Humate—Organic Fertilizers That Help Plants
Take Up Soil Minerals

Humates are chemically based products that allow plants to take up and use the minerals found in the soil. These humates are the salts of humic acids and fulvic acids.

If you noticed a similarity with the word humus, it's no coincidence. Humus is the result of decomposed organic matter, whether it's in your compost pile or tens of thousands of years old.

Humate is both a chemical term (the salts of humic acids) and a commercial term (products that add humic and fulvic acids to your garden soils).

Humate the Chemical

These acids are known as humic compounds or humic substances.

They're what make the bridge between minerals and plants.

One way they do this is by stimulating the bottom of the soil food web (the soil microorganisms).

These organisms do most of the "heavy lifting" when it comes to creating nutrients for your plants.

Humate the Product

Humate provides at least 70 trace minerals for plant health and human health. This direct support of plant life is in addition to the indirect, which is a result of boosting both the living conditions of soil organisms and the conditions of the soil itself:

• Aerating the soil
• Enhancing water retention
• Increasing plant absorption of nutrients from the soil
• Buffering the soil's pH
• Providing the electrical energy capacity of the soil

Types of Humate

There are currently three types of humate produced, based on what it's made from. One is the BioAg type, which is fossilized peat (prehistoric freshwater plants).

The second type is Leonardite-based. Leonardite is another type of fossilized plant material, in this case, saltwater-based.

The third type is lignite-based. Unfortunately, many of the humate products sold in North America are converted toxic waste from coal mining operations. If the humate you want to buy is made in the coal-producing areas of the United States, it's probably a coal-based humate. Don't buy it!

Look for a product that has a very high (70%-80%) humic acid content. Why? Because you can apply about 20% of the humate you'd have to apply if you buy a product with 35% humic acid materials.

Do your homework (these days, everyone calls it due diligence) and your gardens will be full of nutrients and soil life, and you wallet will be a little thicker after buying your humate organic fertilizer.

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