WHAT IS HUMUS? by Michael Melendrez

Humus is the un-scientific name for the substance we call Humic substances also called by some sources Humic acids. These substances are made up of three main organic acids - Humic, Fulvic and Ulmic with the proportion depending on where you are and the original vegetation of the site. The characteristic of these acids will very in solubility from being completely insoluble as in the Ulmic acid to being completely soluble like the Fulvic acid. Water at any pH will carry Fulvic into a solution while only a very high pH liquid will carry Humic acid into a solution. If you have a liquid solution of Humic acids such as our EA and you pH down the liquid using an acid factor like Hydrogen peroxide and slowly lower the pH, you will see the Humic acid slowly drop out of solution until the pH is so low that no Humic acid remains. This is called precipitating, and is done with many chemical cleaning processes in industry. There must be a potential difference in pH between the material you are trying to drop out of solution and the material you are using to lower or raise the pH of the solution in order to get a precipitation.

Not all organic matter will decompose down into Humic acids as the primary building blocks of Humic acids are the functional groups of the amino acids which are found in protein. Organic matter such as decomposing leaves, straw, grass clippings and so forth are going to be made of the three calories sources - fat, sugars and protein. For example a really good quality alfalfa can have 20 percent total crude protein as compared to the sap wood of a willow tree which may only have 5 percent crude digestible protein. 10,000 pounds of sapwood or alfalfa will have 4 1/2 million grams of total weight which has a value of 18,144,000 calories of both protein and sugar. But if the total protein content is 20 percent as is the case with the alfalfa than you have 3,600,000 calories that can become Humus, versus the sapwood of the willow will only make 907,000 calories into humus. Therefore vegetation high in protein will accumulate humus faster than vegetation high in carbohydrates (sugars) or fat (oils or fatty acids).

Humic, Fulvic and Ulmic acids all have unique molecular structures. Individually they are called Humic acid fractions of the total Humus or Humic substance.