
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/salt.html

John3 · March 20, 2013

JamesL
The MSDS (Sea-Crop) says Mg, Na, Ca,S, Br, K, I, B, Sr, Si) =8.83% by weight
The link I posted (Sea-90) with pdf says ppm 35% (even if you are correct about it referring to weight)
One say 8.83% and the other 35%? Kinda big differace between the two it looks like.
[EDITED THE ABOVE TO CORRECT FROM ginger2778 CORRECT MATH and JAMESL's CORRECTION OF MY SEA-90 WHEN IT WAS SEA-CROP]
So adding a lot of Na to your soil is good and not so good the NaCl ? Also, trying to find out if the Na builds up in the soil or does the plants use it.

Now if that isn't enough to

me I found out that there is one more company selling the liquid - Ocean Solutions - couldn't find any info on there site about Na.

One more it's not liquid - AZOMITE.

Of these four which is the best mix to add to a Home garden.

ginger2778 · March 20, 2013

Sea crop is definitely the lower in Na. The Na being only part of what makes up 8.83%. I believe they are expressing the Na by % in the Sea-90 because if they put it in as PPM, the number would look so high that they probably wouldn't want you to see the actual truth.
If it is 35% by weight, then over 1/3 of the total is Sodium, probably expressed as NaCl ,or salt, because that is the main source of Na in sea water. If it is actual parts per million, it would be 350,000 PPM.
Not good, In my opinion.

Marsha

JamesL · March 20, 2013

John,
The Link you added is Sea Agri. The MSDS I added was Sea Crop.
I am NO Chemist. Read this for the difference between pure Na and NaCl.
http://chemistry.about.com/od/molecu...ersus-Salt.htm
I don't think you can add pure Na to anything without a problem.
The 35% referred to by Sea Agri must be Sodium Chloride not pure Sodium.

Looking further at this -
Sea Crop from their own MSDS- 80+ natural elements of standard seawater, less some gases and a reduction in sodium. Major minerals (Cl,
Mg, Na, Ca,S, Br, K, I, B, Sr, Si) =8.83% by weight.
That doesn't jibe with the “The contained sodium is eight tenths of a percent.” that they gave you.

Sea Agri - has an independent study listed that reflects 28% Sodium and 49.80% Chloride.
Neither number jibes with the 35% Sodium they post on the website. I don't know the rationale for splitting the 2 numbers as we are talking about sea water which is of course salty!
http://www.seaagri.com/docs/competit...bs_nov2012.pdf

It would appear that Sea Crop has less salt. And it appears they are removing it -"Sea-Crop is a concentrate that contains all of the wonderful goodness of seawater in concentrated form but with the sodium chloride 95% reduced."

As to using it on plants - I can offer you this link which discusses it. It also contains links to Rutgers U salt studies which are interesting.
http://www.growingformarket.com/arti...-tomato-flavor

John3 · March 20, 2013

ginger2778 and JamesL back to you on your posts - reading a lot and just want to make a quick comment about the Rutgers studies post.

"At Rutgers University in New Jersey, Dr. Joseph Heckman realized that a lack of sodium could be responsible for less flavorful tomatoes. “In the ‘olden days’ Chilean nitrate (sodium nitrate) was widely used as a nitrogen source in vegetable crop production,” he writes. “But in recent decades it has mostly been replaced with other nitrogen fertilizers that do not provide sodium.”
I am wondering if the Chilean nitrate is what many of us call that old time flavor missing from the tomatoes. Any thoughts on that?

JamesL · March 20, 2013

John,
I picked up on that too, but didn't draw the link to "old time flavor". That is an interesting thought.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John3

One more it's not liquid - AZOMITE.
Of these four which is the best mix to add to a Home garden.

All of them!

You are growing in ground right? Have you done a soil test? I think that would be the 1st order of priority.
I thought the Rutgers study on sea water was interesting. Also considered driving down to the ocean and pulling out a 5 gal bucket of sea water.
I also have a bag of Azomite in my garage and was contemplating using it in my Earthtainers. Have read mixed but mostly positive reviews on it. Haven't decided on my fertilizer regimen yet and need to work out if it fits or if I would be adding too much of any one component.
Thread on it here - http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...hlight=azomite
So - At present I am probably not much help....
http://www.azomiteinternational.com/.../Tomatoes.html

Marsha,
I see you cut to the chase on the maths much quicker than I could've. Nicely done.
Take a look at the salt study. It is interesting....

John3 · March 20, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Sea crop is definitely the lower in Na. The Na being only part of what makes up 8.83%. I believe they are expressing the Na by % in the Sea-90 because if they put it in as PPM, the number would look so high that they probably wouldn't want you to see the actual truth.
If it is 35% by weight, then over 1/3 of the total is Sodium, probably expressed as NaCl ,or salt, because that is the main source of Na in sea water. If it is actual parts per million, it would be 350,000 PPM.
Not good, In my opinion.

Marsha

Marsha Thank You for working all that out. Not good in that Na in sea water is salt and it builds up - Sea-90's Na is very high but the Na in Sea-Crop is very low and the plants use some so there may or may not be some build up of Na sea water as it is salt. So of the two Sea-Crop better to use from the level of Na.

John3 · March 20, 2013

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