Liquid potassium humate for processing berries

Potassium humate is an organomineral fertilizer produced from peat, river silt, brown coal, and waste from alcohol and paper production. Silt deposits accumulated at the bottom of freshwater ponds and lakes are also used to produce humic fertilizer. The key to producing sapropel (as multilayered sediments are called) is the presence of standing water and the absence of oxygen. Then, all layers will be saturated with the remains of living organisms and plants, bringing the greatest benefit to the fertilized soil.

Potassium humate is essentially a concentrated humic acid salt. Humic acid is a major chemical component of soil in nature. However, because we constantly work the soil—plowing, irrigating, digging, and adding various chemicals and fertilizers—humates cannot form in the required concentration. Once the humic acid content reaches a minimum, the soil's fertility is reduced to zero.

Harvests on such soil are meager, even with generous irrigation and complex fertilizers. The problem of poor vegetable growth cannot be solved by simply treating the bushes and foliage. First, it is necessary to saturate the soil with minerals and acids and restore its original properties. Humic fertilizers are ideal for this, as it is almost impossible to oversaturate the soil with humus.

Some advanced farmers set up special compost pits on their plots, continuously producing humus, which they use to fertilize their garden beds. However, since many people have smaller plots and don't have the opportunity to allocate dedicated areas for composting, they prefer specially formulated industrial humates.

Humic fertilizers are also divided into ballast and non-ballast. The first group is the mixture itself, which has not been purified to remove natural impurities and has retained its original composition. It is extracted with extreme care, with care taken not to destroy the layers that have formed over many years. Non-ballast humate is more suitable for improving plant growth due to its significantly higher content of active substances. In other words, non-ballast humates undergo a saturation stage with additional elements, making them even more effective. It's not for nothing that non-ballast humates are called growth activators.

The use of humates is beneficial in alkaline soils with low iron content. Such soils will readily accept the fertilizer and respond with a several-fold increase in yield.

However, if you have rich black soil in your garden, it won't respond to this fertilizer, even if you soak every inch of your garden with it. Before spring vegetable planting, try testing your soil to determine its acidity to avoid unnecessary fertilization.

How people learned about the benefits of humates

People began using potassium and sodium humates as fertilizers as early as the times of Ancient Egypt. However, the land was often fertilized without their direct involvement. The Nile River would overflow its banks and spread for many kilometers. When the water receded, farmers discovered a thick black layer of a substance they couldn't name on their arable land. Time after time, the Nile would rise and flood the land, and then people began to notice that harvests were more abundant after the river overflowed its banks. Then the farmers themselves began bringing humates to their plots and fertilizing the land with them.

And in the late 19th century, scientists confirmed the benefits of using humates as fertilizers through their research. It was discovered that they could not only accelerate plant growth and make them more resilient to weather conditions, but also prevent heavy metals and radionuclides from being absorbed by the roots and remove the effects of pesticide treatments from fruits.

It was only after scientific recognition that potassium humates began to gain widespread popularity among gardeners and farmers. Today, potassium humate is familiar to anyone who owns a garden and grows various vegetables and berries. It's available at any farm supply store and is very inexpensive.

How to properly dilute potassium humate

Potassium humate is available in several forms, from which you can choose the most convenient option for yourself:

• dry powder
• liquid concentrate
• paste
• gel
• prompter.

Before using any of these products, carefully read the instructions and learn how to properly dilute the fertilizer. Always follow safety precautions when working with any fertilizer!

Dry powder

Fertilizer in powder form can be used either dry or diluted in water. The dry form may be more convenient for large areas, where it can be simply sprayed. Humate penetrates the soil, improves its fertility, and can increase the content of useful components in the soil several times over.

It's important to understand that there's no universal method for diluting humate, not least because this fertilizer is produced by completely different companies, and the instructions may vary. Everything depends on the concentration of the powder.

Let's look at one of the possible options for diluting dry powder so that you understand how to work with it.

Breeding for soaking seeds and sprouts

Take 0.5 grams (about a third of a teaspoon) of fertilizer and mix it in 1 liter of water. Place the seeds in the resulting solution and leave them there for 8-12 hours. Place the sprouts in the solution up to 2/3 of their length and leave them there for 14 hours. Soaking in this solution makes future crops much more resistant to various diseases and nourishes them with all the necessary nutrients.

