Even a novice gardener knows that it is impossible to get a rich harvest without fertilizers. Especially when it comes to long-cultivated soil, which can no longer without a constant supply of nutrients.
There are many supporters of both organic and
mineral fertilizers. You can be a supporter of any method, but many still agree that natural supplements for plants are most often healthier. At least due to the fact that they are completely decomposed in the soil. One of these fertilizers is potassium humate. In this article we will look at ways to use it.
What is this all about?
Gumat fell in love with our gardeners and gardeners for a very long time. It is easy to use, and the effect of using this natural supplement is extremely good and noticeable even with the naked eye.
Get it from completely natural natural ingredients. Potassium humate is produced from the remains of vegetation; extracts from peat, manure or even lake silt are also used for this. In some cases, brown coal acts as a raw material . The natural components of humate have a pronounced stimulating effect. So, with preliminary soaking of seeds, the degree of their germination sharply increases. If you handle it with cuttings, then the chances of their rooting increase significantly.
Fertilizer is equally useful for flowers and vegetables, fruit trees and potted plants. Simply put, it is universal. It contains a lot of potassium, phosphorus and other trace elements. But richest of all is humate potassium on humic acids. It is their action that helps to obtain truly pure products in the conditions of increasing environmental pollution.
Does it suit all cultures so well?
Experienced gardeners know that truly universal fertilizers do not exist. So is this tool so good as we just talked about it? We assure you right away: there are currently no cultures that react negatively to humate. Almost always, the effect of its use is closely related to the characteristics of the soils on which your garden stands.
Note that this type of fertilizer is extremely useful on soils that contain very little iron. In addition, potassium humate top dressing is useful on alkaline (especially on them), saline and
podzolic soils. But pouring a solution of the product on chernozem is pointless, since you still will not notice a special effect. In addition, agronomists have identified several crops that are particularly vivid to the introduction of this substance into the soil:
- All nightshade (including potatoes and tomatoes), as well as beets (and fodder, too) respond perfectly.
- Almost all cereals show a significant increase in yield.
- Legumes practically do not change indicators.
- Sunflower and pumpkin under normal conditions do not respond to potassium humate, its use is impractical.
It was not by chance that we emphasized that the latter plant species did not give growth under the conditions of “ordinary” plants. If the year was bad or if you planted them on low-quality soils, then humic acids can create a real miracle! In a word, you should experiment yourself, making sure of the effectiveness (or inefficiency) of this tool in the conditions of your garden.
Thus, nevertheless, potassium humate is universal. Its use can be recommended in almost any cases. You should be able to read about when to use it at the end of our article.
What is the effect of its use?
Plants acquire a healthier and stronger appearance, the growth and development of their leaves and root system improves. In vegetable and fruit crops, the palatability of fruits is sharply improved. In addition, humic acids can significantly reduce the content of nitrites and nitrates in fruits. They significantly revive the fertility of the soil, contribute to the development of useful soil microflora.
How to use it for soaking?
How to use potassium humate? To soak the seeds, it should be taken at the rate of 0.5 grams per 1 liter of water. Everything is simple, but how can such an insignificant volume be measured in domestic conditions?
To facilitate your work, we’ll immediately say that in a regular teaspoon fits about three grams of humate. Thus, we take a third of a spoon to dilute its contents in two liters of water. The easiest way to use ordinary plastic bottles to prepare the solution.
Flower bulbs in it can withstand about eight hours, and the exposure time of seeds is better to increase up to a day. If it comes to carrot seeds, then they can withstand two days at all. Cuttings are soaked for approximately 12-14 hours, dropping them into the fertilizer solution at 2/3 of their length.
We use humate as a fertilizer
We continue to study potassium humate. Instructions for using it as a “classic” fertilizer will be slightly different. First, you need to take a significantly lower concentration. Despite its natural origin, you definitely should not forget about the sense of proportion. Excellent humate is suitable for foliar application , which is carried out by conventional spraying of garden or garden crops. This method is extremely good, because through the leaf blades of plants, fertilizer almost instantly reaches the "destination".
Spraying and watering
This method is good because you do not have to rush with a bucket among the beds, and the flow rate of the solution decreases. You only need to walk around the garden with a sprayer. Ten liters of water in this case requires no more than three grams of fertilizer. Important! Carefully filter the water, as it may contain many small particles of peat, which at once clog the spray nozzles of the same “Beetle”.
As for irrigation, they are carried out three times with an interval of two weeks. The processing period should coincide with the time of intensive growth. First, at least half a liter of solution should fall on one plant, and then the volume is adjusted to a liter (for the third treatment).
