How the Biostimulant Works
Rebuilding the Biological System Beneath the Tree
A tree depends upon the biological system surrounding its roots for water, mineral nutrients, oxygen, and protection from harmful organisms. The condition of this underground environment directly influences how effectively the tree can acquire resources and respond to stress.
Our biostimulant is intended to support this living system by improving soil structure, encouraging beneficial microbial activity, and strengthening the biological relationships between the soil and the tree’s absorbing roots.
Rather than functioning as a simple booster or fertilizer, the treatment focuses on rebuilding the biological environment that supports the tree.
What Is in the Biostimulant?
The biostimulant consists primarily of humic acid, molasses, and beneficial microbial components.
Each primary component serves a different but complementary purpose:
- Humic acid supports soil aggregation, nutrient availability, water movement, and nutrient retention.
- Molasses provides an immediate source of carbohydrates for beneficial microorganisms.
- Beneficial fungi and bacteria support nutrient cycling, soil structure, root protection, and natural disease suppression.
- Mycorrhizal fungi form symbiotic connections with the tree’s fine absorbing roots.
Together, these components support both the physical structure of the soil and the biological community living within it.
How Humic Acid Supports the Soil
Humic acid provides carbon and improves nutrient availability, soil aggregation, water movement, and the soil’s ability to exchange and retain nutrients. Through its chemical and electrical properties, humic acid helps smaller soil particles bind together into larger aggregates. This creates additional pore space for air and water and begins shifting the soil away from compacted, oxygen-deficient conditions and toward a more aerobic environment.
How Beneficial Fungi Improve Soil Structure
Beneficial fungi also produce natural polymers that help bind small soil particles together, further improving aggregation and pore space. This allows oxygen and water to move through the soil more effectively and creates conditions that favor beneficial aerobic fungi and bacteria rather than the opportunistic organisms that thrive in stagnant, anaerobic conditions.
Humic acid and beneficial fungi therefore support soil aggregation in complementary ways. As smaller particles become bound into larger aggregates, the increased pore space helps move the soil toward a more oxygenated biological environment.
Why the Biostimulant Contains Molasses
The molasses provides carbohydrates that primarily serve as an immediate food source for beneficial soil bacteria and other microorganisms. In simple terms, humic acid primarily supports the fungal side of the soil food web, while molasses provides readily available energy for bacterial growth and activity.
The molasses is included to support the microbial community in the soil. It supplies readily available energy that supports bacterial growth and biological activity, while the humic acid primarily supports the fungal side of the soil food web.
This combination allows the treatment to support multiple parts of the soil’s biological system instead of focusing on only one group of microorganisms.
The Role of Beneficial Fungi and Bacteria
Beneficial fungi and bacteria help cycle nutrients, improve soil structure, compete with disease-causing organisms, and suppress their ability to spread unchecked. These beneficial organisms are the “good guys” within the environment. They occupy space, consume available resources, and biologically restrict many of the organisms that cause decay and disease.
This biological competition is an important part of the treatment’s intended purpose. When beneficial organisms occupy the available space and consume available resources, disease-causing organisms have fewer opportunities to spread without biological restriction.
The treatment is intended to create conditions that favor a diverse, active, and aerobic microbial community.
How Mycorrhizal Fungi Support Tree Roots
Mycorrhizal fungi also form symbiotic connections with the tree’s fine absorbing roots. Their microscopic fungal filaments extend far beyond the physical root system, dramatically increasing the tree’s effective absorbing area. These connections allow the tree to access water and mineral nutrients that would otherwise remain unavailable. They also form a biological coating around the absorbing roots that helps protect them from soil-borne pathogens.
The tree provides an environment in which these beneficial relationships can develop, while the fungal filaments extend into areas of soil beyond the tree’s physical fine roots.
This extended network increases the area through which the tree can access water and mineral nutrients. The biological coating around the absorbing roots also provides an additional layer of protection within the soil environment.
How the Components Work Together
The biostimulant does not depend on a single ingredient to perform every function. Its components work together within the root-zone environment:
- Humic acid provides carbon and supports soil aggregation, nutrient availability, water movement, and nutrient retention.
- Beneficial fungi produce natural polymers that further improve aggregation and pore space.
- Increased pore space allows air and water to move through the soil more effectively.
- Molasses provides readily available carbohydrates for beneficial bacteria and other microorganisms.
- Beneficial fungi and bacteria cycle nutrients and compete with disease-causing organisms.
- Mycorrhizal fungi connect with fine absorbing roots and extend the tree’s effective absorbing area.
The combined purpose is to improve the biological system surrounding the roots rather than provide only a temporary nutrient application.
More Than a Simple Fertilizer
The biostimulant is therefore much more than a simple booster or fertilizer. It is intended to rebuild the biological system that the tree depends upon for nutrient acquisition, root protection, stress recovery, and natural disease suppression.
Its purpose is to support the environment on which the tree depends. That includes the structure of the soil, the movement of air and water, the activity of beneficial microorganisms, and the relationship between mycorrhizal fungi and the tree’s absorbing roots.
Questions About a Recommended Treatment?
If Eric Putnam BCMA, Inc. has recommended a biostimulant treatment for your tree, contact our team with any questions about the recommendation or its intended purpose.
For information about when this service may be recommended, visit our Biostimulant Treatment page
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the biostimulant simply a fertilizer?
No. The biostimulant is much more than a simple booster or fertilizer. It is intended to rebuild the biological system that supports nutrient acquisition, root protection, stress recovery, and natural disease suppression.
What are the primary components?
The biostimulant consists primarily of humic acid, molasses, and beneficial microbial components.
Why is humic acid included?
Humic acid provides carbon and helps improve nutrient availability, soil aggregation, water movement, and the soil’s ability to exchange and retain nutrients.
Why is molasses used in the treatment?
Molasses provides carbohydrates that serve as an immediate food source for beneficial soil bacteria and other microorganisms.
How do beneficial microorganisms help the tree?
Beneficial fungi and bacteria help cycle nutrients, improve soil structure, compete with disease-causing organisms, and biologically restrict many organisms associated with decay and disease.
What do mycorrhizal fungi do?
Mycorrhizal fungi form symbiotic connections with the tree’s fine absorbing roots. Their fungal filaments extend beyond the physical root system, increasing the tree’s effective absorbing area and helping it access water and mineral nutrients.
