# Humic DG



## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

I'm thinking about purchasing some of this after watching the Doc's video on it but in the video he says "you can put this out whenever you want" and then right after he says "this is the last chance you can put this out for the year"?

Does that mean you can put it out whenever you want DURING the growing season? And do ya'll think it would be safe to apply now that my fungicides and pre emergents are out or should I just wait until the spring?


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

I'm guessing that Humic DG will buffer (to some extent) any kind of *cide you have in the lawn, including insecticide. However, I'm not aware of anybody observing problems outside of academia. I think some people here have tried to correct for an overdose of herbicide with a humic/carbon product. Hard to say what would have happened without mitigation.

I would only apply the Humic DG product between *cide treatments (like a 2 week margin before and after) out of an abundance of caution; to me the purported benefits aren't worth the unknown risks to do it in any other way.


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## Hapa512 (Mar 22, 2020)

Lawn Smith said:


> I'm thinking about purchasing some of this after watching the Doc's video on it but in the video he says "you can put this out whenever you want" and then right after he says "this is the last chance you can put this out for the year"?
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> Does that mean you can put it out whenever you want DURING the growing season? And do ya'll think it would be safe to apply now that my fungicides and pre emergents are out or should I just wait until the spring?


I use Humic DG on a regular basis(Not Humicar), probably about once a month, I also been going heavy with it this last season. I don't think you will have any issue being its just a carbon and a soil amendment. I prefer to apply it if I know there is rain in the forecast as it breaks down faster. I really don't think it will a negative interaction with a pre emergent.


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## Battman (May 16, 2020)

Hapa512 said:


> Lawn Smith said:
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> > I'm thinking about purchasing some of this after watching the Doc's video on it but in the video he says "you can put this out whenever you want" and then right after he says "this is the last chance you can put this out for the year"?
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What is the difference between Humichar and Humic DG?


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## BermudaBoy (Jun 27, 2019)

Battman said:


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Humichar is a 50/50 blend of biochar and Humic DG and has the exceptional ability to quickly drain your bank account faster than just about any other soil amendment.


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## dman (Nov 5, 2019)

BermudaBoy said:


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X Soil is not far behind.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

BermudaBoy said:


> Humichar is a 50/50 blend of biochar and Humic DG and has the exceptional ability to quickly drain your bank account faster than just about any other soil amendment.


This made me chuckle!!!! I LOVE IT!!! :thumbup:

With all that being said, I would like to add that if you do want to use something like this, look around for it locally as you will be able to get it WAY cheaper then if you purchase it online. I think it is foolish to purchase ANY fertilizer or soil amendment online and have it shipped to your house as you will be paying almost double for it because of shipping. To me, there is NOTHING online that is worth the price of shipping a 25-50 lb bag of something that can usually be found locally or within a short drive. I am sure Atlanta has a Anderson dealer somewhere around there that would be happy to sell you some.


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## Battman (May 16, 2020)

BermudaBoy said:


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Careful "Doc" is going to come get you!


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

Battman said:


> What is the difference between Humichar and Humic DG?


I assume Humichar has a higher CEC and therefore a higher buffering capacity for positively charged ions. I also assume Humichar has more carbon to support biological activity.

I question how useful these properties are for folks who are spoon feeding nutrients like calcium, magnesium, and/or potassium. In general, I'm not planning to hit my lawn with large doses of anything, but I do have sand and lots of calcium, so I figure it's fun to play around with to see how things go.


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## dman (Nov 5, 2019)

Mightyquinn said:


> BermudaBoy said:
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> > Humichar is a 50/50 blend of biochar and Humic DG and has the exceptional ability to quickly drain your bank account faster than just about any other soil amendment.
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I get what I can locally but can't find everything I need. Could you be more specific at what you get locally?


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## corneliani (Apr 2, 2019)

I've bought HumicDG through AMLeonard before (around $50) during their free shipping promotion and, while I liked the product, I prefer to use the Mirimichi carbonizPN (biochar/compost mix) for less than half the DG price from the local SiteOne. Or if you prefer the granular they have the CarbonPro-G for a couple dollars more. This is mostly due to the value that local distribution offers - as mentioned earlier - along with the fact that Anderson's products are simply expensive no matter what! Smh. 
As for application time, I see most value applying something like this during aeration season as ideally these soil amendments get into the root zone for highest efficacy... but being that it moves relatively slowly through the root zone I don't see why it can't be applied anytime outside of freezing temps. I do like @ionicatoms approach and logic to working around -ides, as biochar &/or HA does have sequestration characteristics.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

dman said:


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I don't use any Humic products personally so I can't be of much help there but I am sure as big as Atlanta is there should be plenty of businesses that would sell something similar for a fraction of the cost. Also you can try to post in the Hometown Discussions Metro Atlanta and see where everyone else goes to get their supplies. Or try to Google places around you or contact The Andersons directly to see who sells there products around you.


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## dman (Nov 5, 2019)

Mightyquinn said:


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I am not in the Atlanta area. I was hoping someone could post some product names they use and can get locally.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

@dman I thought you were the OP, I should have made sure of your location before I replied.

BTW, what state is Southeast in? If people here knew what city you lived in they could probably give you more specific information on where to go and what to look for.


