Seaweed Laminaria

The cultivated ropes are checked every few months to thin the plant densities and to remove trapped debris and fouling organisms. The plants are kept approximately 5m below the surface in the winter to avoid winter-storm waves, and 2m below in the spring and summer to get more light for growth.

There are two methods of cultivating kombu:

The most important part is the actual cultivation, which takes place after the provisional outplanting. This involves hanging the seeded strings from the main line of the cultivation structures to become acclimated to the natural conditions for approximately 7-10 days. Then the seeded strings are cut into lengths of about 5cm, and then inserted into the main cultivation ropes at 30cm intervals. Approximately 15 pieces of the seed-string are used for a cultivation rope of 5m.

Seedling production consists of the seeding and culture of young gametophytes. These stages are carried out in a facility provided with seeding and culture tanks with equipment to control the seawater temperature, light, nutrients and other conditions.

Force-cultivation is divided into two steps:

A cultivation technique was developed for the culture of Laminaria japonica, allowing fisherman to cut production time in half, and still produce the same quality of material as that harvested from natural populations. This technique is known as "force-cultivation".

Laminaria is a temperate seaweed growing best at 8-16

one of the major seaweed used for food and chemical extract and it ranks number one in terms of quality harvested or cultivated.