What is Humic and Fulvic Acid?

You don’t need to truck in a ton of compost to transform your soil. In fact, some of the most powerful tools for regeneration don’t look like much at all.

Humic and fulvic acid are my number one go-to’s when I’m working with damaged, depleted, or chemically saturated land. They help unlock the minerals already in your soil, buffer toxins, and supercharge microbial life. No hype, just fundamental building blocks that have been forming underground for millions of years.

But what exactly are they? And where do they come from?

Let’s break it down.

Hamate (fulvic and humic acid) is derived mainly from Leonardite coal which is a soft brown coal that is on its way to being black coal but hasn’t been exposed to as much heat and pressure as black coal.

Think of the process like this, moors, peat, lignite, leonardite and then coal. 

Compared to lignite, which also contains humate, leonardite has higher humic acid content due to a higher degree of oxidation in the coalification process.

Humic acid is the larger, heavier molecular component of humate and is key in building soil structure and holding onto nutrients and minerals. Fulvic acid is the smaller, lighter, more biologically active component. It is so small it can pass through the cell walls of plants to deliver the nutrients it is holding onto. 

Both are a food source for soil microbiology.

What a team.

Often times people come to me and declare they have terrible soil. In reality, most soils have all the minerals and nutrients a plant needs but they are locked up due to low levels of biology (yes, I’m all about biology) making them inaccessible to plants. 

So a way around this is to chelate the nutrients and minerals using humic and fulvic acid. 

Chelate (pronounced key-late) is a scientific term that means they bind to minerals like iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium, to name a few. Once bound, these nutrients and minerals are locked in and with humic acid, never let go. In simple terms, humic and fulvic acids hold onto nutrients and minerals just tightly enough to stop them from washing away, but loosely enough to hand them over when microbes come knocking.

Interestingly, when fulvic acid binds to nutrients and minerals it can deliver them directly into the plant as it is so molecularly small.

If you’ve been to one of my workshops you should know how microbes deliver nutrients and minerals to plants.

Why it matters:

• In sandy or depleted soils, chelation prevents nutrient leaching.

• In clay soils, it helps unlock nutrients bound too tightly.

• It increases fertiliser efficiency—more bang for your buck.

• Chemicals can be bound up and less bioavailable.

In effect, humic and fulvic acids don’t add nutrients, they make the ones already present usable. That’s a game-changer, especially in land recovering from chemical inputs.

Wait, did I mention something about chemicals?

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot.

Humic acid is so powerful it can lock up chemicals and poisons and never let them go. 

When soil is disturbed by chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, fungicides or poisons it can lead to a number of problems such as;

• Destroying beneficial microbes

• Permanently binding soil particles in harmful ways

• Disrupting nutrient uptake in plants (because the microbes are dead)

• Biologically available to humans, animals and plants

This is the magic of Humic and Fulvic acid. Humic substances help mitigate these issues in two key ways:

1. Binding to toxins

   Humic acid, with its complex molecular structure, has a large surface area full of binding sites. It can latch onto chemical residues, reducing their bioavailability; they’re less likely to be absorbed by humans, animals and plants

   
   

2. Stimulating microbial breakdown

   Fulvic acid enhances microbial activity and enzyme production, which can accelerate the breakdown of chemical compounds into less harmful forms. In other words, it wakes up the microbes to do their job.

Together, they form a sort of biological buffer—protecting life in the soil while kickstarting its natural recovery process. For land that’s been affected by fire ant poison or years of chemical inputs, this offers a pathway to healing that’s both gentle and powerful. 

So in the proverbial nutshell humate substances are amazing. 

They are naturally occurring formed over millions of years.

They chelate nutrients, minerals and chemicals.

They turn ‘terrible’ soil into healthy soil.

They increase microbial activity and diversity.

Applying humates with microbiology

Can you see now why they are my number one go to when I’m working on country to help put life back into the soil?

Interested in trying them out for yourself we have Humic and fulvic acids in powder form which is the easiest and most economical way to purchase it. 

Use it as a compost activator to a soil drench and foliar spray. They can be applied on gardens, farms, or pastures, either on their own or blended with microbes to boost soil life. 

Completely natural and non-toxic, they’re safe for pets, people, and the planet.