First, I think it would help you if you understood what humic acids are and what's in them. Fulvic acid is but one component of the suite of humic acids. Therefore, if you use humic acid, you're already getting fulvic.
I use ag supplies, organic, Humax. Also have used MicroHume, it definitely has its place (no huge mess trying to shake a gallon jug of some SERIOUSLY black stuff), but it's very hydrophobic and so you need something like SM90 to get it into suspension.
The Humax is sourced from a supply outfit right in Grass Valley.
The above statement is true, but original material will depict how much fulvic is present and the sources will vary greatly. For example true leonardite only contains around 2-3% fulvic in the parent material while other sources can contain 5-7 times as much fulvic. Processing also has allot to do with the end product as well. Heat and large amounts of chemicals will lower efficacy. As Blaze pointed out not all humic substances (humic and or fulvic) are created equally. This statement rings true for both the raw material and finished products.
If a product smells like ammonia then ammonia was probably used in the extraction process. Ammonia is not preferred as an extraction solvent to make high quality humic . Be careful as some people smell what they think
is ammonia but it may be residual compounds form other extraction alkalis like KOH. Liquid humic products (I am referring to true humic i.e. black products) are in a alkali environment which catalyzes hydrolysis (break-down) of the product overtime. The one saving grace is that the fulvic fraction will still be stable because of it's chemical structure. That is if there is any significant fulvic in there in the first place.
That being said the only way to know how one product stacks up against another it to test them out. I have found that foliar tests are the fastest but a little subjective when comparing products but can provide quite a bit of info vs a control. Microbial stimulation is less subjective but you have to make sure there aren't other humic like materials in any of the other tea ingredients that will throw off the test. But if they give good stimulation to the microbes in the tea they will do the same for your plants! :happy Also pay attention to the bacterial to fungal ratios on your tea reports. It is easy to stimulate bacteria but more difficult to raise the fungal to bacterial ratios, that is the key when it comes to tea stimulation.
I use HumiSolve for outdoor plants and it does not take long to solubalize also I have never found a need to strain any sediment (not enough to mess or plug things) even when I messed with it for aeroponics.
Mostly I use Ful-Power with all my sprays and in my reservoir. I have tried most on the market and never found a fulvic product that compares to it. I find that chemically extracted fulvic products give way too much nutrient value that causes fertilizer imbalances or conversely they don't provide enough fulvic because they lower the application rates to avoid the aforementioned nutrient antagonizations.
