Fertilizer humus - what is it?

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

Manure of animals, bird droppings, peat, sawdust, straw, grass as a result of the vital activity of microorganisms settling in them, gradually turn into a brown homogeneous mass - humus. What is it, hope, you are more or less clear. 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 proved by studies of a variety of research institutes.

Yes, even without any scientific research, any gardener knows that plants, be they vegetables, berries, fruits or flowers, need humus for a better growth. The content of humus in the soil, which is necessary to obtain a good result, must be calculated separately for each specific species. Such calculations are also carried out in order to determine the amount of humus introduced at a time, and in order to determine the frequency of such feeding.

Poor soils have little structural particles and easily dissolve 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. First, of course, in it the quantity of nutrients is repeatedly increased. Secondly, it becomes much more friable. After the humus is introduced into the poor soil, the crust after watering is no longer formed on it. To the roots of plants, a sufficient amount of air and water is supplied.

Humus of soil on private plots, brought in artificially and in necessary quantities, makes these lands much more fertile than steppe and even forest. Of the unclaimed artificial soils, the most rich in humus content are chernozem soils. They are formed in the process of death of meadow grasses and flowers, which accumulate a significant plant mass during the vegetative period. The least of it is contained in podzolic and sandy soils.

So, humus is obtained from organic matter. What is it, we already found out. Now let's consider more specifically how it is formed. The organic matter contained in manure serves as food for soil microorganisms. When it decomposes in the first stage, carbon dioxide (CO2), phosphorus and nitrogen are released. Then the last element from the organic turns into ammonia. This process is possible due to the action of aerobic bacteria. Then, ammonia nitrogen passes into nitrate.

The latter process occurs as a result of the activity of two groups of microorganisms, which act in this case as oxidants. In this case, ammonia is initially converted to nitric acid, after which the ammonium salts are converted to nitrates. This phase can be considered finite in the decomposition of manure. At this stage, it turns into humus.