The area in front of the compost bins is either muddy or dusty, with a few opportunistic weeds inbetween. To help control this, we decided to add sargassum mulch.
Sargassum is best collected by hand just above the surf line – anything above is usually already smelly and full of flies and gnats.
As we were mulching a path, the sargassum wasn’t rinsed. We applied it 6” thick, working in small patches as collecting seaweed is a heavy job!
Sargassum should dry out fairly quickly. It smells of the sea for the first day or two, but the scent should quickly subside. There should be none of the sulphur smells or flies associated with large anaerobic piles of rotting seaweed.
After drying, the seaweed forms a dense mat. Woodchip mulch was added on top of the seaweed to help weigh it down.
Given the prevalence of heavy metals, do your own research before eating seaweed, feeding it to livestock, or using it in your garden.
For more information on the Green SXM Pilot Compost Project please visit:
https://greensxm.com/tag/green-sxm-pilot-compost-project/
For more information on sargassum:
