Humic Acids

[Smurf]

Along with some of the other members here I use NTS humates,, all up they have 15 diff humates, from liquids, granules & powders to soluble granules. This is not a boutique company, they supply the entire organic & bio-organic farming community in Australia. All products have been certified organic by Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA). From what I've read they do have several suppliers world wide.

Yield Building Tips for Humates

Supply a carbon source with all nitrogen sources to avoid humus depletion. Humates are the best option here, as they have the highest organic carbon levels of any material.

Combine fulvic acid with all foliar fertilisers, as it will magnify their effect.

Include Soluble Humate Granules will all granulated phosphate fertilisers. The humic acid will complex the phosphate to form a stable phosphate humate. This may be the first time you'll experience full-season phosphate availability.

Urea and humic acid are perfect partners. Trial a urea-treated area with and without the humic acid additive - you may soon become a convert.

Most conventional farm soils are seriously lacking fungi, which play an important role in fertility and disease prevention. Regular applications of humic acid (Liquid Humus) will feed your existing fungi and help to overcome the fungi/bacteria imbalance.

 

[MrFista]

I get my humics from

Pond water
Charcoal amendment
Compost
Worm Castings

Then I use 1:125 parts in my watering schedule, bubbled with worm rum and castings 24 hours.

Still not enough?

Can you shed some light on the differences in application for humics/fulvics.
I'd much rather hear it from you than an advertiser.

 

[CT Guy]

Mr. Fista,

I'll post an article that gives an excellent explanation on humates and humic and fulvic acid. Some main points I'd highlight are that the humic acid molecule chelates (fancy word for "joins with") the minerals in your soil (eg.- iron, manganese, molybdenum, etc..) and through that process makes them plant available, they're no longer "locked up." Fulvic acids assist in bringing those minerals through the cellular walls of the plant.

~Tad

 

[CT Guy]

It is very important that the definition and difference between the terms Humate and Humic Acid be understood! Most of the time in the United States the term Humate is incorrectly used by people who distribute raw lignite or Leonardite. The problem is the following: in their natural forms, Humic Acids (being a part of lignites or peat) are always connected into insoluble forms of calcium, magnesium, aluminum, or other forms, and in this state they have very low biological activity. The recommended application norms of these products range from 200 to 2000 pounds an acre. It is simply not practical or economical to use humic acids in this way. They need to be converted into soluble Humates, soluble Chelates or pure Humic Acids to release their biological activity. Only after this conversion are they capable of performing the above described actions.

 

[CT Guy]

