What is the difference between humic and fulvic acid?
Leaf matter and other vegetation on the floors of ancient forests broke down and eventually, over eons of geological time, became a friable substance that’s referred to as “humic ore.” Along with humic minerals, this ore contains a precursor of fulvic acid. When you mix the humates with an alkaline water (around 10.5 pH), the minerals and fulvic molecules go into colloidal solution. This very dark brew of pure minerals and fulvic molecules is called “humic acid,” but a better term would be “humic minerals,” because the humic mineral solution is actually alkaline. However, if you acidify this humic solution (down to approximately 4.5 pH), a chemical reaction takes place where the dark humates drop out or precipitate, and what’s left is the pure golden liquid we call fulvic acid. The moral is, all humic minerals contain fulvic acid, but fulvic acid does not contain humates. Fulvic acid is humic minerals with the humates removed.
