Hi dregae: I tested both: alfalfa meal wins, since it has zero salt. Kelp is very salty. I bought NOW kelp tablet (for human consumption), chew on that .. and had to spit out. EXREME SALT like that IS NOT GOOD FOR PLANTS. I already tested kelp & seaweed on roses .. came down with salt-burnt in hot weather, and as to deepening blooms? NOT impressive.

Check out Sam's thread, "Organic fertilizer, what worked, and what doesn't work."

I have good results with Alfalfa too. More blooms.

There is liquid kelp available that does not have the salt.

Would you happen to know what the brand of liquid kelp is?

Grace (dregae): I wonder about liquid kelp so I check on that. ALL KELP HAS SALT, BE IT LIQUID OR GRANULAR FORM. Kelp4Less sells liquid kelp for $29 per gallon. Seaweed (a poster in organic rose forum, with 250+ roses in Southern CA) sent me a variety of Japanese seaweed to try in my soup .. all of them are salty, esp. Kelp.

The NOW kelp tablets (100% dry kelp) for human consumption: I tasted it and it was extremely salty, I had to spit out. Even the dry Kelp (100% kelp) that Seaweed sent me, it made my ramen soup salty, I didn't have to add the seasoning packet.

Some info. from below link, San Francisco Gate: " Sodium in Kelp

At 186 milligrams of sodium per cup, raw kelp contains 12 percent of your daily sodium limit, even though it makes up less than 2 percent of the daily energy intake in a 2,000-calorie diet. Kelp is high in sodium compared to several other seaweeds, as well as other vegetables. For example, a cup of Irish moss contains just 54 milligrams of sodium, while an equivalent serving of nori boasts a low sodium content of 38 milligram. Carrots contain 88 milligrams of sodium per cup,"

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/much-sodium-kelp-10038.html

**** From StrawChicago: The above number of 88 for carrot is correct. I always buy Organic carrot (Bunny Love), since it has less salt than regular carrots. My family hates regular carrots, except for soup, since it's so salty. So 2 Tablespoon of RAW FRESH kelp contains 23 mg of sodium, but once dried, it's more concentrated, and many times more sodium. I tested 2 fertilizer with kelp: Pennington Fish pellets with kelp, NPK 4-6-6. I made that into a soluble by soaking in a bucket of water in hot sun. Then I watered my roses, the health IS NOT AS GOOD AS alfalfa alone.

The second fertilizer I tested with both kelp and seaweed is Dr. Earth FlowerGirl NPK 4-10-7. That was a disaster: salt-burn on my roses in hot sun. I would buy the kelp granules (people use it as salt-substitute) and taste it yourself first, before trying on roses. Kelp granules are dried kelp. When you give roses salt, you drive down potassium, and potassium is necessary for osmotic pressure & disease prevention. For that reason, KELP IS NOT HEALTHY FOR ROSES, SINCE IT CONTAINS SALT.

Here's an excerpt on dry-kelp from below link: " Sea vegetables tend to be higher in sodium than land vegetables–after all, they grow in sea water! Nonetheless, fresh kelp is not high in sodium. Dried seaweed will obviously be a more concentrated source of sodium. In fact, dried kelp granules are often sold as salt substitute."

http://nutritionovereasy.com/2011/02/is-kelp-high-in-sodium/

This is what I have used in the past. Not labeled as organic I see, but it seems to be effective. If you google Ascophyllum Nodosum you can find some liquid products if it's something you want to try. I have also used the alfalfa pellets (horse feed, no salt) as Straw has suggested, with good results.

Liquid kelp

Julie

I use the liquid fish fertilizer. It really stinks, but I think it helps. Has anyone else used that? Barb

My neighbor uses liquid fish fertilizer for her bell-pepper plant in a tiny pot, plus for her fern plant. I was very impressed with lots of pepper on her plant (she doesn't change the soil for years), and perfect foliage on her fern (salt-sensitive plant). She uses Alaska Fish emulsion sold at Home Depot.

I use Neptune's Harvest liquid seaweed as a foliar spray (I find that it helps improve the substance of the leaves), and alfalfa meal. Barb, consider Neptune's Harvest hydrolized fish fertilizer, I find that it has much less smell than others that I have used.

The alfalfa has nutrients the roses like. Bob Cannard with his natural process farming explains it well. 50% for the human and 50% for the soil.