How to use sea salt in the veg patch?

I've got both sea 90 and natural sea salt from France. How do I go about applying it to the garden? Sprinkle it, or make a solution and spray it, or feed the solution through my drip irrigation with a venturi valve? How much salt per m2?

Hi Susan! I have used Sea-90 for several years now. According to the Sea-Agri people who makes Sea-90, the application rate is 50lbs to an acre per year, and I think it's done 3 years in a row then 2 years off if memory serves me correct. There are 43,560 square feet in an acre, and some quick math will give you an application rate for the area you wish to apply the salt to. I personally have just kinda eyeballed it and in my garden I'll broadcast handfuls of salt using intuition. I've never bothered to make a solution to spray as the next rain will make a solution for us. I've never used scales to weigh a precise amount to apply, but I have measured the square footage of an area such as my garden or blueberry patch, then guesstimate the 1/3rd of a bag or 1/4 of a 50lb bag that I need to broadcast. In my experience, unintentionally broadcasting a little extra has not made any negative impact. I do adhere to the 3 years on then no application for a few years. One thing I did learn is granules of salt that remain on a leaf surface and then dissolve in the rain will burn spots on leaves. Gentle shaking of plants will remove most if not all granules if done when plants are dry. I instead broadcast salt either late in the fall when the growing season is over and leaves are dropping from my blueberry bushes, or early in the spring before things start growing and I plant my garden.

I'm thinking of just pouring sea water on my property.  Any idea how that would compare to using the Sea-90?  

Timothy Markus wrote:I'm thinking of just pouring sea water on my property.  Any idea how that would compare to using the Sea-90?  

It can achieve essentially the same results. Permies resident soil scientist Bryant Redhawk has a post here about using sea water to add minerals to a soil and he suggests an application rate of a gallon of sea water per square foot: https://permies.com/t/72950/sea-water-epsom-salt#612744

Thanks for the link, James.  I didn't think it would be as much as a gallon per sq ft, but that's great to know.  I wonder if I could rig up a pump and waterline to not have to haul 100k gallons.  

Hey Timothy, glad to help. I certainly think a pump and line could work and work very well. Not sure about longevity with saltwaters corrosive nature, but sounds like a great approach to me. I also think the gallon per sq ft is of course not all at once and I think that adding small application that would eventually total something like a gallon/sqft may be the key here.

I was thinking of doing it once or twice a year, but I think the closest the tidal waters reach is about 1400 feet from where I am.  I think it may be better to fill a tote in my trailer than having that much pipe.