DYNAMIC GROWING WITH HUMIC ACIDS FOR MASTER GARDENERS
WILLIAM R. JACKSON, Ph.D.
Author, Consultant, Educator
This concise synopsis was made available to the Master Gardeners International for its Conference July 15-19, 1997, in Sacramento, California. At the time of this presentation on July 16, the audience selected three of the following five subjects for discussion.
1. COMPOST - CARBON RESERVE: THE POWER PACK
(A) What are humic substances and what can they do?
(B) Trace minerals and plant electrolytes.
In the unwinding of the sun, we experience light energy available to spaceship earth. The radiation of the sun is involved in the action and design of photosynthesis through green buds and leaves. Also involved are various heats, the passage of time, and earth pressures. Through digestion, disintegration, and transformation processes, humic substance molecules are manufactured, representing sun-energy impoundment. This is light energy converted to mass chemical energy, thus humified and made available and usable to spaceship earth plants and animals as biological energy. This is the unwinding of the sun reflected as the carbon power pack, in the form of humic substances.
The high-molecular-weight humic substances, humic acids and humates, alter the physical characteristics of the soil while the low-molecular-weight humic substances, fulvic acids and fulvates, are involved in chemical reactions in the soil that influence plants' metabolic processes. Fulvic acids can form through the enzymatic and/or chemical oxidation of humic acids.
Both fulvic acids and humic acids found in soil result from the chemical and biological degradation of dead organisms. The formation of these substances may come about by the oxidative changes of organic fragments, microbial synthesis, or chemical condensation after biological breakdown or self-digestion of humic biomass.
HUMIC AND FULVIC SUBSTANCES
• Aid plant tissues requiring free oxygen for aerobic respiration, and thus provide metabolic energy to all higher plants.
• Combine with sunlight and photosynthesis to furnish metabolic energy.
• When used as a dilute solution for foliar spray, cause plants to experience a notable uptake of oxygen, thus increasing plant growth.
• Not only assist plant respiration, but also increase the production and productivity of microorganisms.
• Assist plant respiration; for example, the combination of various plant root storage tissue and humic and fulvic substances serve as hydrogen acceptors.
• Produce energy involving photosynthesis, enhancing this process which includes the biochemical manufacture of complex organic materials, especially carbohydrates from carbon dioxide, water, trace mineral, and inorganic salts, along with sunlight energy for chlorophyll production.
• Increase the chlorophyll content in plant leaves when the plant is provided with root nutrient or foliar spray.
• Accentuate plant cell reproduction by stimulating the production of nucleic acids for DNA and RNA activity.
• Directly influence the development of enzymes and the net enzyme synthesis.
• Contain auxins; auxins are involved in the chelation of iron for the plant, improving growth, health, and nutrient intensity of the plant, especially the development of the root system of the plant.
2. WATER: ITS PROPERTIES AND RESULTS
Water has unique properties with respect to cellular activities that make life on earth possible. It has been calculated that living things consist of from 70% to 90% water. The chemical properties of water are absolutely essential to the development and continuation of all life. Water, which forms more than three-fourths of all cell tissue content, has the highest known di-electric constant. This property of water is responsible for the ionization of the infinite number of molecules that water holds in suspension or in solution. Water is also one of the most important catalysts known.
Humic and fulvic acids are soluble in water and make available to plants certain nutrients and trace minerals that would be unavailable otherwise. One of the valuable characteristics of humic substances is the ability to absorb and retain quite large amounts of water. In addition, fulvic acid helps water penetrate and permeate plant cells, assisting nutrient uptake and water storage during drought conditions. Fulvic acid may balance water during drought conditions and assist in the accumulation of soluble sugars, helping to prevent wilting.
The oxygen atoms of water satisfy their requirements for electrons with this stable arrangement. Carbohydrates are a basic source of the hydrogen ions, that are released by means of oxidation. Electrolytic solutions and colloids, which make up the bulk of living cells, are especially adapted to electro-chemical processes. Electrolytes in solution, especially in water or aqueous solution, conduct electrical current. Consider for a moment water, with the ability to hold material in solution and colloids. Now add the most powerful natural electrolyte known to organic matter, fulvic acid, to the water. The water now dissolves, transports, and amplifies this material and its electric action.
The following are highlights of this subject:
• Under drought conditions, humic and fulvic acids help balance water and assist plant transpiration, the transport of water and nutrients of the cell tissues.
• The balancing phenomenon of fulvic acids produces a reduction in the amount of water required.
• Humic and fulvic acids assist the balance of water under drought conditions by increasing plant respiration, thus helping the plant "breathe" better while under stress.
• Fulvic acids aid water in assisting the penetration and permeation of plant cells and thus assist in nutrient uptake and water storage within the plant cells during dry times.
• Fulvic acids can assist plants during drought to accumulate soluble sugars and thus help to prevent wilting.
• Humic and fulvic acids have a very positive effect on the water holding capacity of the soil. These humic substances also allow the reduced supply of water in its very thin film to be more easily released during drought conditions, and thus be made available to the roots of the plants.
• Fulvic acids also assist in the development of better, stronger, and larger root structures, which improves the uptake of water and nutrients.
• Fulvic acid electrolytes in water solution conduct current for life giving energy.
• Water dissolves, transports, and amplifies fulvic acid and transports its electric action throughout the plant.