For convenience, it is better to water the seedlings immediately after planting them in the open ground, then repeat the treatment while the buds are setting, and the plants should be watered a third time during their flowering. In this case, the concentration should be increased: a tablespoon of the substance is taken on a bucket of water (ten liters). Here's how to use potassium humate.
How to dissolve correctly?
It is better to dissolve it in a warm liquid. First, it is better to pour a little water with a temperature of about 50 ° C into a bucket, pour the required amount of humate there, and then mix thoroughly. When there are no clearly visible lumps in the solution, the volume of liquid can be brought up to a dozen liters.
Useful Tips
Everything would be fine, but it is not very convenient to breed significant amounts of fertilizer in a regular bucket all the time. And if you have a large garden that requires several hundred liters of humate solution? Therefore, it is better to immediately prepare its concentrate. To do this, take a dozen tablespoons of fertilizer, after which it is dissolved in a liter of warm water. If you pour the resulting solution into a regular plastic bottle, it can be used for a whole month.
As it is easy to understand, 100 ml of such a mixture is equivalent to a tablespoon in which the fertilizer is located. Potassium humate in this form is extremely convenient to use. Half a glass of solution is enough for a bucket of water. This is the dose for root dressing. If you want to spray your plantings, then for the same ten liters you will need to measure out already 50 milliliters. Attention! Do not forget about filtering: we wrote above that the smallest lumps can appear in the water. During storage, humic acids often precipitate, so the likelihood of clogging of the sprayer nozzles increases dramatically.
Issue price
By the way, how much is potassium humate? The price per liter of liquid funds is about 130 rubles (but it is better to prepare it yourself). The cost of dry powder does not exceed 30 rubles for 25-30 g.
Improving soil structure
If you want to improve the soil characteristics in your area, then just scatter 50 grams of this wonderful fertilizer on ten square meters. To ensure uniform distribution over the area, the powder should be mixed in advance with ordinary river sand. Then all this should be thoroughly mixed, going around the place with a rake. If you mix humate with ash, it is better to scatter it in early spring. So you not only accelerate the snow melting, but also ensure excellent soil fertility before planting.
Composts are our everything
Surely every more or less experienced gardener knows how good organic compost is as a fertilizer. There is only a problem: the hard parts of perennial plants, as well as weed seeds, rot for an extremely long time, sometimes “delighting” garden owners even several years later. A feature of humic acids is their ability to destroy hard cellulose of dead plants. We offer you to use this property of them.
In addition, humates sharply increase the activity of saprophytic microflora, which also contributes to the acceleration of compost ripening and a significant increase in its quality. To obtain high-quality fertilizer, it is useful to irrigate humus with a humate solution about three months before it is applied to the soil (late spring, for autumn plowing), and the fertilizer dose is calculated based on the need for about 10 grams of humic acids to decompose ten kilograms of compost.
Reviews gardeners
As practice shows, almost always people's reviews will be mixed. So in this case: someone considers this tool an excellent fertilizer, while others doubt its effectiveness. Remember what we talked about potassium humate? Instructions for use provide the best effect from it when applied to alkaline and podzolic soil. Do not forget what was said there about black soil?
But it is precisely the inhabitants of the southern regions of our country who often speak of the humate in a bad way. Say, there is no benefit from him! There is nothing strange here - there are not many fertilizers in the world that could seriously improve the fertility of unique chernozems.
Mistake number two. Not on all soils in general potassium humate should be used. Reviews indicate that on acidic soils, top dressing these agents lead to exactly the opposite results: plants begin to hurt, sometimes they drop leaves and die. Well, did people buy a fake product? Or is it just not as good as we talked about it here?
To answer this question, read again what is included in the humate. Wait a minute, but it contains humic acids. If they are used on soils with a lowered pH value, then the results will in fact not be too outstanding. By the way, for the same reason, you should not feed with this product those soils into which you added peat to improve their characteristics.
Other misconceptions
Some gardeners for some reason think that this remedy is a real panacea that can turn a lifeless sandstone into a blooming oasis. There are no miracles in nature. You will not water the asphalt with humate, hoping to grow a flower meadow on it?
Any fertilizer is just a means of increasing soil fertility! If the soil on your site is dry and rocky, you will first need to improve it by adding loosening and rubble additives, adding compost and humus there. Only after that it makes sense to use a solution of humic acids, which otherwise simply will not be able to show all its effectiveness.
Thus, potassium humate is a universal natural complex of trace elements that will help you get the most out of your site!