Lawnporn Hero - Humic Acid

What is Humic Acid?
Humic acid, or humus substances, are organic polyelectrolytes which are most commonly identified with the brown organic material in soils (humus). Humic Acid or humus is found at the bottom of rivers lakes and of course plant soils, (such as grass) (Wershaw et al, 1977).

Figure 1. is visual structure of Humic Acid (Al-Faiyz, 2017)

Features:

• Increases microbial activity. 
• Increases cation exhcange.
• Increases the ability for soils to retain moisture and nutrients.
• Enhances soil ability to withstand touch weather conditions such as droughts.

Scientific reserach on the benefits of using humic acid on lawns?
Due to its solubility and chemical structure, humic acid plays an important role in sorption, ion exchange, free radical reactions and buffering capacity in soils (Wershaw et al, 1977). The availability of nutrients to plants are controlled to a large extent by the amount of humus in soils. So in simple terms, humic acid can assist soils in retaining its moisture and nutrients and providing the optimum environment for cation exchange. This is rather important for plants, because a lot of sandy soils leak nutrients and therefore limiting the nutrient intake of the root system. Humic acid enhances the soils ability to hold the nutrients, so that the plant root system has access to them when required.

Simiarly, ​humus substances are currently used in lawn treatment products because they have found that they have a positive effect on grass seed germination as well as enhancing the ability of selected lawns to respond to drought stress (Radkowski et al, 2020).

Further studies have also documented the positive effects of humic acid on microbial activity in the soil (Dehsheikh et al, 2020). Studies indicate a correlation between humic acid and increased microbial activity (Dehsheikh et al, 2020). This is beneficial to soils because microorganisms mineralise organic nutrients, such as carbon an nitrogen. These nutrients are then absorbed more easily by the root system of plants.

How to use Lawnporn Hero?
Lawnporn Hero Humic Acid, can be used as both a soil applicator and folliar appliator. The Tool Room recommends it be used as a soil applicator. To apply it as a soil applicator, Lawnporn Hero must be watered in. It is recommended, the lawn be irrigated from approximately 20 minutes after application.

Can Lawnporn Hero be tank mixed?
Yes, Lawnporn Hero can be tank mixed with ALL Lawnporn products. Please note, avoid mixing with herbicides,

How often should you apply Hero?
Lawnporn Hero should be applied once a month, to continue enhancing your soil health. 

References:
Al-Faiyz, Y. S. (2017). CPMAS 13C NMR characterization of humic acids from composted agricultural Saudi waste. Arabian Journal of Chemistry, 10, S839-S853.

Dehsheikh, A. B., Sourestani, M. M., Zolfaghari, M., & Enayatizamir, N. (2020). Changes in soil microbial activity, essential oil quantity, and quality of Thai basil as response to biofertilizers and humic acid. Journal of Cleaner Production, 256, 120439.

Radkowski, A., Radkowska, I., Bocianowski, J., Sladkovska, T., & Wolski, K. (2020). The Effect of Foliar Application of an Amino Acid-Based Biostimulant on Lawn Functional Value. Agronomy, 10(11), 1656.

Wershaw, R. L., Pinckney, D. J., & Booker, S. E. (1977). Chemical structure of humic acids–part 1, a generalized structural model. Journal of Research of the US Geological Survey, 5(5), 565-569.