• Water vapor or humidity tends to cluster around and bond to fulvic acids, which is referred to as sorption.
• Humic and fulvic substances reduce soil erosion by increasing sorption and increasing the binding force of the very fine soil particles to the electrolytically charged water.
Humic and fulvic acids combined with water provide a highly productive material with many very unique properties. The value of this unique combination of nature is in its productivity and its natural safety.
3. PLANTS AND FACTORS THAT REGULATE GROWTH
Plants respond to factors that regulate growth. External examples: light, length of day, temperature, gravity.
Internal examples: natural plant hormones. These naturally occurring hormones have a particular chemical structure and regulate plant growth. The principal internal growth regulators are plant hormones. A plant hormone is a natural chemical messenger that is produced in very small amounts by one part of the plant and becomes active in another part of the plant.
"Growth Regulators," such as humic and fulvic acids, address plant metabolism and stimulation, functions that involve many of the chemical energy transformations that occur in plant cells as repair, growth, and crop yield take place. Humic and fulvic substances enter the plant cell membrane, roots, stems, and leaves, and sensitize multiple physiological functions.
The most common, amino acids and proteins available daily, stored energy, the plant's ability to generate some of its own energy, and coenzymes participate together in biological growth functions. Natural plant hormones and sterols are also a part of the biological growth process. Auxins are natural plant hormones that promote the growth of plant cells in roots, shoots, leaves, flowers, and fruits by controlling light reception and making sugars available to the plants. Humic and fulvic substances include auxins or function as auxins and thus affect plant metabolism in a positive manner. Gibberellins are natural plant hormones that regulate the balance in plant development, affecting cell division, stem elongation, and the triggering of DNA gene codes of enzymes that break down starches and awaken plant seeds and buds. Cytokinins are active in plant cell division and help prevent leaf aging while working with auxins to control the growth and development of plants in general. Organic compounds cause specific enzyme action which stimulates DNA and RNA activation and cellular growth.
Fulvic acids provide multiple and natural chemical reactions in the soil, thereby instigating and stimulating unique and positive influences on plants' metabolic processes. In all cases where humic and fulvic substances influence the development of an enzyme, it is assumed that there is a direct and positive effect on the net enzyme synthesis.
Organic growth regulators involve certain functions of DNA, including specific enzymes that cause cellular growth and cell division as follows:
• Cell division enhancement
• Regulation of the structure of the plant
• Enhancement of cell enlargement
• Delay of plants' degenerate aging
• Activation of metabolism-directed transport
• Substitution for or interaction with light
• Increase in stomata opening and transpiration
4. THE PLUS AND MINUS SIGNS OF LIFE
At the death of electric potential, life is reduced to zero and the biological and histological components of plants and animals are resolved back into simple elements of the earth and air.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY is the positive and negative "glue" for all matter:
• Electrochemistry is the study of electrolyte solutions and the chemical changes associated with electric current.
•Electrolyte: A term derived from two Greek words meaning electric and to lose. It is a substance that dissolves in water or other suitable medium to produce a solution capable of conducting an electrical current. This electric current decomposes some of the molecular bodies and, in the process, electrons are set loose. Hence, the name electrolyte. It is important to note that elements that are anions in one electrolyte may, in another or under different circumstances, become cations.
• Atoms in a compound are held together by the attraction of unlike charges (positive and negative).
• All chemical interactions are electric at the atomic level; so, in a sense, all chemistry is electrochemistry.
• Charged atoms in solution possess a definite quantity of electric charge. This supports the fact that electricity is atomic in nature and that each atom contains a natural unit of electricity.
• The chief requirement for all electrolyte processes is the presence of mobile ions for transporting electric charges.
• In any electrochemical process (spontaneous or externally powered), the net chemical reaction is the sum of the two half-cell reactions that occur at the electrodes. Trace minerals or like substances, may serve as electrodes. One of these reactions is always an oxidation reaction in which the donor loses electrons; the other is a reduction reaction in which the acceptor gains electrons. As related in New Electronic Encyclopedia, (1991) "Photosynthesis," Grolier Electronic Publishing.
Management of the cation and anion balance in living cells is very important, especially in cases of known toxicity. When too much of any element is used and cations accumulate, cell toxicity may develop and ionic balance must be restored. Trace minerals such as fulvic acids are beneficial in achieving and maintaining this cell balance.
If the cells of plants or animals disintegrate when the electrical potential is reduced to zero, then what is the effect on plant and animal cells if the electrical potential is reduced somewhat? If electrical and chemical balance can be created by the application of electrolytes, then some of the answers for improving the quality of living things becomes evident. Trace minerals are powerful electrolytes that balance cellular life. When the individual cell is restored to its normal chemical balance, and thereby its electrical potential, life prevails where death and disintegration normally would have resulted.
Many authors have proposed that humic compounds are taken up by plants' vascular systems. In fact, trace minerals such as fulvic acids have been used to augment cellular activity by increasing metabolism. Beyond the nutritional benefits of humic substances, fulvic acids affect the health and growth of cell life by stimulating various physiological and biochemical processes related to cell metabolism.
