Are humates effective?

[hobbyfrmr]

I am having difficulty deciding whether or not to pursue humates as an input. I think I am looking for a seed primer fulvic acid.
I cant seem to find much information online, or a manufacturer/brand name.
Some farmers around here but dont say too much about it.
Any suggestions to find information?

[biglentil]

I am having difficulty deciding whether or not to pursue humates as an input. I think I am looking for a seed primer fulvic acid.
I cant seem to find much information online, or a manufacturer/brand name.
Some farmers around here but dont say too much about it.
Any suggestions to find information?

Gettin lots of info on it from Graeme Sait in Regina last couple days but have no personal experience with any products. Are u at the course hobby or anyone else from here?

[hobbyfrmr]

Gettin lots of info on it from Graeme Sait in Regina last couple days but have no personal experience with any products. Are u at the course hobby or anyone else from here?

No , I am at home raising children and trolling Agriville. 'Cause thats how I roll!!
I remember something advertised about the course you are at, I thought it could be valuable but I just cant quite leave for that many days without submitting paperwork 6 weeks in advance.

[FertaCloud]

This is a space where a lot of investment and new products are being developed, mostly targeted at horticulture/greenhouses, landscaping and golf courses, rooftops, etc..
I toured a factory where they had a product in which wheat trials on poor soils had 100% yield increases compared to the control. Never seen data like that. The catch, the high price of the product/application rate probably wouldnt give you a ROI on wheat even with a consistent 50% bumps in yield. Only work for high value crops.

[Klause]

Oh it works

[blackpowder]

Good to hear Klause. But no sales guy can tell you the how and why. Seriously.
Farmers buying magic elixirs if their macro inputs are short, are wasting money.
To me, wanting 20 lbs phos for example, applying 0.2 lbs (because it's efficient) and paying the same seems like mining the soil to say the least.

[Klause]

I'm not sure exactly how it works but when you grow peas in slough country on a wet marshy field wirh super high eater table and the field yields 55 from one end to the other thru every pothole...



My neighbor helped us combine last fall that quarter. He's putting humid on everything this year based off that experience... does it work on everything? Dunno.


We do pulses and wheat... we don't so fungicides on wheat and our fuzz was 0.3 to 0.7

[Braveheart]

Well the irony is, it's replacing the carbon that's been lost in our soils. That's right. Carbon. It works. We use humic acid on canola, wheat, barley,pretty much everything that is grown on higher ph soils.

[blackpowder]

I believe you when you say it works.
The how, when, where, and why are the unanswered questions that get so many products applied at a loss.

[Braveheart]

Seed row applied boosts root development and photosynthesis. (Shhh. It's the carbon, apparently plants need it). Foliar applied boosts photosynthesis.

We have used both, but last year relied only on foliar. When applied to canola, leaves are bigger and leaf drop really delayed. But, surprisingly, maturity seems to be sped up. Applied to flag leaf of cereals, the leaf gets wider, and stays healthier longer.

[furrowtickler]

We use ligno humate in our 28-0-0 at seeding time , 1/2 lt /ac
Going to seed treat all peas this year
Follow up with 1/2 lt /ac in crop in peas at first flower / fungicide time
Wheat at herbicide and late flag / early heading.
Not economically conclusive yet in crop on canola that we have seen yet.
Seeing a 4-1 payback in peas , 3-1 in wheat.
Not a "humate" product so to speak but similar results.

[Koldkanuck]

It must work to some limit. In the old days, I remember anyone that burned coal in their stoves, would save the coal ash, and sprinkle it on their gardens. They all said it was a good source of fertilizer. Now I'm to old to understand some of this stuff, but is humates and the acids referred to in humates not similar to what's in coal or coal ash?

[blackpowder]

I beleive the Aztecs may have used charcoal as well.
But again, what specific soil #s does it aid for $5 - $10/ ac.
Not skeptical necessarily, just that every fringe product for my whole career has same sound.
Neighbors put exhaust carbon back into furrow as well (without fert) but that was a joke. Cows cant live on farts alone.
Local humate salesman hasnt a degree in ditchdigging and has no concrete answers.
If your soil or moisture #s are the limiter??
50lbs Calcium carbonate in seed row adjusts ph and does same? Shit I dont know.
Half my soil solonetzic base at 5.5 ph.

[JoeyJeremiah]

It must work to some limit. In the old days, I remember anyone that burned coal in their stoves, would save the coal ash, and sprinkle it on their gardens. They all said it was a good source of fertilizer. Now I'm to old to understand some of this stuff, but is humates and the acids referred to in humates not similar to what's in coal or coal ash?

I read a scholarly article recently stating that many gardens in Europe don't grow anything from centuries of people putting ash in their gardens. Apparently it's alkaline and after centuries of application the soil won't grow anything. I can't recall what they where recommending for remediation.

[Guest]

You're headed in the right direction hobby. Back to basics as in the photo. The chem and fert companies understand the equation, every food producer(farmer) should as well. It all starts with carbon.