Using fertilizer by spraying and watering

Dilute 3 grams of humate in 10 liters of warm water at approximately 50 degrees Celsius. Stir thoroughly until all granules are completely dissolved. If possible, use filtered water.

The resulting solution can be applied to the leaves of plants. Be careful not to overspray, as too much is harmful. Spray the area three times, spaced two weeks apart. The resulting solution should be applied at a rate of approximately 1 liter per 10 square meters when spraying. When watering, apply 10 liters of solution per 10 square meters.

To determine whether the solution is ready for use, look at its color. The finished liquid is the color of weakly brewed tea. The solution should be clear and free of any impurities or suspended matter. If you think there's anything floating in the bucket, strain the solution through cheesecloth.

Soil cultivation before sowing

Mix humate with sand and spread evenly over the area. 50 grams of the product is enough to treat 10 square meters of soil. Then rake the entire area to loosen the soil. If there was a lot of rainfall in the winter, the soil will lack beneficial micronutrients by spring. This is why fertilizing the soil in early spring, just before planting, is so important.

When it comes to dry humic fertilizer, we cannot ignore the most popular representative of this type.

Humate +7

Humate +7 is a natural fertilizer based on humic acids, additionally enriched with seven microelements:

• iron
• molybdenum
• manganese
• nitrogen
• zinc
• boron
• copper.

The addition of elements to the composition made the product even more versatile: it can now be used both as a growth stimulant and as a fertilizer.

The dilution instructions for Humate +7 are very simple. One 10-gram packet is enough to prepare a solution for 200 liters.

If you want to cultivate the soil before the gardening season, calculate the amount of humate you'll need. One 10-gram packet of Humate +7 is enough to cultivate 3 square meters of soil.

Soaking seeds and tubers in humic fertilizer is very beneficial, but keep in mind that different plants require different amounts of time in the solution. For example, large-seeded crops can soak for about three days, while other crops should soak for no more than a day.

If you want to use Humate +7 to water your beds, then maintain a frequency of at least two weeks between treatments.

Humate +7 is compatible with nitrogen and complex fertilizers, but is absolutely incompatible with phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, so it is not recommended to treat the soil with them at the same time.

Liquid concentrate

The liquid form of humate is a concentrate containing 80% of the active ingredient. The liquid is dark brown in color and has a distinctive odor.

To soak seeds in humic fertilizer, make a solution of 20 ml of concentrate per 250 ml of water. Leave the seeds and seedlings in this solution for approximately 12-15 hours for maximum benefit.

If you are going to spray fertilizer or water the garden, make a solution at the rate of 50 ml of concentrate per 10 liters of water.

If you plan to add another fertilizer, such as a phosphorus fertilizer, to the soil along with humate, it's best to avoid it. Humate interacts poorly with phosphorus, and such a combination won't provide any benefit to your garden beds.

If you're unsure whether you should use two different fertilizers simultaneously, try mixing them and see how they react. If no sediment forms, everything is fine, and you can continue your agricultural experiments.

In terms of its active ingredients, the liquid form is no different from the dry powder, and both options cope with their tasks perfectly.

Paste and gel

Paste and gel forms have become available relatively recently. The manufacturer claims that this form of fertilizer dissolves much better in water and is more economical to use than dry or liquid humic fertilizer. Furthermore, a single small jar contains a much higher concentration of microelements and potassium than other fertilizer forms.

The humate is mixed at a ratio of one tablespoon per 10 liters of water. One liter of this solution can be used to spray approximately one hectare of garden. A simple calculation reveals that the gel and paste can indeed cover a much larger area with less application.

Humate Souffleur

This type of fertilizer is made from humic sapropel, containing the maximum amount of organic matter and a number of valuable microelements. Souffleur is considered a universal version of humate.

It's suitable for both treating indoor plants and fertilizing vegetable crops. Souffleur is sold in a dark brown, concentrated liquid form.