Literature repeatedly expresses that small concentrations of fulvic acids activate enzymatic systems within plants, most often influencing plant respiration. Reported studies conducted by several research groups observed plants absorbing more oxygen in the presence of fulvic acids than untreated control plants. During initial plant growth periods and during the formation of reproductive organs, biochemical processes are most active. Plants removed from their fulvic acids source experience oxygen deficiency during these periods. They cannot handle the elaborate functions of the complex enzyme system that transfers hydrogen while activating the oxygen. The addition of fulvic acids during growth and formative periods, increases the vital activity of plants and relieves the oxygen deficiency.
Trace minerals are physiologically active in enhancing plant growth, in influencing enzyme activities and in providing selective effects on many biochemical processes. This low-molecular-weight substance has a positive effect on root initiation and growth that appears to be related to its metal chelating ability. There is evidence that all humic compounds, especially those of the trace mineral fraction, are excellent natural chelators and cation exchangers. These functional properties of fulvic acid are vitally important in the nutrition and electric life of all living cells.
5. SICK PLANTS: ORGANIC VITAMINS, ORGANIC "ANTIBIOTICS" AND INSECT CONTROL
Organisms in the soil often produce vitamins that, when found at very low concentrations, are vitally influential to the development of plant life. Coenzymes are found in water-soluble vitamins such as B-complex vitamins. All of the known vitamins may be present in soils, and even though plants can synthesize or manufacture many vitamins themselves, a supplementary source from humic and fulvic soil sources may significantly improve plant growth. Various vitamins, auxins, and plant hormones are prominent products of the decay of organic substances.
Antibiotics, produced by certain bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes, are difficult to specifically determine in soils. Still, their presence is acknowledged, and they perform vital functions by inhibiting or killing certain microbe populations. They are known to be very effective at extremely low concentrations in the soil. During the decomposition of plant residues, antibiotics such as natural streptomycin, Terramycin, bacitracin, colicine, polymyxin, clavacin, and penicillin are produced. These examples of antibiotics, as well as others, may not be totally understood, but nevertheless they have a significant influence in plant-microorganism relationships.
Destructive insects are representative of the plight of the above-ground portion of the plant. Many would generally conclude that a healthy, vigorously surviving plant can adequately defend itself against any of nature's attacks, including insects and worms. It has been determined that certain trees can produce tannins or adaptable terpins that will deter pests, or a change affecting the invader can take place in the nutritional levels of the leaves that will deter pests.
Plants may produce enzyme inhibitors to deter chewing or sucking insects by interfering with digestion. However, these defensive materials reduce the efficiency of the plant and drain energy from its reserves. Additional sugar in plant tissue generally is correlated with fewer insect problems.
Humic and fulvic acids appear to cause the genetic mechanism of plants to function at a higher level. This activation of plant metabolism makes plants convert more carbon dioxide into carbohydrates, amino acids, and other energy producing material within the cell. In this manner, more energy is captured by the chlorophyll and plant pigments and converted into plant substances or energy reserves. The energy also may be used for various work functions within the plant cell such as osmotic transport, electrical energy, mechanical maneuvers, and chemical actions and reactions.
Plants under stress emit a different frequency that will attract certain predatory insects. Thus, the goal is to develop a well balanced plant and soil diet of humic and fulvic substances along with a healthy microorganism population so that the plant's overall defense system will be strong enough to protect itself from insect invasion.
There is limited information in our literature regarding natural, functional insect control. Why should we look for a way to solve the insect problem naturally? Because the system of chemical over-treatment causes problems of imbalance and toxicity. Here is a question for each of us: Why do these pesky little insects develop an immunity to their own scientifically tested and proven poison? (Refer to, "The Joy Ride is Over," U.S. News and World Report, Sept. 14, 1992).
If the following five questions can be answered, perhaps we could control insect invasions.
• How can you help the soil meet the mineral and nitrogen fertility requirements of plants, thus bringing the soil-plant system into balance?
• Is it possible that if nitrogen fertilizer requirements were reduced, the overabundance of nitrate and ammonium ions would be beneficially reduced?
• Within this scenario, would the cytokinin activity, as well as other beneficial plant hormonal activity, slow down plant aging or the senescence of older leaf-tissue, thus maintaining an optimum level of proteins and plant energy to be incorporated into all plant parts?
• Could we reduce the use of pesticides while at the same time make micro nutrients more available and thereby enhance roots' mycorrhizal activity?
• Is there a way to assist root mycorrhizae, thereby making water more available during drought periods and enhancing the processes of photosynthesis to meet the demands of a wider range of environmental stresses?
REMEMBER:
• Organisms in the soil produce vitamins that influence the development of plant life.
• Organic vitamins, auxins, and plant hormones are significant products of the decay or humification of organic substances.
• Antibiotics produced by soil bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes serve an important role in helping to maintain a safe, balanced microbial population.
• "Beautiful bugs eat sick plants. They never become confused and eat a healthy plant...They just can't."

