Field Notes9 min read
Field Notes: Spore Season in Southeast Alaska
Tidewright field note: three September weeks on Sitka Sound collecting kelp sorus — the wild reproduction tissue that seeds every Holdfast line we grow.
Jack Callum ·
#seedstock
12 articles
Farming11 min read
Managing a Kelp Strain Catalogue: Genetics Records for the Hatchery
How to build and run a kelp strain catalogue: naming, provenance records, gametophyte lineage tracking, outcrossing rotation, and audit-ready hatchery documentation.
Dr. Elias Brandt ·
Field Notes9 min read
Field Notes: Night Shift Under the Nursery Lights
A Tidewright field note from the Holdfast hatchery: the red-lit night shift, quiet alarms, and what 3 a.m. teaches you about kelp seed quality.
Jack Callum ·
Field Notes8 min read
The Night the Power Failed: Holding a Kelp Hatchery Together in Tasmania
A mains failure at 2 a.m. puts a Tasmanian kelp hatchery's season on a countdown. Field notes on triage, generators and the order in which things die.
Jack Callum ·
Farming10 min read
Hatchery Water Chemistry: The Numbers Behind Healthy Kelp Seed
The working numbers of a kelp hatchery — temperature, salinity, pH, nutrients, filtration and dosing math — and what to do when each one drifts.
Naomi Reyes ·
Farming8 min read
Farming Kelp in Warm Years: A Playbook for a Heating Ocean
Marine heatwaves are now a farm-planning reality. Triggers to watch, decision trees for warm years, and the seedstock and layout choices that hedge the heat.
Naomi Reyes ·
Field Notes9 min read
The Genetics Drawer: Inside Tidewright's Gametophyte Bank
A Tidewright field note from the coldest corner of our hatchery: the gametophyte bank, where microscopic kelp cultures wait in the dark for the reefs that will need them.
Dr. Elias Brandt ·
Field Notes8 min read
Wintering Over in Lofoten: Seedstock in the Dark
Wintering over at Tidewright's Lofoten hatchery means seedstock care in the polar night: light discipline, cold rooms, slow work and a culture lab that never sleeps.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Field Notes8 min read
Hatchery in a Hailstorm: Saving a Season of Seedstock at Triabunna
A Tidewright field note from our Triabunna hatchery: when a freak hailstorm killed the power mid-season, the crew had eleven hours to save a year of kelp seedstock.
Jack Callum ·
Farming8 min read
Broodstock Management: The Hatchery's First Covenant
Behind every seeded line is a decision made months earlier: which adults to breed from. How hatcheries select, hold and manage kelp broodstock for reliable seed.
Dr. Elias Brandt ·
Farming10 min read
Selective Breeding for Kelp: The Patient Path to Better Seed
How kelp selective breeding works — traits worth selecting, a typical breeding cycle, realistic timelines and the genetic safeguards that keep seedstock healthy.
Dr. Elias Brandt ·
Science8 min read
Kelp Genetics: Populations, Provenance and Adaptation
Kelp forests are mosaics of locally adapted populations. Here's what genetics tells us about provenance, resilience, and how to choose seedstock for restoration.
Dr. Elias Brandt ·