Couple launches seaweed fertiliser to “bring back the vraic”

Friday 21 January 2022

A local couple has started making fertiliser out of seaweed collected from L’Etacq and hopes to convince farmers to ditch chemicals for a natural option.

Francesca Stammers and Loftur Loftsson (both 27) launched The Jersey Seaweed Co. in July 2021.

They create concentrate fertiliser out of seaweed collected from L’Etacq and bottle it up in recycled wine bottles, making it a “completely closed-loop on-island product.”

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The idea for their fertiliser has been germinating for the past two years and was partly inspired by Francesca’s grandfather, a keen gardener who up until recently used chemical fertiliser on his tomatoes.

“We looked into what was into his fertiliser and it’s literally just a vast amount of chemicals with water,” Francesca explained. “That’s kind of what started it, trying to get him to use something else.”

The couple also wished to align their jobs with “who we are, what we enjoy and what we want from life: to live a slow, sustainable kind of thing and make a positive impact on the world”.

“We like being outdoors, we both go swimming a lot and like going down to the beach,” Francesca added.

Pictured: Loftur collecting seaweed on the beach.

Being so close to the sea, Francesca says also gave the couple a strong connection to the beach, the sea and also seaweed.

“When you are a child you go down to the beach, you see the seaweed and perhaps throw it at each other!”

After moving into an apartment in Bonne Nuit Bay where they could see the seaweed washing up, Francesca and Loftur started talking about how to use it. After seeing farmers using fertilisers in their fields and the sea lettuce building in St. Aubin’s Bay, they decided to make their own fertiliser.

Pictured: Vraicing is a longstanding tradition in Jersey. (Le Sueur Collection/Jersey Archive)

In doing so, they are keen to revive a longstanding tradition.

“[Francesca’s grandfather] remembers when he was younger, along the Five Mile Road there were stacks of sea weed, it was £5 for a wet pile and £10 for a dry pile,” Loftur said.

“It’s such a shame it’s been lost,” Francesca added. “It wasn’t so long ago, he was born in the late 1930s. Now nobody uses it, it’s only a few gardeners.”

“There is an ancient tradition of putting seaweed in fields but it’s fading away and we wanted to bring that back,” Loftur said.

Pictured: “Seaweed can be seen as a nuisance but there’s lot to be done with it,” Loftur said.

“There’s lots of studies happening about how seaweed can help us as fertiliser. There’s a ridiculous amount washing up. It’s really just using what the sea is giving us, what the world is giving us and turning it into something that will help us so that people don’t have to import chemicals.”

Over the past year, Loftur has been doing a lot of in-depth research and has found out about the many benefits of seaweed.

“The main thing is it has a lot of natural growth hormones, which helps plants grow better and stronger,” he said. “It has a lot of micronutrients that improve soil structure, so that the roots are stronger, which gives better resistance in the drought or in high winds.

Pictured: Some of the benefits of the fertiliser are listed on its bottle.

“It also makes the plant a lot more greener and grow better. Almost all golf courses and football pitches use seaweed because it makes the grass greener and healthier. It’s an all-round fantastic fertiliser.”

Seaweed, as many know, is also good for vegetables and it’s what gives Jersey royals their distinctive taste.

“It increases the amount of vegetables, the size and taste,” Loftur said. “It can also help with shelf life of vegetables. It’s really great.

“It works great on house plants, flowers, anything green. It’s the perfect solution.”

Pictured: Francesca's grandfather remembers piles of seaweed being sold down the Five Mile Road. (Le Sueur Collection/Jersey Archive)

Francesca and Loftur process the seaweed themselves at home in recycled barrels. After picking up the seaweed on the beach, focusing on what has washed up, discarded by the waves and rescuing any periwinkles that might still be attached, they add a “special ingredient” and let it ferment.

“It ferments for a minimum of three months until it’s absorbed all the nutrients,” Loftur said. “It’s a zero-impact business, all recycled from Jersey.”

Currently stocked in sustainable supermarket SCOOP, which has been “really supportive” of the project, the fertiliser will also soon be available at Bonny’s Country Garden, Samarès Manor and other locations. A bottle of 750ml "goes a long way", as it can be diluted 30 times over, according to Loftur.

 

 

 

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In the next week, the couple will launch their website at seaweed.je. Further down the line, they hope to compost seaweed and convince more to use natural fertilisers.

“Seaweed can be seen as a nuisance but there’s lot to be done with it,” Loftur said.

“The big goal is to get farmers to use it, to sell it commercially as well as to customers. If we get farmers to use it, it could reduce the green lettuce on the beaches. We are hoping to get the States to back us as an alternative to fertilisers. If everyone stops using fertilisers, the sea lettuce will be gone.”