Fertilizer humus - what is it

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Often in the specialized literature or on the pages of Internet sites you can read that it is necessary to use humus to feed plants. What it is? The question often arises among beginners in the gardening business. In fact, humus is called ordinary humus. It is formed as a result of the decomposition of organic substances of plant origin.

Animal manure, bird droppings, peat, sawdust, straw, grass, as a result of the vital activity of microorganisms that settle in them, gradually turn into a brown homogeneous mass - humus. What it is, we hope you understand more or less. The humus contained in the soil determines the degree of its fertility. The direct dependence of the yields of different crops on the percentage of humus in the soil on which they were grown has been proven by studies of various research institutes.

Yes, even without any scientific research, any gardener knows that plants, whether vegetables, berries, fruits or flowers, need humus to grow better. The content of humus in the soil, necessary to obtaina good result, for each specific type you need to calculate separately. Similar calculations are carried out in order to find out the amount of humus applied at a time, and in order to determine the frequency of such top dressing.

Poor soils have few structural particles and will dissolve easily in water. After watering or rain, a crust forms on them, as a result of which air and water practically do not penetrate to the roots of plants. The situation can be corrected by humus. What it is, you already know. Now consider how it affects the properties of the soil. Firstly, of course, the amount of nutrients in it increases many times over. Secondly, it becomes much more loose. After the introduction of humus into poor soil, a crust no longer forms on it after watering. At the same time, a sufficient amount of air and water enters the roots of plants.

Soil humus on personal plots, introduced artificially and in the required quantities, makes these lands much more fertile than steppe and even forest lands. Of the artificially uncultivated soils, chernozem soils are the richest in humus content. They are formed in the process of dying off meadow grasses and flowers, which during the growing season accumulate a significant plant mass. It is least found in podzolic and sandy soils.

So, humus is obtained from organic matter. What it is, we have already found out. Now let's take a closer look at exactly how it is formed. The organic matter contained in manure serves as food forsoil microorganisms. During its decomposition, at the first stage, carbon dioxide (CO2), phosphorus and nitrogen are released. Then the last element from organic turns into ammonia. This process is possible due to the action of aerobic bacteria. Then ammoniacal nitrogen turns into nitrate.

The last process occurs as a result of the activity of two groups of microorganisms, which act in this case as oxidizing agents. In this case, ammonia is initially converted to nitric acid, after which the ammonia s alts are converted to nitrates. This phase can be considered the final phase in the decomposition of manure. At this stage, it turns into humus.