Biostimulants are part of the new agriculture taking shape as we’re discovering the power of combining materials to achieve superior results. Biostimulants aren’t fertilizers but they play a considerable role in assisting plants in many positive ways, from nutrient uptake to combating abiotic stresses like excessive heat. These products can easily be incorporated with other product applications and typically make everything work better by augmenting the action of other products.
In these high-temperature periods, biostimulants can be extremely effective in helping plants cope with heat stress and, frankly, other abiotic stresses as well. And you’re also getting a product that stimulates root growth, producing healthier plants and delivering better overall crop quality and harvestable yield.
There are 3 general categories for Biostimulants:
Acid-based Biostimulants
Humic and fulvic acids have been recognized for their value in improving soil structure and function, enhancing plant nutrition, and contributing to improved crop yield and quality.
In addition, amino acid products derived from the chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis of animal, plant, or microbial protein improve soil fertility, especially in the development of fungal matter that helps the plant access a larger base of nutrients, resulting in enhanced plant health, improved crop yields and quality, and stress tolerance.
Seaweed and Plant Extracts Biostimulants
There are many seaweed products in the market, and I often suggest to my growers that they use or rotate a few seaweed products into their practices to capture a wider array of benefits, as every seaweed product has something unique to contribute. Seaweed extracts improve soil aeration, chelate nutrients and improve cation exchange capacity (CEC), increasing the provisioning, uptake, and utilization of plant nutrients. Seaweed components such as macro- and microelement nutrients, amino acids, vitamins, cytokinins, auxins, and abscisic acid (ABA)-like growth substances affect cellular metabolism in treated plants, leading to enhanced growth and crop yield.
Plant extracts (or botanicals) are less well known but are looked upon as the frontier or new generation of tools to aid the grower in delivering both macro and micro nutrients in a more efficient manner.
Microbial Biostimulants
Beneficial fungi and bacteria are incorporated into a wide variety of microbial products sold as biofertilizers, plant inoculants (to aid primarily in nutrient processing), soil amendments, and other beneficial additives. Many microbial products are very comprehensive in their effects, but today, with the help of technology, we’re learning the value of specific microbes and how to better utilize their attributes, thus streamlining their application and maximizing their helpful effects on plant health and disease resistance.
These biostimulant products combined with products, often fertilizers, that offer an array of macro and micro nutrients, including trace elements, are proving to be very effective in reaching new heights in quality and yields, whether you’re farming conventional or organic fields. One of the key takeaways is that, over time, less macro nutrients are required as these combinations of complex fertilizers and biostimulants more efficiently utilize what nature has provided to us in our biologically active soils.