In winter, houseplants should be treated no more than once every 1.5 months, but during the flowering period, some gardeners prefer to fertilize their beds weekly. Such regular treatment won't cause any harm, but it won't provide any greater benefit than the fertilizer alone.

Humate not only increases plant resistance to various negative factors affecting their growth and development, but also improves the appearance of the resulting fruits. They are significantly larger than their untreated counterparts and look equally beautiful and glossy.

Fertilizing potatoes with potassium humate

Potatoes are rightfully one of the most popular vegetables. They're a staple in everyone's diet, and farmers are willing to go to great lengths to ensure a bountiful autumn harvest.

Treating vegetables with potassium humate is the safest and easiest way to improve their health. First, soak the tubers before planting them.

To do this, dilute a concentrated fertilizer solution in room-temperature water (we described how to make such a solution above) and soak the potatoes in it for 10-12 hours. This will be more than enough time for the tubers to absorb all the nutrients they need.

After the tubers have sprouted and the first leaves have appeared on the shoots, it is time to start watering and spraying the bushes with humate.

If you plan to treat potatoes with fungicides or insecticides, it's best to use humate afterward. It will help reduce the damage to plants caused by the chemicals.

During the growing season, it is better to treat potatoes with humate twice, the second time during the period when the first buds begin to appear on the bushes.

Beneficial and harmful properties of humate for plants

We've already discussed the beneficial properties of potassium humate more than once in this article, but let's try to systematize all the benefits that arise from using this type of fertilizer.

• Humate is a completely natural fertilizer, the effectiveness of which has been proven not only by scientific research, but also by many years of use by gardeners.
• This type of fertilizer is versatile: it can be used to treat soil, plants themselves, as well as seeds, tubers, and seedlings before planting them outdoors. Few products can boast such versatility.
• Humate improves the soil, saturates it with microelements, and helps reduce the amount of radioactive components and heavy metals.
• With this fertilizer, the harvest amount increases in some cases from twenty to fifty percent.
• Humate increases plant resistance to disease, helps them tolerate chemical treatments better, and recover more quickly from pest infestations.

• Vegetables and berries treated with humic fertilizers ripen faster and look glossy and beautiful.
• This product can be used not only for treating plants planted in open ground, but also for feeding indoor flowers.
• The cost of humate is very low compared to other fertilizers, so even when treating a large area, you will spend a very small amount of money.

Humate has such an impressive list of positive qualities, but what are its harmful properties? If any?

• Humic fertilizers can be harmful if used uncontrollably. Follow all instructions on the packaging and don't try to cover every inch of soil with the fertilizer in pursuit of a good harvest.

• While potassium humate won't harm black soil, it won't do any good to soils with a high salt content. It will only further disrupt the micronutrient balance and worsen the soil's condition.
• Potassium humate can also be harmful if you buy it from an unscrupulous manufacturer who sells you an unknown chemical mixture instead of a natural product. Try to choose reputable fertilizer suppliers and avoid buying from non-specialized stores. Save your crops and your nerves.
• Humic fertilizer isn't a panacea for all ailments and can't provide plants with the maximum amount of nutrients. Sometimes gardeners place too much hope in it and don't feed their gardens with anything else. The end result isn't as satisfying as it could be. To avoid such disappointment, alternate humate with other nitrogen fertilizers.

Reviews of humic fertilizers

Since humate is a very common fertilizer, it's no surprise that there are numerous reviews about it. However, almost all gardeners report only the positive effects of humate on vegetable crops.

If you don't overdo it with the fertilizer and follow all the proportions specified in the instructions, humate is simply irreplaceable in this area. Gardeners note that after just one application, plants look healthier and begin to grow much faster.

There are tens of thousands of positive reviews of humate online, from both amateur gardeners and those who grow their plants on an industrial scale.

Humic fertilizer also addresses the problems of depleted soils with low micronutrient levels. It replenishes the soil with nutrients and makes it significantly more fertile.

Customers value humate for its naturalness, as it's produced exclusively from natural ingredients, without the addition of chemicals. The fertilizer is excellent at removing pesticide residues and heavy metals from plants, which is especially beneficial in our environment.

If you've never tried humic fertilizer before, it's never too late to get started. We're confident you'll be pleased with the results you'll get from using humate.