 

[Mr Celsius]

Ya, I use it... if your ph is in optimal range and you provide other foods to your microbes... its a pointless product. Then again, I'm human and do make errors, so I use it 'just in case'.

 

[CT Guy]

Hmmm....wouldn't you still want the benefits of trace mineral chelation, regardless of pH levels?

 

[stinkyattic]

Hmmm....wouldn't you still want the benefits of trace mineral chelation, regardless of pH levels?

Why, yes! Yes, I would!
Yay, availability! Boo, unwanted interaction/binding!

 

[Mr Celsius]

Hmmm....wouldn't you still want the benefits of trace mineral chelation, regardless of pH levels?

I'm not knocking humic acid, like I said, I use it. I never have had any micro deficiency when not using it. The use of kelp, worm castings & glacial rock dust provides all the micros I need.

Mostly I'm saying, its not the holy grail... nothing is. IMHO, it seems like a lot of threads tote a product/method that would seem to have a tone of superiority to them (not that you yourself have that tone).

Basically, with a little education and other methods, the same results can be had. Not all new growers will need to run out and get humic acid to a successful grow. Do you see where I'm coming from?

 

[CT Guy]

Yeah, I see where you're coming from, and I don't think that humic acid is the end all of organic products. I just noticed that a lot of people get caught up in teas and guano and their soil mixes, and personally I would primarily rely on:

1. compost
2. compost tea
3. kelp (ascophyllum nodosum)
4. humic acids
5. fish hydrolysate
6. possibly a low NPK organic fertilizer

and probably in that order. I just wanted to bring up the benefits and properties of humic acids!

Cheers,
Tad

 

[Mr Celsius]

Yeah, I see where you're coming from, and I don't think that humic acid is the end all of organic products. I just noticed that a lot of people get caught up in teas and guano and their soil mixes, and personally I would primarily rely on:

1. compost
2. compost tea
3. kelp (ascophyllum nodosum)
4. humic acids
5. fish hydrolysate
6. possibly a low NPK organic fertilizer

and probably in that order. I just wanted to bring up the benefits and properties of humic acids!

Cheers,
Tad

I couldn't agree more. I'm also, in no way, attempting to quash the discussion either.

Here's my order:
1. Coco
2. Worm castings
3. Kelp (Norwegian)
4. Humic acid
5. Glacial rock dust
6. Blood & bone meal

Nature has many redundancies in place... this is the primary reason it has been so successful. I encourage all growers to have redundancies as well... if one fails, another takes its place.

Humic/fulvic acid are almost essential to those that don't want/care about ph. Its often be toted on this forum that ph doesn't matter... in one way thats true, in another its completely false. If you provide enough humates (whether that be humic/fulvic acid or others), you have a much larger buffer in your ph range. The role of humates in cation exchange are very important and actually have the highest cation exchange capabilities of anything on the planet (peat and clay coming in a close 2nd & 3rd).

There was a reason that early man found that the dark loamy soil produced the best yield from their infant agriculture... humates.

Boo, unwanted interaction/binding!

Don't take this the wrong way, please. It seems that sometimes, on these forums a questioning, and possibly foreseen opposing mind is looked down upon. We should look at these posts as an opportunity to either 1) refute said claims, 2) Learn/grow or 3) Compromise on knowledge.

 

[BurnOne]

Mostly I'm saying, its not the holy grail... nothing is. IMHO, it seems like a lot of threads tote a product/method that would seem to have a tone of superiority to them (not that you yourself have that tone).

Basically, with a little education and other methods, the same results can be had. Not all new growers will need to run out and get humic acid to a successful grow. Do you see where I'm coming from?

