The Wild World of Humic Acid: Unlocking Soil’s Ancient Power

Over the last ten years, we have grown exclusively in soil here on our farm in the Willamette Valley. Mother Magnolia is all about soil. We love it. We have done it from the beginning. I never was interested in rock wool or coco. It was always soil. And when you are all in on soil, you go down the rabbit hole of soil analysis and it becomes an obsession. 

Anyone who has taken a leap into deep soil cultivation has come across humic acid. This miracle substance is strangely difficult to classify. Are humics carbohydrates? Sort of. Humics are a powerful ancient substance on it’s way to becoming coal. Humics are wild. The International Humic Substance Society has facts stranger than fiction. And while there are things that are still mysterious about humics, we do know a lot. Let’s dig in. 

What Are Humic Acids?

First what are humic acids? Defined by the International Humic Substances Society, “Humic substances (HS) are complex and heterogeneous mixtures of polydispersed materials formed in soils, sediments, and natural waters by biochemical and chemical reactions during the decay and transformation of plant and microbial remains (a process called humification).” Ok, that’s not too bad, but a little tough to parse out the essence. Essentially, they are complex, carbon-rich materials and a tangle of old plant and microbial signatures. Think of them as ancient, weathered organic matter that now behaves in special ways. 

What Is Humification?

Humification is a cool concept that captures this time-lapse decomposition of ancient biological matter. How are humics acids different than just decomposed plant material? Humics are a stage beyond basic decomposition. It takes a long time for all of the microbiology in the soil – along with heat and pressure – to transform organic compounds into humic compounds. In nature, a substance called Leonardite is one of the primary repositories for humics. Leonardite is essentially ancient plant matter that is compressed under immense pressure and transformed over millions of years into a dense substance that contains very stable humics and serves as the primary source for commercially available humic acid for agriculture. 

So if humics are essentially ancient plant material that has been biochemically altered by time, pressure, heat and microbes, what’s all the fuss with humics? Why are they such a potent input and why do we care about them? Here are the main roles they play and why they are so effective in unlocking the potential of any soil biome. Humics don’t replace good agronomy, they multiply it. Here are some key points to understand. 

• Humic acids are a natural chelator for nutrients in the soil. They act like nature’s reusable cup-holder for micronutrients—holding them in solution, escorting them through the soil water, and handing them off at the root when the plant asks.
• They buffer the soil enabling nutrients to stay soluble longer. 
• They have a stimulating effect on root hairs which leads to better root development. 
• Humics improve soil structure and provide a better ecosystem for all of the microbiology in the soil. This improves nutrient cycling, accelerating it and making all of the nutrients more bioavailable to the plants. 
• The binding capacity of humics – their negatively charged sites – can not only hold all of the positively charged metal ions, they can also clean up excess heavy metals. This is a huge deal when lab testing a crop has the potential to  fail for heavy metals. 

Mother Magnolia Cultivation and Humic Acids

At Mother Magnolia, humics have been a key component of our long game strategy: steady inputs that lift fungal: bacterial balance, keep nutrients in solution, and make soil balance feel easier. When the soil biome runs well, the plant asks for less. Humics are a key part of how we keep it running.

Still curious about humic acid? Watch this video clip of the MMC Podcast where we explain exactly how we use it and why it’s foundational in our soil strategy.

When we partnered with a soil scientist to develop Flowerbird’s first product Soil Love, humics were the foundational piece that we knew we had to include in the formula. Essentially, humic acids make everything in the soil web work better. That’s a simplified version of the story, but humic acid is a phenomenal conductor. It keeps the symphony of microbiology all playing in unison and working well. Nutrients are cycled more efficiently and plant health is improved. 

If you have any questions about Humics or any other aspects of cultivation, be sure to give us a follow, check out our YouTube Channel and take a look at our online cultivation course. And for an easy to use humic blend, check out Soil Love, our version of the best humic acid based plant food.