Benefits of Armament Technology Versus Humic Acid

Foliar-Pak Armament, our leading soil carbon technology, has revolutionized nutrient delivery to turfgrass plants for years. While it has been compared to humic acid, Armament technology surpasses the limitations of using humic acid.

Armament is a soil-based amino acid polymer explicitly designed to increase the amount of nutrients delivered to the plant within the soil, whether the soil is hostile and the nutrients are tied up or if the soil has marginal levels of certain nutrients. Historically, when used at high rates, humic acids have also been used for nutrient uptake. However, a few inherent limitations with humic acids make them challenging to work with.

The first limitation involves the inconsistencies innate to a natural substance. Humic acid originates from natural materials mined from the earth. Natural materials inherently exhibit variability, resulting in a lack of consistency. Another problem that makes humic acids challenging to work with is insolubility. Humic acids are known to have solubility issues.

Being a manufactured substance, we designed and engineered Armament to overcome the inconsistencies found in natural substances. It is also very soluble.

Besides inherent problems, a few other limitations come with using humic acids.

Lack of Power

As stated earlier, when used at high rates, humic acid can be used for nutrient uptake. When developing Armament, we kept in mind the minor components that influenced nutrient uptake in humic acids, and then we moved on to something more powerful. Armament’s helical structure and molecular weight (small enough to be highly water-soluble but large enough to persist in the soil for up to 3 months) maximize its performance and longevity in the soil.

Also, humic acid lacks a large concentration of negative charges, especially compared to Armament technology’s concentration. Because negative charges ultimately improve soil nutrient uptake efficiency, the higher concentration of charges in Armament leads to a more substantial improvement in soil nutrient uptake efficiency compared to humic acid.

Lack of Predictability and Reliability

Humic acid is a heterogeneous molecule whose size and performance are unpredictable. Armament is homogenous and is reacted in a controlled environment to provide a predictable and reliable polymer. A predictable and reliable polymer means that every time you open a Foliar-Pak product with Armament technology, like Armament Concentrate, you get the same consistency with a carbon source that is much more concentrated than humic acid materials (This is why Armament Concentrate is very productive in the soil when applied at much lower rates than humic acids).

Lack of Ease of Use

Armament is also cleaner, easier to use, and comes without the mixing and nozzle–clogging issues you can have with humic acids.

For more comparisons between Armament and humic acids, view the comparison chart below.