I couldn't agree more. With a basic soil mix and a good ratio of N-P-K, you have 98% of what you need for a successful grow. Minus lighting and environment of course.
Burn1

 

[ThePhantomToker]

I'm reading that humus, which both humic and fulvic acid are derived from, is obtainable with fermented organic matter, which is highly decomposed. If I'm fermenting my own organics with effective microorganisms (EM), and feeding it to plants that are inoculated with EMs , both fungi and bacteria, do I need to supplement with a commercial product?

Peace TPT

 

[stinkyattic]

Mr. C, I'm having a hard time understanding what it is you re trying to tell me by quoting my [admittedly flippant] comment on the ability of HA to chelate fertilizer components so that they do not interact, and then talk about looking down on opposing minds... ? I never stated ANYWHERE that it is NECESSARY to a successful grow, but know it to be quite HELPFUL in many situations, such as the prevention of soil salting when residence time in a pot is longer than optimal, hence the emphasis on the chelating properties.
Please elaborate.

 

[Suby]

I like what Mr C says about redundancies.
When I first started growing organic I was using what Kyle Kushman calls double coverage, meaning I use 1 low release and 1 high release source for each NPK plus micros.
Say worm castings would be considered a low release source of N and micros,
Greensand as a low K and kelp and medium release source,etc.

My own method today involves a soil source mixed in and a boost of ferts in liquid form later.

Alot of people dislike blood and bone because of their source but they contain alot of calcium and other elements so say guano would not be a suitable replacement in my grow unless I make up for it in another way.

I guess my point is that humic acids have the potential to help dial it all in.
I think the biggest thing with organics is it`s easy to get a good result with a proper soil mix and a decent water source and nothing else but if your chasing g/watt things like fulvic foliars and humic acid treatments as well as dialing in the soil mix will be the deciding factor.

 

[CT Guy]

I'm reading that humus, which both humic and fulvic acid are derived from, is obtainable with fermented organic matter, which is highly decomposed. If I'm fermenting my own organics with effective microorganisms (EM), and feeding it to plants that are inoculated with EMs , both fungi and bacteria, do I need to supplement with a commercial product?

Peace TPT

From what I understand, this process takes a very long time. Specifically, the stuff we're talking about is derived from Leonardite. Of course, like others have mentioned, you can grow plants just fine with good soil, water, and light. However, things like humic acids help to correct any imbalances or mineral deficiencies.

 

[Mr Celsius]

Mr. C, I'm having a hard time understanding what it is you re trying to tell me by quoting my [admittedly flippant] comment on the ability of HA to chelate fertilizer components so that they do not interact, and then talk about looking down on opposing minds... ? I never stated ANYWHERE that it is NECESSARY to a successful grow, but know it to be quite HELPFUL in many situations, such as the prevention of soil salting when residence time in a pot is longer than optimal, hence the emphasis on the chelating properties.
Please elaborate.

I suppose I misunderstood your previous post. I thought you were boo'ing my original post.

 

[Cannabeard]

Hello all, I have a link with some information that drops the knowledge of Humates, and benefits of, at a scientific level without an elitest tone, I might say in lay terms, that I hope helps someone. I like the extra PH buffering, and the more vigor and heavier yields, and better plant immunity that it provides the plants.

Note: I am just looking into this, and have not used it/them....I think I am sold on it and the benefits that it brings though...I was just checking on here to see what My Mag family had to say about it.

Anyway here is the link...I hope it helps at least one person...And thanks to all you Organic heads for ALL the knowledge that is dropped here, in this thread and in this organics forum....Many, Many days and night reading here... Thanks just doesn't seem enough.

All about Humates

Peace and good health....

Cannabeard

 

[Tactical Farmer]

guineapig "The Deal on Humic and Fulvic Acids...."

courtesy of "Heads" magazine....

Millions of years ago, some of the same geo-biological forces that created deep deposits of oil also created vast amounts of buried organic matter that geologists call "leonardite." Leonardite contains many components, but two of its most useful components are humic acid and fulvic acid. In nature, these acids are produced by microbial actions; agricultural companies use acid hydrolysis to extract the two acids.
Humic acid is the first byproduct of acid hydrolysis; fulvic acid is the byproduct produced by further processing of humic acid. Fulvic acid is yellowish in color; humics are dark. On a molecular level, fulvics weigh far less than humics and are more biologically active.
These acids are extremely important to humans and plants. They contain hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur, and are complex chain acid compounds that can benefit the health of people and plants.

