Hi Guest,
What does humic acid do?
To understand how to use our products you need to understand that humic acid is the end result of the decomposition process. Humic acids are a part of the stable fraction of soil organic matter which means they resist microbial degradation.
Below are a few high points of why adding humic can benefit a soil.
What Does Humic Acid Do?
Nutrient cycling
- Increases the nutrient holding capacity of soil (CEC).
- Is a pool of nutrients for plants.
- Chelates (binds) nutrients, preventing them from becoming permanently unavailable to plants.
- Helps feed soil organisms. These organisms hold on to nutrients and release them in forms available to plants.
Water dynamics
- Improves water infiltration.
- Decreases evaporation.
- Increases water holding capacity, especially in sandy soils.
Structure
- Reduces crusting, especially in fine-textured soils.
- Encourages root development.
- Improves aggregation, preventing erosion.
- Prevents compaction.
Adding humic acid to your soil is a fast & safe and natural way to improve soil properties. To get similar long term results, a 50 lb. bag of our soil conditioner would equal 1,500 lbs. of compost or manure.
Humic acids also benefit soils that are high in sodium. Take a look at the attached trial with our humic acid on a high sodium soil. (USU test plot on pg. 
Sodium has a valence of +1 meaning it has one electron to share just like other cations, Ca, K, Mg, and H. Humic acid has a high CEC. This means it has a lot of open slots that will receive positively charged particles like Na+. That is to say when our humic acid is added to a soil it adds more locations that will draw cations. In a soil with low organic matter the sodium will aggregate around organic matter, usually plant rootlets. When the levels get high you start to see salt damage. Adding humic will help buffer the Na. Calcium is usually paired with humic to help replace the Na off the exchange site. This is why we blend products like BioBasics.
