Soil Amendments, Micronutrients & Biostimulants

Improve Soil Health and Structure.

If you ask a knowledgeable gardener how they produce lush and vigorous plants; they will say it always begins with rich and healthy living soil. Unfortunately, most dirt is too lackluster to provide such results. This is where soil amendments, micronutrients, and biostimulants come in.

Soil amendments are products that are mixed into soil to improve its condition. They address problems like poor texture, poor drainage, airflow and pH levels. Soil amendment products include coco coir, compost, lime and sulfur (for pH), peat moss and pumice. Soil amendments will change the soil structure permanently as opposed to quick fixes like fertilizers.

Micronutrients are the chemical elements that plants require in trace amounts to grow and thrive. The eight primary plant micronutrients are boron (B), chlorine (Cl), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn). Each individual micronutrient supports a specific function; for instance, iron (Fe) produces chlorophyll and enables photosynthesis and manganese (Mn) stimulates plant enzymes and aids in processing nitrogen. Determining which micronutrient is needed depends on what is being grown and whether the application is addressing a particular deficiency.

Biostimulants are used to improve soil functions like root development, stress tolerance and nutrient uptake. They differ from micronutrients in that they do not directly supply nutrients, instead they stimulate the plant natural processes. Biostimulants are "multi-purpose" in that they support functions that all plants need, like improved soil structure, nitrogen fixing and plant metabolism support. Types of biostimulants include beneficial microorganisms, humic and fulvic acids, seaweed and plant extracts and amino acids.

The best way to know what your plants need is to do a soil analysis. With the information that gives you it should be fairly easy to decide what your particular crop needs to produce at its highest level.