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

dman said:


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This response is self-serving, somewhat, since I'm in the turf/lawn&garden distribution business, but don't assume what you see stocked in your local farm store/co-op is all they have. Most have access to an array of ferts, chems that the average homeowner isn't aware of, but that get discussed on here. Take the recommendations from here to your local farm store and ask them to get you prices. Most of them won't upcharge significantly because they're not "stocking" it, just bringing it in to sell immediately. Post your city and I might be able to recommend some stores.


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## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

dubyadubya87 said:


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How about Roswell, GA?


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## Jeremy3292 (Apr 30, 2020)

You can do everything Doc says and spend thousands of dollars and you will absolutely have a nice lawn. OR you can not use any of Doc's products and spend a few hundred dollars and still have a nice lawn. Both decisions arrive at "nice lawn"


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Jeremy3292 said:


> You can do everything Doc says and spend thousands of dollars and you will absolutely have a nice lawn. OR you can not use any of Doc's products and spend a few hundred dollars and still have a nice lawn. Both decisions arrive at "nice lawn"


+1 :thumbup:


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## dman (Nov 5, 2019)

Mightyquinn said:


> @dman I thought you were the OP, I should have made sure of your location before I replied.
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> BTW, what state is Southeast in? If people here knew what city you lived in they could probably give you more specific information on where to go and what to look for.


Just some names of products would be fine.


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## dman (Nov 5, 2019)

dubyadubya87 said:


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That is good to know and thanks but getting the names of products here is like pulling teeth for some reason.


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## dman (Nov 5, 2019)

Battman said:


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Oh goody, the Youtuber bashing has begun. Speaking of that, how about that Lawn Care Nut guy? Is he annoying or what?


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

The 2.5 gal Ultramate LQ is very economical and has great results.
Edit: Economical depending on where you buy it, shop around. It might be the wrong time of year now, but in the spring, most any farm store/co-op can get this for you and save the freight cost.


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## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

I ended up buying the Humichar. I might have fallen for the marketing scheme but it made sense to me as to how the biochar makes it's way into the soil via the DG particles. It cost about $85 which covers 80k sqft so I actually thought that was a decent price considering you get two products in one (humic acid and biochar). And considering I only have a 5k sqft lawn, this should last a year or two. If it doesn't work then it's not going to break the bank and more importantly, won't hurt my lawn.


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## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

Here is a picture of some of the clay under my grass. Hopefully in a couple years this will be good and dark.


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## BermudaBoy (Jun 27, 2019)

Lawn Smith said:


> I ended up buying the Humichar. I might have fallen for the marketing scheme but it made sense to me as to how the biochar makes it's way into the soil via the DG particles. It cost about $85 which covers 80k sqft so I actually thought that was a decent price considering you get two products in one (humic acid and biochar). And considering I only have a 5k sqft lawn, this should last a year or two. If it doesn't work then it's not going to break the bank and more importantly, won't hurt my lawn.


You may have misread the label. A 40lb bag only covers 40k square feet but that's at a rate of 1lb/1k which isn't enough material to do anything worthwhile to your lawn. A product like that will need multiple applications throughout the season over a course of years to really improve your soil health. Applying that entire bag in one app will only put 8lbs of material per 1k on your lawn. That's not much.

Doc can tout the virtues of Humichar because he doesn't have to pay for it and can apply it multiple times a year to his 12k lawn while consumers like us would have to shell out hundreds a year to get noticeable results. Use that bag and find a local dealer for your humic and biochar needs. There should be a SiteOne near you that has something comparable for much less.


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## Easyluck (Feb 5, 2019)

Lawn Smith said:


> Here is a picture of some of the clay under my grass. Hopefully in a couple years this will be good and dark.


This is another misleading claim by doc. Dark soil does not mean you have good soil. Correcting soil ph and nutrient deficiencies is the best route to obtaining good soil.


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## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

Easyluck said:


> Lawn Smith said:
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But we know that clay isn't good soil either. And I think the whole point of this stuff is to help hold nutrients in the soil better so you can adjust ph and micronutrients less often.


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## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

BermudaBoy said:


> Lawn Smith said:
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> > I ended up buying the Humichar. I might have fallen for the marketing scheme but it made sense to me as to how the biochar makes it's way into the soil via the DG particles. It cost about $85 which covers 80k sqft so I actually thought that was a decent price considering you get two products in one (humic acid and biochar). And considering I only have a 5k sqft lawn, this should last a year or two. If it doesn't work then it's not going to break the bank and more importantly, won't hurt my lawn.
> ...


I'll look around after this bag but if I'm only gonna save a few bucks then I'll probably stick with the Humichar. It's not messy and I think the stuff you'd get at SiteOne is more for tilling in with the soil. The beauty of Humichar is that it's designed to essentially melt through the thatch and top layer of soil. The other stuff will just sit on top forever. So for existing lawns this seems very important.

They way I look at is, I've spent many thousands between my sod, mowers, sprayer, etc and if I can improve my soil for an extra $100 a year then I'll take my chances with the best. As they say, garbage in garbage out.


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

Yeah, it's not a big deal. If you can tolerate it, the liquid humic is going to move to a depth faster than granular. If you can, don't put it out two weeks before or after a *cide.


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## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

ionicatoms said:


> Yeah, it's not a big deal. If you can tolerate it, the liquid humic is going to move to a depth faster than granular. If you can, don't put it out two weeks before or after a *cide.


Thanks I didn't know there was a liquid humic. Does it stain everything?


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

Lawn Smith said:


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I haven't used it. Comments by others indicate it can stain and be cleaned up with a pressure washer. Reference comments on the following video:


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