Product Overview | Dispersing Granule (DG) Products

This post features a quick review of The Andersons dispersing granule (DG) humic products and their benefits to soil and plant health.

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In addition to our DG products, we also offer a full line of liquid and soluble granule (SG) humic products. A summary of these products were featured in a previous post.

Growers of all types—from large acreage grain producers to athletic field managers—ask us on a regular basis to explain the differences in humic products. The interest in humic products is gaining because many growers are placing an emphasis on managing to maximize soil health.

The 2015 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll stated that “93% of farmers agree that healthy soil can lead to better crop yields. About 77% claimed that it could also reduce vulnerability to drought conditions.”

Before understanding our range of humic acid-based products, it’s important to understand the benefits humic acid provides.

Why Humic Acid?

Humic acid promotes healthy soils, which promote healthy plants.

Healthy soils provide many benefits for plants, including:

Physical support
Air supply & flow
Water
Support for cooling, nutrient transport, and photosynthesis (energy production)
Temperature moderation
Plant root protection
Toxin protection
Nutrients essential for growth

Humic Acids Promote Healthy Soils

Providing soil carbon
Provides an oxidized carbon source which stimulates the soil microbiology and beneficial organisms.

Providing microbes with a place to live and food to eat
When these microbes are supported, they will promote soil and plant health.

Make nutrients available to plants in the organic form
Promote soil structure
Produce plant growth hormones
Protect plant from pathogens

Modifying soil structure
Humic acids modify the soil structure to improve:

Aggregate stability
Water infiltration and holding capacity
Aeration
Soil tilth

Adding cation exchangeable material to the soil
Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC): the amount of exchangeable cations (nutrients) a soil can sustain.

High CEC = high nutrient retention and fertility
Activates key soil chemistry

Why Humic Products from The Andersons?

Our range of humic products contain a highly available, soil-active carbon source that is delivered using the latest humic acid granule technology. We offer a complete line of technologically-advanced, easy-to-handle products superior to others on the market today.

Our humic offering includes products that can be used in granular or liquid application throughout the growing season.

Dispersing Granule (DG) Products

Humic DG
Black Gypsum DG

Soluble Granule (SG) Products

K-Mate SG

Liquid Products

UltraMate LQ

Humic DG

Humic DG is a unique combination of two sources of humic substances that provide fulvic, humic acid, humin and humic acid precursor. Humic DG has a 70% humic acid content. The patented dispersible granule (DG) technology delivers the humic substance to the soil, where each granule disperses into thousands of sub-particles that self incorporate into your soil.

The humic substances found in Humic DG will provide a food source (C) to the soil microbes, causing them to flourish. As a result, essential macro and micro nutrients held in the soil will become more available and additional fertility will be utilized more efficiently.

Humic DG will also improve water efficiency, soil productivity, and root system development. Humic DG has a greater surface area than conventional, screened humate products which enables greater availability to the plant and soil system.

Humic DG blends will all fertilizers, including urea, and is easy to apply through all types of granular application equipment.

Black Gypsum DG

Featuring the same dual carbon sources that make Humic DG unique, Black Gypsum DG is a unique bio-amendment that combines natural gypsum and humic substances in one, homogenous dispersing granule. Our patented Dispersing Granule (DG) technology results in a dust-free, spherical, ultra-dry granule that rapidly disperses into thousands of microparticles upon contact with moisture.

Our gypsum source is calcium sulfate dehydrate (CaSO₄•2H₂O), which, with two extra water molecules, is more water soluble than the anhydrite form (CaSO₄). These extra molecules make calcium and sulfur more quickly available to the plant – as soon as Black Gypsum DG enters the soil solution.

While a plant receiving the anhydrite form of calcium would be forced to wait days or weeks to take advantage of the applied nutrients, a plant receiving a Black Gypsum DG application begins to utilize the nutrients in hours, thanks to the dihydrate calcium and our dispersing granule technology. Black Gypsum DG will increase the calcium and sulfur content of the soil without changing the soil’s pH.

Black Gypsum DG delivers 10% humic acid in every application. This humate is quick acting, and provides further chelation of applied and existing nutrients, increasing their availability to the plant.

Black Gypsum DG can be blended with all fertilizer, including urea, and is easy to spread through all types of granular application equipment.