Kelp Seeding: From Microscopic to Magnificent

Explore the process of kelp cultivation from wild seed collection to harvest. After laboratory sanitation and careful nurturing in clean seawater tanks, juvenile kelp spores measuring just 1-2 millimeters develop on seed pipes within 6-8 weeks. When transplanted to the ocean, these microscopic organisms transform dramatically, growing into 14-foot kelp blades and producing hundreds of thousands of pounds of kelp in only seven months—all using nothing but seawater and its natural nutrients.

Transcript

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Some of the engineering of this project brought

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and just us seeing the volume

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and density of things increase

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by doing things in the correct form.

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So traditional kelp seeding is done with seed spools.

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These are PVC pipes that are, uh, entwined with a spiral

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of what looks like kite string.

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The process begins in the wild

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and sometimes I collect this, the wild kelp seed,

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and sometimes the farmers do.

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I bring it back into my lab

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and it goes through a process of sanitation.

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Everything's been cleaned

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and sanitized In those tanks we fill with clean,

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sanitized sea water.

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Had a little bit of that magical spore solution.

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And in six to eight weeks I have little juvenile spore

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fights that are one to two millimeters long

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and on those seed pipes

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is absolutely incredible.

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And then you can take that tiny little kelp on those little

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strings, outplant it in the ocean,

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and in seven months you have hundreds

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of thousands of pounds of kelp.

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It's really quite remarkable to go from something

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that you can only see under a microscope to

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a giant 14 foot blade of kelp in the span

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of just that short of time.

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And it's just clean sea water

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and the nutrients in sea water that create

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that beautiful plant.

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It's, it's very, it's quite remarkable.

Topics:

Nursery Farming