Nutritional Uses

Humans ingest humic and fulvic acids by eating organic foods and drinking clean, natural water, such as water from unpolluted rivers. They can also take in these acids as supplements sold by health products manufacturers. The acids survive the digestive process, are metabolized by the liver, and produce human health effects by circulating to cells via the bloodstream. Some humic-fulvic preparations can also be used by humans externally.

Decades of research indicate that these acids are useful for a variety of medical purposes including vascular system benefits, pain cessation, relief from musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis and lumbago, relief from digestive disorders, treatment of skin and bacteriological diseases, purification of blood, and as agents that defeat liver problems and blood deficiencies. Experiments with oral ingestion of humic acids have shown the acids reduce our body's absorption of heavy metals and pesticides, and that such acids may prevent toxic pollutants from causing cancer and mutations; humic and fulvic acids are believed to be anti-carcinogenic. They also neutralize "free radicals" that are known to cause cell damage.

Benefits for Plants

In horticulture, fulvic and humic acids greatly improve plant health and vigor. One of the main reasons these acids benefit plants so much is that they improve plants' ability to uptake nutrients. In order to understand this, we must examine the use of "chelates," which are chemical agents that bind to essential metals and minerals, such as iron and zinc. So-called "trace elements" (sometimes called micro-nutrients) such as iron and zinc are essential to plants as the more well-known nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (N-P-K) that are often given primary consideration by growers.

Indeed, one of the main reasons that plants grow poorly, even when they have ample supplies of N-P-K, is that there are inadequate supplies of necessary bioavailable micronutrients. These inadequacies occur because a nutrient manufacturer fails to include micronutrients in a fertilizer product, or because micronutrients in the product are not configured in a way that makes them bioavailable. N-P-K deficiencies can also be caused by these same two manufacturer-caused problems.

The reason that bioavailability is a problem with some fertilizers has to do with chelation, and with how plants absorb what they need for growth.

Role of Chelates

Trace elements as they naturally occur at a molecular electrical level often exist in forms that contain a positive ionic charge, but plant pores that absorb materials the plant needs contain a negative ionic charge. Pores occur all over a plant, but the ones most responsible for absorbing growth materials are on the leaves and roots. The opposing electrical ionic situation that exists between trace elements can cause them to bind with a pore at the opening of the pore, rather than transcend the pore and enter into a plant's circulatory system.

If the plant is to fully intake the element, the positive-negative ionic problem must be neutralized. The neutralization process is facilitated when a "chelate" binds with a trace element by partially or fully enveloping the element; this enveloping transforms the element's electrical charge into a negative or neutral character, thus allowing the element to get past the plant pore and become bioavailable to the plant inside its circulatory system.

In nature, natural chelates like fulvic acid and humic acid help create the molecular electrical transformation thath allows nutrients to enter plants. However, most marijuana growers are using unnatural systems and materials that are low in humic and fulvic acids. In fully hydroponic systems that use sterilized substrates such as rockwool, there are absolutely no humic or fulvic acids inherently present, and growers who grow in soil often do not realize that most soil has been depleted of its natural humic-fulvic content by human activity. Thus, most growers, even those using soil, need to use nutrient products that contain added chelating agents.

There are different kinds and qualities of natural and artificial chelates used in nutrient products. Fulvic and humic acids are natural chelates that facilitate the entry of nutrients into plants and also are themselves absorbed into plants, where they produce various benefits.

Synthetic Chelates

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=16286&highlight=FULVIC

 

[high road]

Originally Posted by CT Guy


1. compost
2. compost tea
3. kelp (ascophyllum nodosum)
4. humic acids
5. fish hydrolysate
6. possibly a low NPK organic fertilizer

Cheers,
Tad

Here's my order:
1. Coco
2. Worm castings
3. Kelp (Norwegian)
4. Humic acid
5. Glacial rock dust
6. Blood & bone meal

a couple quick questions...

Isn't Ascophyllum and Norwegian the same thing?

Why do both of you prefer this seaweed over others? Obviously asco is the cheapest and most widely available, but is it necessarily the best?